The Tale of Despereaux- Kate DiCamillo

DiCamillo, K. (2003). The Tale of Despereaux. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press, 271 pp.
Fairy Tales, Newberry, 2004

"The story of an unlikely hero"--"Being the story of a mouse, a princess, some soup, and a spool of thread"
Despereaux Tilling, born half size, extra large eared and with open eyes, is determined to be doomed by parents and siblings alike. Nonetheless he survives to demonstrate unusual perceptions and great valor. He follows the "sound of honey" to discover human music and falls in love with the luminous adolescent princess Pea, breaking the greatest mouse law by talking with her. He is caught in the act and betrayed to the mouse council by his brother and father and is sentenced to death by banishment to the dark, rat infested dungeon of the castle. There he is rescued by the noble jailer and, in exchange for a story of light (the key image in this book) he is hidden in a napkin and returned to the surface by the piggish, ever-clouted serving girl who would be princess, Miggery Sow. Chiaroscuro the rat has also witnessed the radiance of the regal aboveworld, but found royal rejection, rather than love, upon falling into the Queen's beloved soup and causing her to expire of heartattack. Roscuro longs for revenge. He hatches a plot with Miggery Sow to kidnap Pea and consign her to the dungeon, but Despereaux learns of it and braves the dark again to rescue his beloved. In true courtly love fashion, he must brave the underworld of Rats and appeal to the underdeveloped humanity of Miggery Sow to save Pea. Furthermore, he realizes the need to forgive Roscuro, who is ultimately allowed to dwell in the light of the aboveground level, where mice, or rather mouse, can speak to humans freely and there is a repeal of the king's previous ban on soup.

This book contains some interesting deviations on traditional archetypes, the questing night is an undersized mouse, the villain is a rat touched by the desire to seek light and the half-formed knave is an abused, clouted-eared pigfaced girl. It is a fairy-tale take on the courtly love novel and wends interestingly between these traditions. Notably, the author frequently addresses the reader directly and refers to classic motifs such as "the quest", "the knight in shining armor" and concepts of love and honor. There is also a deliberate cosmology of light and darkness, surface and subworld, good and evil, and life and death that tie this book to classic stories. The reader is also questioned and schooled in the meaning of words such as "perfidy", "chiaroscuro", and the concept of the "vicious circle". The myth of Theseus and the Minotaur is also invoked by two occasions of using rope and thread to track one's path in the dark labyrinth.

Adolescents may or may not appreciate this story, depending on their affinity for classical, especially courtly stylistic elements. Truthfully, I liked the story but felt occasionally irritated by some of the conventions. Race is addressed by the separations between the human, mouse and rat worlds and social class is emphasized in the differences between Miggery and Pea and the absurd desire of the former to take over the role of the latter. Age has some bearing, for the older mice and humans are cruel, ignorant and even foolish when compared to the hero and heroine. Despereaux illustrates the triumph of the exceptionalized other, and later loses his tail to remind us of his differences. Miggery Sow suffers continuous blows to the ears to the point of near total deafness. She and the king are each described as being "not the sharpest knife in the drawer". Also, the following quote especially concerns adolescents. . .

"Reader, you must know that an interesting fate. . . awaits almost everyone, mouse or man, who does not conform." (25)

I would recommend this book as an individual choice, particularly for readers who fancy this genre and I might read a short excerpt aloud to demonstrate different stylistic elements and unusual voices. It could act as a possible bridge to a classic for courtly love novels or questing literature. Theseus and the Minotaur are lurking in here as well.
I think middle school students and a few older students would be best served by this book.

I enjoyed the basic story and occasionally appreciated some of the language artistry of this book, but didn't find it particularly rivetting or revelatory on the whole. Maybe I'm being jaded, there were excellent virtues introduced, but I wanted a little quicker pace. Nice illustrations by the "Story of Frog Belly Rat Bone" guy. (Now that's an odd and excellent picturebook.)