The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread (A Middle-Grade Classic About Courage, Friendship, and Forgiveness for Kids Ages 7-10)

Purchased for eight year old little buddy. He was very happy.

This is one of my favorite chapter books to read aloud! Kate DiCamillo is such a masterful author, I love her! Her books always have such powerful life lessons that are so important young readers are exposed to.

Great story ... good for all ages!

Fantastic children’s book. I read this to my son so many times. It was his favorite book. 20 years later I made this purchase for him. He is giving it as a baby shower gift. I started reading it to him a bed time. So he could use his imagination to watch the story in his head while I read to him. It helped his memory as we only read 1 chapter a night so he had to remember where we were in the story as we progressed. It was awesome bonding time for us. I will never forget evening cuddles with my little boy reading.

Kate DiCamillo's- The Tale of Despereaux : Book Review Mark Culbertson, Gini Taylor, Janie Wells & Ashley Wood "Reader you must know that an interesting fate awaits everyone, mouse or man, who does not conform." -Stated by the "Narrator from The Tale of Despereaux [...] ( here is a cute pic, but I couldn't get it to copy and paste) Magical lands where mice are able to talk and become friends with a princess, that's the world that Kate DiCamillo offers in The Tale of Despereaux. According to Wikipedia.com, Kate wrote this story for a friend's son, who asked her to write a story about a hero with big ears. Despereaux is a mouse with big ears and a big imagination to match, as the reader will soon find. As in most of her books Kate takes the reader on a journey of awe and mystery. The Tale of Despereaux is an inspiring story of trial, triumph, and overall a transformation of character. "The story of a mouse, a princess, some soup and a spool of thread" is very inspirational, imaginative, intriguing and innovative. Although Despereaux, the main character, was different from the other mice that surrounded him, he used his uniqueness to overcome obstacles and change the lives of others, and ultimately had a big influence on his own self esteem. His daring feats throughout the story shows an underlying message of courage and ultimately proved that being who you want to be, and proceeding with your dreams will in the end be useful, not only to the primary person, but also to those surrounding them. It is a great story for children to read when trying to understand personal differences and uniqueness. Although the book is a fantasy, children can relate Despereaux's story to their lives easily. The book was well written it was easy to stay focused and caught up in what was happening in the book. When explaining what things looked like, she was very descriptive, for example describing the way the king slept," The king slept in his giant bed with his crown on his head and his hands on his chest, dreaming that his wife, the queen, was a bird with green and gold feathers who called his name, Phillip, Phillip, Phillip, without ceasing." This is a great book and everyone should read it. It brings you out of this world and takes you into a fantasy world with castles, kings, talking mice and rats, as well as a princess. You get caught up in this book and then you find that you can't put it down. The adventures of Despereaux will keep you reading because you will want to see if he succeeds in accomplishing what he had set out to do. You will be rooting for him to overcome the many obstacles that seem to always find their way to him. There is an interesting story of how Kate DiCamillo became the author of this exciting tale. She was asked by her son's best friend to write a story for him. He wanted the story to be about "an unlikely hero, with exceptionally large ears." When she asked him what happens to this character, he replied "That's why I want you to write the story, so we can find out." Works cited: DiCamillo, Kate. The Tale of Despereaux. April, 2006. Candle Press. Kate DiCamillo. Retrieved September 16, 2009. Last updated September 12, 2009, from Wikipedia: [...]

One of my all time favorite books from when I was a child. I read this all in one night as I had forgotten how much I loved it. Easy read for kids who like bigger books (probably 8-10 years, I first read it in 3rd grade). I’d always recommend this.

Born in a huge castle, Despereaux was a too-small mouse who only wished to love and live happily ever after. His family didn't understand him. The Mouse Council banished him to his doom in the castle dungeon to be eaten by rats. And through it all he didn't give up on loving the Princess Pea. Unfortunately, Despereaux's path would cross that of Roscuro, the rat who cause the death of Princess Pea's mother by falling into a bowl of soup, and Miggery Sow, a young girl sold by her father and abused by the man who bought her (clouted on the ear till she grew near-deaf). Through it all, despite the threat of certain death or being lost forever in the darkness of the dungeon (if the rats don't find him and eat him first!), Despereaux holds true to his love. Kate DiCamillo is also the author of THE TIGER RISING, BECAUSE OF WINN-DIXIE, two Mercy Watson books (about an adventure-seeking pig for younger readers), and the upcoming THE MIRACULOUS JOURNEY OF EDWARD TULANE. She's won the Newberry Award for both BECAUSE OF WINN-DIXIE and THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX. BECAUSE OF WINN-DIXIE was also made into a movie of the same name. THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX is the perfect book to read aloud to young pre-readers. Despite the author's flip-flopping back and forth in time to bring to life the supporting characters and backstory, those listeners will have no problem staying up with every move the tale makes. In fact, the telling grows even stronger because they can actually see the difficulties that lie ahead for Despereaux even before the mouse hero does. Added to that is Dicamillo's narrative when she gently addresses the reader and craftily pulls the reader and the listener more tightly into the grasp of her story. Magic truly takes shape on the pages of THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX. A Newberry-award winner, the book is probably on the shelves of most school libraries and is an Accelerated Reader book. Recommended to anyone who likes to read aloud to children, or to anyone who likes to be read to. Despite the thickness of the book, the story is over well before the reader/listener is ready to step away from it.

Great book!

I just finished reading this aloud to my children 7 year old and it was a magical experience. The chapters are short—perfect for "just one more" before bed—and the way the narrator speaks directly to the reader kept my kids completely captivated. . A modern classic for every family library! It deals with some heavy themes—sadness, betrayal!

My 5 year old and I absolutely loved this book. The moment it was finished he asked to read it over again. It is definitely not a simple book; the language can be advanced even for an adult, and many characters suffer trauma that is physical, psychological, maybe even existential. Had I read this book previously, I probably would have waited until my child was 6 or 7. Still, I loved the ending, which highlighted the healing power of vulnerability and empathy and granted most characters to a reasonable amount of redemption.

A história e as ilustrações do livro são ótimas, mas não gostei tanto da edição, é um livro em um tamanho mediano (eu achei pequeno, mas não chega a ser edição de bolso) e sem orelha. O selo na capa perde facilmente a cor. Mas no fim das contas achei que valeu o preço.

Aunque decía de uso, realmente está en excelente estado, las hojas no están dobladas.

小さいねずみ(Mouse)のDesperauxが、愛と使命に導かれ、美しい(人間の)姫を救出する物語。うーん、可愛らしいおとぎ話である。、、、にはとどまりません。そこには城の大広間と地下牢、MouseとRatなど、光の世界と影の世界が描かれています。そして皆、光に恋焦がれるのです。 光を知らずに生きて来たのに、ある日その美しさを知ってしまったRat、、、。主人公ではないですが彼の切なさは大人にも響くのではないでしょうか。