The Tale of Despereaux

Kicking off an era of book reviews by Emerson students, here's a recommendation for summer reading from Molly!




When I first stared The Tale of Despereaux, I didn’t think it was the best book ever, but when I was into it, I noticed it was a really great book. The author, Kate DiCamillo, really rose my imagination. Despereaux was the main person. Well, he was a mouse. A little mouse, with big ears and a tiny body. He came to the world without knowing that a big adventure awaited him. He was the first kid mouse to ever take an amazing journey to the dungeon. He didn’t know that he would be fighting for true love, or that his tail would get chopped off!

He, a mouse who doesn’t exactly fit in, falls in love with a princess, but since he didn’t fit in he got sent to the dungeons by the orders of the Most Very Honored Head Mouse. Mainly, Despereaux wants to fight for the freedom to, “see the light,” as in, get out of the dungeon and see the Princess again.

The book made me feel sad at some times. One place is where Despereaux gets sent to the dungeon. I thought, “Oh no! He’s just a little mouse! He might not know how to handle himself!” but he handles himself all right. He even got out! Another part where it was sad was where the queen, who LOVED soup, got killed. She was so surprised that a little rat, named Roscuro, fell in her soup that she fainted and died on the spot! Also, it was at a special banquet she had prepared! Also, when she fell over, the whole banquet hall exploded! Her last words were, “There is a rat in my soup!”

The interesting parts were when a girl named Miggery Sow was mentioned. Also, when Despereaux finally got out of the dungeon.

In terms of stars, in my opinion, I would give it 5, because I loved the book. If you like Fantasy, like talking mice, you would definitely like this book. I know I did. I will definitely recommend this book to anyone who wants to read it. I hope you will enjoy it too if you read it!