“This story begins within the walls of a castle, with the birth of a mouse. A small mouse. The last mouse born to his parents and the only one of his litter to be born alive. The illustrations within the book were not as common as I had hoped but I loved the all the same, the art was so much like the kind which was in my bedtime reading books as a child and I think that added to my feelings about this book being a bedtime book. I would love to be sat reading this to a 6 or 7 year old at bed and teach them a few things about trust and friendship and kindness. It was a very refreshing tale.
I think my favorite character was Despereaux but I really liked a couple of the others, like the threadmaster and the Princess Pea, even if she was a little spoilt. There were a lot of nasty characters but that gave the book more of a fairytale feel so I didn’t mind at all. Some of them got what they deserved and others turned out to be nicer so I can’t complain! I also really liked Gregory and what he did for Despereaux.
As mentioned this book is just begging to be read aloud. It is definitely being kept for when I have kids. I bought and read the book because I knew that Kate DiCamillo has a new book, Flora & Ulysses due out later this year and I wanted to have read some of her earlier stuff before I read that. I think The Tales of Despereaux is a great introduction to the author and it has made me even more excited for her next book. I really couldn’t recommend this book any more if I tried and will be shouting out about it for moths to come.
The Tales of Despereaux was published in 2003 by Walker Books. My copy was purchased from an independent bookstore when on holiday.
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