TITLE: The Tale of Desperaux Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of ThreadAUTHOR: Kate DiCamillo
STARTED: November 17, 2008
FINISHED: November 19, 2008
PAGES: 270
GENRE: Juvenile
FIRST SENTENCE: The story begins within the walls of a castle, with the birth of a mouse.
SUMMARY: [From barnesandnoble.com] This is the story of Desperaux Tilling, a mouse in love with music, stories, and a princess named Pea. It is also the story of Miggery Sow, a slow-witted serving girl with a simple, impossible wish. These characters are about to embark on a journey that will lead them down into a horrible dungeon, up into a glittering castle, and ultimately, into each other's lives.
And what happens then?
Listeners, it is your destiny to find out.
THOUGHTS: This was a fantastic, moralistic fairy tale with just enough whimsy. (Seriously, who doesn't love soup?) I enjoyed teh way that DiCamillo was able to craft a story that felt current and timeless at the same time. Desperaux embodies all the qualities you want in a fairy tale hero. He also has just enough fear and cowardice in him to make his character feel relateable. Even the villians in this tale come across as sympathetic. There are bad guys but they aren't all bad. Instead of crafting a black and white fairy tale, DiCamillo was able to craft a story in shades of gray.
The one drawback I saw to the story was the DiCamillo seems to rely on stereotypes (i.e. Weight can tell you how good a person is). This frustrated me a little, but there was enough gray in the story that this issue did not cloud the whole book.
I can't wait to see the movie - I have this feeling that they will keep the essence of the story as well as be able to successfully expand it into a full length feature film.
RATING: 8/10 [Terrific]
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