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The Tale of Despereaux: A Junior Novelization
This lively junior novelization of the film The Tale of Despereaux tells the story of several unlikely heroes: Despereaux, a brave mouse banished to the dungeon for speaking with a human; Roscuro, a good-hearted rat who loves light and soup, but is exiled to darkness; Pea, a Princess in a gloomy castle who is prisoner to her father's grief; and Mig, a servant girl who longs to be a Princess, but is forced to serve the jailer. An eight-page full-color insert of stills from the movie is included.
Kate DiCamillo's literary classic about Despereaux Tilling has enchanted children and adults around the globe. In this tale of bravery, forgiveness and redemption, one small creature teaches a kingdom that it takes only a little light to show the truth: What you look like doesn't equal what you are. Published in 23 languages, with more than 2 million copies in print, a New York Times #1 bestseller and winner of the Newbery Medal, The Tale of Despereaux is now animated adventure from Universal Pictures.
THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX is a trademark and copyright of Universal Studios. Licensed by Universal Studios Licensing LLLP. All Rights Reserved.
Kate DiCamillo's literary classic about Despereaux Tilling has enchanted children and adults around the globe. In this tale of bravery, forgiveness and redemption, one small creature teaches a kingdom that it takes only a little light to show the truth: What you look like doesn't equal what you are. Published in 23 languages, with more than 2 million copies in print, a New York Times #1 bestseller and winner of the Newbery Medal, The Tale of Despereaux is now animated adventure from Universal Pictures.
THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX is a trademark and copyright of Universal Studios. Licensed by Universal Studios Licensing LLLP. All Rights Reserved.
218 pages, Paperback
First published October 14, 2008
11 people are currently reading
283 people want to read
About the author
Jamie Michalak
42 books69 followersJamie Michalak is the author of more than thirty children's books, including the highly praised Joe and Sparky series of early readers; Frank and Bean; Dakota Crumb: Tiny Treasure Hunter; and Niki Nakayama: A Chef's Tale in 13 Bites, co-written with Debbi Michiko Florence.
When not writing, she can be found singing off-key, playing outside, or hanging with her two sons. Jamie was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, and grew up in the same neighborhood where Dr. Seuss once lived. She now resides in Barrington, Rhode Island.
When not writing, she can be found singing off-key, playing outside, or hanging with her two sons. Jamie was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, and grew up in the same neighborhood where Dr. Seuss once lived. She now resides in Barrington, Rhode Island.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 67 reviews
June 1, 2021
I really liked this book. It was a nice change of pace reading.
May 31, 2017
I ought to give it higher stars. It totally succeeds at its goal. This is a great book for reading aloud to a very small person. It isn't just a cutting down of the original- there's also a lot of cinimatic details added; a lot of places to make swashbuckling noises and gasps and other sound effects.
I can't help but think that one might as well just watch the movie, if one is going to cut out all the literary joy and add in sound effects, anyway.
I can't help but think that one might as well just watch the movie, if one is going to cut out all the literary joy and add in sound effects, anyway.
June 18, 2009
Despereaux is a good book beacause you learn that friendship is very important.In the end,the badguy rat gets eaten by his own cat.Everyone else lives happily ever after.The jailer finds his daughter,the mice learn not to be afraid,the kingdom of Dor allows soup and rats again,and Despereaux is a hero!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 16, 2016
This book is very interesting because of how a mouse can fall in love with a princess. I recommend this book that like fantasy a lot.
November 21, 2025
I'm giving benefit of the doubt in my rating, since I haven't seen the movie to tell how accurate this junior novelisation is. If even MOSTLY accurate, it's definitely a movie I would've hated:
1. It still goes hard on the mice/rats eat cheese myth (cheese is not a naturally occurring substance for them to as a species develop a fondness for it, besides that it's TOO SOFT for them!).
1a. (I'm surprised they like soup, too, but I guess that's more an olfactory thing.)
2. The art style is a little weird for my tastes.
3. The queen LITERALLY ? Seriously?
4. Mood weather: the king is sad, so the entire kingdom is sad. What.
5. Boldo the Genie seems criminally underutilised, for being a GENIE and all.
6. A mouse is cute but a rat is a hideous monster, okay. The plot must go on, I guess.
7. The fat girl is villainised and treated literally like a pig. Of course.
8. The ending feels so rushed as to be convoluted—everything wraps up in basically four pages (which isn't much when the "chapters" are at most six pages).
I could probably go on, but those are the things that stood out to me the most as I was reading (besides that the Mouse Council reminds me a lot of The Croods and this thinly-veiled metaphor about politics on the basis of fearmongering).
So at best I can give an okay review for the fact it really couldn't deviate too far from the movie without basically writing a completely different story... though I can't vouch that it DIDN'T do exactly that. Hmm. Anyway, benefit of the doubt, else I really didn't like it enough to recommend except to existing fans.
1. It still goes hard on the mice/rats eat cheese myth (cheese is not a naturally occurring substance for them to as a species develop a fondness for it, besides that it's TOO SOFT for them!).
1a. (I'm surprised they like soup, too, but I guess that's more an olfactory thing.)
2. The art style is a little weird for my tastes.
3. The queen LITERALLY ? Seriously?
4. Mood weather: the king is sad, so the entire kingdom is sad. What.
5. Boldo the Genie seems criminally underutilised, for being a GENIE and all.
6. A mouse is cute but a rat is a hideous monster, okay. The plot must go on, I guess.
7. The fat girl is villainised and treated literally like a pig. Of course.
8. The ending feels so rushed as to be convoluted—everything wraps up in basically four pages (which isn't much when the "chapters" are at most six pages).
I could probably go on, but those are the things that stood out to me the most as I was reading (besides that the Mouse Council reminds me a lot of The Croods and this thinly-veiled metaphor about politics on the basis of fearmongering).
So at best I can give an okay review for the fact it really couldn't deviate too far from the movie without basically writing a completely different story... though I can't vouch that it DIDN'T do exactly that. Hmm. Anyway, benefit of the doubt, else I really didn't like it enough to recommend except to existing fans.
April 6, 2023
This is nearly a scene for scene, word for word, script for the animated movie. This book was spattered with a handful of editing errors, mostly spelling related.
The characters were not well developed and further more the whole of the story was very much changed from the childhood story so many love. It was a fine book I just do not feel that the themes of inner light and darkness stood out from the events in the story. There were additional characters, though all the characters were relatively flat.
I was most disappointed in the changes of character seen in Despereaux and Princess Pea. Despereaux is an average male protagonist. He's not scared of anything, brash, somewhat simple, and though 'different' his peers look up to him until he is shunned by his community. Princess Pea becomes somewhat bratty, especially towards Miggery Sow, and her father is withdrawn and apathetic. A feeling she somewhat mirrors.
Nearly the opposite of the dear characters in the original story.
I'm very sad that it was this title and not the original that I shared with my 5th grade reading buddy. My reading buddy still enjoyed this book, her favorite character being Boldo. The food genie. As a human being who would love a sassy genie to help with the cooking, I thoroughly agree.
The characters were not well developed and further more the whole of the story was very much changed from the childhood story so many love. It was a fine book I just do not feel that the themes of inner light and darkness stood out from the events in the story. There were additional characters, though all the characters were relatively flat.
I was most disappointed in the changes of character seen in Despereaux and Princess Pea. Despereaux is an average male protagonist. He's not scared of anything, brash, somewhat simple, and though 'different' his peers look up to him until he is shunned by his community. Princess Pea becomes somewhat bratty, especially towards Miggery Sow, and her father is withdrawn and apathetic. A feeling she somewhat mirrors.
Nearly the opposite of the dear characters in the original story.
I'm very sad that it was this title and not the original that I shared with my 5th grade reading buddy. My reading buddy still enjoyed this book, her favorite character being Boldo. The food genie. As a human being who would love a sassy genie to help with the cooking, I thoroughly agree.
March 6, 2020
The Tale of Despereaux by:Jamie Michalak Kate DiCamillo, is a story very sad,and happy at the same time it has mystery and other amazing things,Despereaux was the smallest mouse that anyone had ever seen,but also the smartest and bravest of all,he met a princes,and become her friend,when roscuro,a rat from the story got mad at the princes he told a servant girl,that she could be the princes and she tied princes Pea with a rope and made her get down the stairs,down to the dungeon and Despereaux came brought help but not easy and helped princes pea get out the dungeon and lived happily ever after because nothing wrong happened at the end,except good things happened,the servant girl came to his house,and his dad give her a hug and said sorry,and roscuro said sorry to the princes and lived in peace.I think this is a good story that everyone will like and I really recommend it,and hope you read it.
April 26, 2018
I give it a solid 3 stars.
It was written well enough for children to mostly understand, but it was very choppy and didn’t flow very well. I felt like I was reading a retelling of the movie and felt like the movie would be better presented then this novel because this novel lacks descriptive detail. The paragraphs sometimes jump from here to there and back again (like in a movie) without enough explanation and detail to make it flow. Overall, for children, it was fine, but I wouldn’t read for myself again and would probably recommend to others to just read the original novel.
It was written well enough for children to mostly understand, but it was very choppy and didn’t flow very well. I felt like I was reading a retelling of the movie and felt like the movie would be better presented then this novel because this novel lacks descriptive detail. The paragraphs sometimes jump from here to there and back again (like in a movie) without enough explanation and detail to make it flow. Overall, for children, it was fine, but I wouldn’t read for myself again and would probably recommend to others to just read the original novel.
December 1, 2022
Dark and depressing.
My 7 year old School, had every child read this book. And this was the whole school. What were they thinking? When asked about why. The guy said, "I like it." How? How is this appropriate for all ages?
This is not appropriate for little kids.
Dark and depressing.
My 7 year old School, had every child read this book. And this was the whole school. What were they thinking? When asked about why. The guy said, "I like it." How? How is this appropriate for all ages?
This is not appropriate for little kids.
Dark and depressing.
July 1, 2017
I really struggled to enjoy this, I keep thinking I'd like the actual novel better than this juvenile version. My boys aged 9 & 6 loved it, so it worked for them. It was choppy and confusing for me.
February 3, 2018
Fun read aloud to the kids. A bit of jumping around so characters and plot needed to be explained a few times, but otherwise we all enjoyed the book.
October 24, 2019
A perfect read aloud for third grade students. The heart of the story has been preserved and will provide excitement and deep conversations about feelings.
May 12, 2020
What is written on your heart map? Is it hatred, despair, kindness, empathy? This is a short and sweet tale of a mouse saving a princess or rather, good vs. evil. It made me think.
January 12, 2021
I couldn't finish. I think I need to read the original instead of this movie version.
October 19, 2022
Natalie says 4 3/4 and Charlotte and Mommy give it 2 stars
October 1, 2023
After seeing the movie I saw a copy of the book in a thrift shop, no second thought I needed to have the copy. I fell in love with the book.
April 8, 2024
“The Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread”
I previously watched the movie that this book is based on, so I knew exactly how the story would go even before opening it. Despite this, I was still taken in by the tale and was even helped along by the images and voices that easily came to me while reading.
This book was nice and sweet, and I was quick at reading it, as I was engaged in the adventure and terror. Having the movie scenes in my head made it almost like an audiobook, despite just reading it the old fashioned way.
The book is over 200 pages, but it’s styled like a children’s book—with large text and generous margins. As it is based on a movie, a lot of the text is dialogue, narration, and physical description, but once in a while, the story included something that I didn’t pick up from the movie, such as the fact that Boldo is a genie (I always assumed he was some other strange magical element).
While the title talks about Despereaux the mouse, there are quite a few more “main” characters in this book. For one thing, Despereaux doesn’t come in until chapter eight. It really starts with Roscuro, the rat who sets the darkness in motion. There is also a serving girl named Miggery Sow, whose own pain dictates a lot of what happens in the story. Other characters include Princess Pea, a reactionary character at most, the mice in Despereaux’s village who don’t understand his desire for boldness, the rats of the dungeon with whom Roscuro doesn’t fit in either, and the miscellaneous characters within the castle who play smaller roles.
I love how the themes of this story tie in so nicely with the characters. Roscuro is a rat who has an affinity for light, which sets him apart from the other rats, while Despereaux is a mouse who values bravery and courage, which sets him apart from the other mice. Many of the characters face hardship in different forms, which leads to the ultimate theme of the story: the duality of grief and forgiveness. The relationships between the characters also reflect this beautifully.
As I mentioned, most of the description was physical, but I found it really well done. It matched the movie exactly as I pictured, and I was never drawn out of the flow of the words. It was simplistic and fun—great for young readers.
The scenes all followed the movie, so the pacing wasn’t bad, but I was surprised just how far into the book the main action started. Given Despereaux was only introduced in chapter 8, I shouldn’t have been surprised, but the book was nearly over before the “turn” from light to darkness.
This book is a great choice for kids—and for those who enjoyed the movie. I highly recommend it!
I previously watched the movie that this book is based on, so I knew exactly how the story would go even before opening it. Despite this, I was still taken in by the tale and was even helped along by the images and voices that easily came to me while reading.
This book was nice and sweet, and I was quick at reading it, as I was engaged in the adventure and terror. Having the movie scenes in my head made it almost like an audiobook, despite just reading it the old fashioned way.
The book is over 200 pages, but it’s styled like a children’s book—with large text and generous margins. As it is based on a movie, a lot of the text is dialogue, narration, and physical description, but once in a while, the story included something that I didn’t pick up from the movie, such as the fact that Boldo is a genie (I always assumed he was some other strange magical element).
While the title talks about Despereaux the mouse, there are quite a few more “main” characters in this book. For one thing, Despereaux doesn’t come in until chapter eight. It really starts with Roscuro, the rat who sets the darkness in motion. There is also a serving girl named Miggery Sow, whose own pain dictates a lot of what happens in the story. Other characters include Princess Pea, a reactionary character at most, the mice in Despereaux’s village who don’t understand his desire for boldness, the rats of the dungeon with whom Roscuro doesn’t fit in either, and the miscellaneous characters within the castle who play smaller roles.
I love how the themes of this story tie in so nicely with the characters. Roscuro is a rat who has an affinity for light, which sets him apart from the other rats, while Despereaux is a mouse who values bravery and courage, which sets him apart from the other mice. Many of the characters face hardship in different forms, which leads to the ultimate theme of the story: the duality of grief and forgiveness. The relationships between the characters also reflect this beautifully.
As I mentioned, most of the description was physical, but I found it really well done. It matched the movie exactly as I pictured, and I was never drawn out of the flow of the words. It was simplistic and fun—great for young readers.
The scenes all followed the movie, so the pacing wasn’t bad, but I was surprised just how far into the book the main action started. Given Despereaux was only introduced in chapter 8, I shouldn’t have been surprised, but the book was nearly over before the “turn” from light to darkness.
This book is a great choice for kids—and for those who enjoyed the movie. I highly recommend it!
December 4, 2023
I think this book is AMAZING! If you like adveture then you have to read this book. It is about a medievil time mouse. And a town that loves soup. Hope you like it.
July 9, 2023
This is basically the movie script published as a novel. I picked it up, thinking it was the orginal novel, and ended up being so disappointed. If you want an actually good novel, pick up the original. Don't waste your time with this.
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February 20, 2009 This book is about a little young baby mouse that is called Despereaux. He is not like the other mice. For example he has huge ears and he is not scared of a human. Also when they show him a knife everybody but him gets scared or screams. In the beggining he is born with his huge ears. He starts roming the castle where the mice live. There are rules the rats have to follow or else if they dont follow them they might die. One of the first rules to stay alive is never ever talk to a human. Another rule is to not let a human or a cat see you or you will either get eaten or killed. DESPEREAUX was the kind of mouse that never listened to any body. Inthe beggining after he was born he went to school and then he started roming the castle. It turns out that Despereaux fell in love with the princess and he started talking to her and her name was princess PEA. When the king found out that he was talking to her he got in trouble and got sent to a dungeon. He met a cruked mouse. His name was CHIAROSCURO he burnt his whisker with a macth. Princess pea teaches Despereaux how to read and not eat the books. Roscuro was nice and tried to save Desperaux but when princess pea dishonors his friendship he turns cruel wants to get revenge. Then he kidnapps Princess Pea and thats when despereaux has to stand up for her and fight Chiaroscuro "Roscuro" for short. When the fight was over Despereaux was Princess Pea's great and shining armor. What i learned from this book is that even if you are small you can still make difference.
September 24, 2011
1. The Tales of Despereaux is a fantasy novel.
2. The book retells the adventures of a mouse and a rat who cross paths through an unfortunate incident with a bowl of soup. They each discover that being a hero and rescuing the Princess is not as easy as they think and will cost more than they expect.
3. In this novel, the theme of loss is stronger than one would expect. A daughter has lost her mother, a mouse has lost his family, a rat has lost his freedom and an entire town has lost their hope all because of soup. The pain felt by Gregory the jailer is especially deep. “Even in the weak lamplight, the pain etched across the jailer’s face was visible (124)” and Desperaux’s mother and father feel an equally deep loss when he is banished from the community. To tackle such deep family loss within a children’s book can be difficult. The sense of loss is not too overpowering because of the fanciful characters and tales of medieval adventures. Children of any age need to address these types of themes and novels such as this one can be a safe and healthy venue to discuss them.
4. Characterization is one of the strongest elements in this junior novel. Language Arts assignments using the novel could include drawing the characters based on their physical characteristics and then comparing those physical traits with their internal ones. Despereaux’s oversized ears, Roscuro’s red eyes and Mig’s pig-like features could all be discussed as contributions to character development.
2. The book retells the adventures of a mouse and a rat who cross paths through an unfortunate incident with a bowl of soup. They each discover that being a hero and rescuing the Princess is not as easy as they think and will cost more than they expect.
3. In this novel, the theme of loss is stronger than one would expect. A daughter has lost her mother, a mouse has lost his family, a rat has lost his freedom and an entire town has lost their hope all because of soup. The pain felt by Gregory the jailer is especially deep. “Even in the weak lamplight, the pain etched across the jailer’s face was visible (124)” and Desperaux’s mother and father feel an equally deep loss when he is banished from the community. To tackle such deep family loss within a children’s book can be difficult. The sense of loss is not too overpowering because of the fanciful characters and tales of medieval adventures. Children of any age need to address these types of themes and novels such as this one can be a safe and healthy venue to discuss them.
4. Characterization is one of the strongest elements in this junior novel. Language Arts assignments using the novel could include drawing the characters based on their physical characteristics and then comparing those physical traits with their internal ones. Despereaux’s oversized ears, Roscuro’s red eyes and Mig’s pig-like features could all be discussed as contributions to character development.
May 20, 2015
In this Fantasy novel The Tale of Despereaux By Kate DiCamillo is about a small mouse that's born into cold stone walls of a castle. He's the last of the litter even though e he may die, his mother names him Despereaux meaning 'Despair'. Unlike other mice Despereaux is born with unusually large ears and is born with his eyes open also he's uninterested in mice activities and prefers listening to the music that the king makes with his guitar. After breaking mouse rules Despereaux is sent to the dungeon to be eaten by rats. This sparks where his quest starts and through twists and turns Despereaux is molded into a brave and daring mouse. I personally did not like this book as much as I anticipated to be, it has a great tale and respectful meaning but did not catch my eye. I'm not an avid reader of fantasy's but I'd recommend this book to anyone that loves Fairy Tales and a happy ending.
April 29, 2015
The Tale of Despereaux Summary by Kate DiCamillo was one of my favorite books growing up. I used to read it over and over again. It is about a mouse, named Despereaux, who lives in a castle with very large ears. Aside from looking different than the other mice, he is interested in different things. One day, he runs into the princess and talks to her, which breaks the mouse rules. He is in big trouble with his family and embarks on an adventure to get himself out of trouble. The book is split up into four different sections, with each section telling a story of a new character. That makes the book very unique because you get to hear about many different events from different perspectives. My favorite part about this book is the attachment I feel to Despereaux, and how well the author portrays the characters.
January 10, 2009
I picked this up on accident. I meant to read the original book. I haven't seen the movie yet, so I can't say how they compare, but going on the way the scenes are cut in this book I'd say they're nearly identical. That said, the author does a good job of making it seem like a well-narrated book instead of a novelization of something with very little narration.
From just starting the original book, I can see why some of the themes wouldn't be appropriate for very young readers, so this might be a good idea for them; however, if they really love this story they're going to have a rude awakening when they grow up and read the original novel. I don't know if the story is different, but the tone is much darker and Despereaux himself seems a bit different.
From just starting the original book, I can see why some of the themes wouldn't be appropriate for very young readers, so this might be a good idea for them; however, if they really love this story they're going to have a rude awakening when they grow up and read the original novel. I don't know if the story is different, but the tone is much darker and Despereaux himself seems a bit different.
October 26, 2013
1. Genre- Traditional Literature
2. Awards- None
3. Grade Level- 3-5
4. This was a cute story about a mouse's quest to save a princess. After reading the story, I will have the students get in three groups. I will assign each of the groups one of the main characters. The groups will then come up with a character chart about the character. Then, the students will use these charts to write a paragraph about one of the three character, whichever they chose. I think this is a good activity to use with this book because the characters' personalities are very clear cut, which is helpful when students are learning or practicing characterization.
2. Awards- None
3. Grade Level- 3-5
4. This was a cute story about a mouse's quest to save a princess. After reading the story, I will have the students get in three groups. I will assign each of the groups one of the main characters. The groups will then come up with a character chart about the character. Then, the students will use these charts to write a paragraph about one of the three character, whichever they chose. I think this is a good activity to use with this book because the characters' personalities are very clear cut, which is helpful when students are learning or practicing characterization.
January 22, 2009
I read this with my daughter. We both thought this was an incredibly cute story and we can't wait to see the movie. I didn't realize that this was not the version of the book written my Kate DiCamillo. The version we read was the novelization of the movie, so it was probably a little bit different from the original book. My daughter is currently reading DiCamillo's book in her classroom with her teacher, so we won't bother reading that one. But I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a fun book to read with their children!
October 29, 2016
The Tale of Despereaux: A Junior Novelization is a cute story about a mouse and a rat. This book is one that children are sure to enjoy, and it also contained pictures of what the main characters looked like in the movie. I didn't mean to pick up this book I wanted the original book, but I enjoyed reading this book. This book is easy for children to read and one that they will probably enjoy due to having animals in the story. After reading this story I really want to read the original story and see how the jr. novel and actual story compare.
November 18, 2016
The book The Tale of Depereaux by Jamie Michalak is about a mouse who is differnt from everyone else who goes on an adventure and meets a princess. He makes some promisess to her but he gets sent down to the dungeon with the rats because he broke the rule of no talking to humans. He ends up having an adventure with some of his friends and saves the day from the rats. I realy enjoyed this book because it has a lot of action and adventure and it is fantasy. I reccomend this book to anyone that like adventure and fantasy books.
February 6, 2009
This was totally a five! I loved the part where a mouse was brave enough to meet the princess and he even saved her from all of the rats. This rat liked the sun and was different from all other rats, but then he became bad. And then at the end, he helped Despereaux save the princess.
This book taught me that no matter how small or tall you are, it doesn't matter. All that matters is if you can be brave or not. I'm small just like Despereaux and I can still be brave!
This book taught me that no matter how small or tall you are, it doesn't matter. All that matters is if you can be brave or not. I'm small just like Despereaux and I can still be brave!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 20, 2015
I have just read the fictional fantasy novel, The Tale Of Despereaux, written by Kate Dicamillo. In the story, a mouse (Despereaux) is an outcast who is sent to the dungeon for falling in love with a human princess (Princess Pea). A rat (Roscuro) then kidnaps the beautiful princess and Despereaux decides he must go on a quest to save her. I rated this book three stars because it was enjoyable, but did not meet up with the age group it was written to represent.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 67 reviews