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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
A sweet and creative kids’ tale, engaging written, with distinct and memorable characters. I appreciated that each of the three main characters was introduced with a full “book” devoted to them, giving us a very complete back story. My six year old and I enjoyed reading this book together (and my three year old liked listening in). My nitpick is that I hated all the “dear reader” addresses- the trope grew tired quickly.
adventurous
hopeful
medium-paced
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Absolutely enchanting. This audiobook is just perfection.
My kids say “Five Stars!”
They liked the nice ending and I liked that the book explained new vocabulary and it was an adventure of a story
They liked the nice ending and I liked that the book explained new vocabulary and it was an adventure of a story
This was the first book I ever stayed up late to finish. That is all that needs to be said.
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I'm so sad that I didn't really enjoy this book. It has been on my TBR for ages. I'm a fan of other books by DiCamillo, and I appreciate her spectacular career. I was truly surprised to find that The Tale of Despereaux didn't speak to me as I had expected it would. Throughout the book I kept reminding myself that this is primarily because of my own preferences, of course-- my favorite aspects of literature are character development and rich description of setting and a sense of place, all things that felt extremely limited by the narrative voice and the (albeit purposefully) stereotyped characters. Despereaux is brave and honorable, Pea is beautiful and kind, rats are evil and greedy, and poor battered Miggery Sow is fat and stupid. At any rate, as much as the reader might sense greater depth in any of these characters, our narrator simply does not allow for it, and so it apparently cannot be. I agree wholeheartedly with the premise that "stories are light" but in the end I felt that the balance and distribution of darkness and light was terribly skewed and distorted in this particular case. *sigh*
Unique is a good word for this book. Honestly, just go in blind for this one. Don't have any expectation and just enjoy the ride.
I read this when I was pretty young (elementary school?) but I remember enjoying this immensely, reading it two or three times. I also remember how pretty the pages were because it was ragged.