Reviews - The Tale of Despereaux

2.3k reviews for:

The Tale of Despereaux

Kate DiCamillo

4.01 AVERAGE

cnewquist's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous funny 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: No

Great to read with new readers

dawnackroyd's review against another edition

5.0

This is one of those books I should have read years ago. I have often heard it talked about but hadn't read it until now. I did get to hear Timothy Basil Eyring speak once though (maybe in 2012?? It was a Kaleidoscope Conference....a conference I still fondly remember!) and he totally sold me on the book.

There are some beautiful themes in this book: forgiveness, redemption, dreaming, love, and of course light...and more.

I read this aloud to my class. I was so struck by the beautiful words. I kept a sticky note pad nearby and mastered the art of reading while grabbing a sticky note and depositing it on the page.

res96's review against another edition

3.5

dark lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

zachtrotz's review against another edition

4.0

dark inspiring lighthearted reflective tense 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: Yes

jordanrod616's review against another edition

4.0

I was so hyped up about this soup in the book that is considered so good. My teacher made the soup one day and we watched the movie after having finished the book. I took one bite of the soup and hated it. Day was ruined. Good book though. I like how in the physical copy there are little imperfections on the pages like a mouse was nibbling at it. Very immersive.

meredith_i's review against another edition

2.5

dark sad

I'm glad I didn't read this as a kid. For one thing, it opens with main character being the only survivor of his litter. As a Sensitive Kid TM, that would have hit pretty hard, and it's basically par for the course. The worldview of this book is very dark and full of malevolence. In spite of the illustrations of the charming fairly tale mouse, this is more like an original Grimm version. Basically the first 3/4 of the book is characters being cruel to each other, because, we are told, it is in their nature. In the last quarter of the book, some characters redeem themselves, but it's only sweet if you can overlook the disturbing first sections.

Content Warnings