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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
The Tale of Desperaux was very sweet and had a good feel to it, a feel that only books by Kate DiCamillo have.
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Confinement, Slavery, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Ableism, Animal death, Classism
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
“The world is dark, and the light is precious.
Come closer, dear reader.
You must trust me.
I am telling you a story.”
— Katie DiCamillo
What an interesting story. It reminds me of old “dark versus light” fairy tales. This story is about non-conformists — a mouse, a rat, a serving girl and even a princess. In this 4-part book, you will read about all their stories. Most of the characters live in a dark world of abuses and hardships, which has really become the norm for them and those around them, until ... the light. Each (the mouse, rat and serving girl) get exposed to, and then long for, the light — the kind of world that the princess has of love and care and kindness and hope.
I love how this story is told. I love that the narrator speaks directly to the reader, even asking for our participation. I love the lessons that can be pulled and shared from this book about hardships, forgiveness — moral and spiritual lessons. This book is probably NOT for little kids. As with many fairy tales, the dark can be really dark (depressing, sad) but for older kiddos I think this helps see how dazzling the light really is. Enjoy!
Come closer, dear reader.
You must trust me.
I am telling you a story.”
— Katie DiCamillo
What an interesting story. It reminds me of old “dark versus light” fairy tales. This story is about non-conformists — a mouse, a rat, a serving girl and even a princess. In this 4-part book, you will read about all their stories. Most of the characters live in a dark world of abuses and hardships, which has really become the norm for them and those around them, until ... the light. Each (the mouse, rat and serving girl) get exposed to, and then long for, the light — the kind of world that the princess has of love and care and kindness and hope.
I love how this story is told. I love that the narrator speaks directly to the reader, even asking for our participation. I love the lessons that can be pulled and shared from this book about hardships, forgiveness — moral and spiritual lessons. This book is probably NOT for little kids. As with many fairy tales, the dark can be really dark (depressing, sad) but for older kiddos I think this helps see how dazzling the light really is. Enjoy!
adventurous
hopeful
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death of parent
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
I am thoroughly enchanted by this little book. The narrator style was charmingly Dickensian with its little homilies on light and dark, on forgiveness and the broken-hearted. I was expecting a cute story about a mouse and instead found a treatise on courage and the value of soup. I imagine this would be great to read to children nightly, since the chapters are short and episodic, but I enjoyed it thoroughly as an adult reader. I'll definitely be returning to this little treasure in the future.
fast-paced
I love DiCamillo, but I don't know, this one just doesn't do it for me.