The Tale of Despereaux
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| Author | Kate DiCamillo |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Timothy B. Ering |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Fantasy novel |
| Publisher | Candlewick Press |
Publication date | 2003 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| Pages | 272 pp |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-7636-1722-9 Parameter error in {{ISBNT}}: invalid character |
| Preceded by | The Tiger Rising |
| Followed by | Mercy Watson to the Rescue |
The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread is a children's fantasy book written by Kate DiCamillo. It won the Newbery Medal in 2004.
Synopsis
The eponymous hero of the story is Despereaux, a tiny, sickly mouse with huge ears. He is born with his eyes open and, unlike his fellow mice, he is unafraid of carving knives and cats. As such, he is unpopular and shunned by many of those around him.
Despereaux lives in desperate times. A rat named Chiaroscuro ("Roscuro" for short), entranced by the light of a match, explores the castle's upstairs. While there, he accidentally falls into the queen's soup tureen, startling her and causing her to have a fatal heart attack. The grief-stricken king outlaws soup, and orders all rats to return to the darkness. This angers Roscuro, who would like nothing more than to live above ground in the light; he vows revenge on the king and his castle.
Despite the mouse community's general mistrust of humans, Despereaux falls in love with a princess named Pea. Despereaux's interaction with a human thoroughly outrages the mouse community and he is sent to the dungeon, which is filled with rats. He meets the jailer, Gregory, who offers to save him in exchange for being told a story.
Meanwhile, a servant girl, Miggery Sow ("Mig" for short), sees Princess Pea riding by on horseback. This gives Mig hope. Mig has ended up at the palace after being traded into bondage by her father in exchange for a hen, a handful of cigars, and a blood red tablecloth. Mig is set to work in the castle dungeons, where she meets Roscuro. She tells him that her greatest wish is to become a princess. Roscuro manipulates Mig into kidnapping Princess Pea, so that she will remain in the dark forever. The rats capture Princess Pea, and in attempting to save her, Despereaux has his tail chopped off.
Determined to rescue his beloved princess, Despereaux goes to the Threadmaster, who gives him a spool of thread to lead him back into the dungeons. But, when Despereaux loses the spool of thread in the darkness he meets Botticelli. Then the rat Botticelli promises to lead Despereaux to the princess. Despereaux saves the princess and Roscuro's tail is cut off. Despereaux and Pea remain close friends.
Characters
Despereaux Tilling- The main protagonist of the story, Despereaux was born as a castle-mouse and the only living mouse of his mother's last litter and named by her from of the many depairs of that time. Despereaux has been an oddball among the mouse community from birth, as he was born sickly with a small body, huge ears, and his eyes open. He then grew up to be radically different from the other mice in character, choosing to read books instead of eating them, from where he develops a fascination toward fairy tales and learns from them ideas such as chivalry and courage, which his fearful peers dismiss as absurd. Through his large ears, Despereaux is able to listen to the music that the king plays for his daughter Princess Pea, and because of this, he is able to meet and fall in love with the human princess. This behavior, however, does not go unnoticed by the mice, and when he is sent to the dungeon as punishment, Despereaux must rely on his wits, bravery, and inner strength in order to save himself and the princess.
Princess Pea- The princess of Dor and the only child of the king and queen, Pea is a sharp-eyed and beautiful girl whom Despereaux grows to honor and love upon their first meeting as Pea also comes to adore the mouse. Though kind-hearted and loved by the people of the castle, Pea is often overcome with loneliness after her mother's death. Because of her title as a princess, Pea is not used to being told what to do and sometimes takes slight offense when someone doesn't appreciate her for her title. However, when her actions from the past cause her kidnapping, Pea comes to use her forgiveness, good nature, and place as royalty for the good of the other characters.
Chiaroscuro (Roscuro for short)- The antagonist of the story, Chiaroscuro (Roscuro) was born as one of the evil rats of the castle dungeon some years before Despereaux. Because of a match-related reprimand from the jailer, Roscuro comes to be fascinated by light, despite objections from fellow rats. However, his love of light is what causes him to make a grave mistake in the human world, resulting in him to plot revenge on the humans by kidnapping the princess. In the end, it is through Despereaux and the princess's actions and his true love for light that lead him to his self-redemption.
Miggery (Mig) Sow- Born in the countryside of Dor, Miggery Sow was an often-mistreated child, since nobody around her cared much on what she wanted, with her mother having passed away and her father selling her to a man when she was very young. With this man, Mig had to work for with no thanks for many years, though at her seventh birthday, an accidental meeting with the royal family causes Mig to wish to be a princess. When she becomes twelve, she is rescued from slavery by the soldiers of the castle, and she begins to be a serving-maid there, befriending Princess Pea but becoming an unintentional pawn in Roscuro's plan.
Appearances in other media
The Tale of Despereaux has been adapted into a CGI animated film. Scheduled for release in December 2008, the film features the voices of Matthew Broderick as Despereaux, Emma Watson as Princess Pea, Dustin Hoffman as Roscuro, and Tracey Ullman as Mig. Video games based on the film are due to be released for Playstation 2, Nintendo Wii, and Nintendo DS[citation needed]. Several short movie-based novels, including Hero's Quest, The Princess and The Mouse, and No Ordinary Mouse are also scheduled to be released.
External links
- The Tale of Despereaux on the author's website
- The Tale of Despereaux Official Movie Site
- A World Without Soup, book review in The New York Times, 16 November 2003
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