The Tale of Despereaux (, ) is a 2003 children's fantasy book written by Kate DiCamillo. The main plot follows the adventures of a mouse named Despereaux Tilling, as he sets out on his quest to rescue a beautiful human princess from the rats. The book won the 2004 Newbery Medal award and has been adapted into a film, a video game, and a stage musical.
Accolades
In 2007 the U.S. National Education Association listed the book as one of its "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children", based on an online poll. Teachers also made it a summer reading project. In 2012 it was ranked number 51 among all-time children's novels in a survey published by School Library Journal—the second of three books by DiCamillo in the Top 100.
Plot
Book I: A Mouse Is Born
A small, sickly mouse named Despereaux Tilling is born in a castle with his eyes open (most mice are born blind). Despereaux, unlike other mice, spends much time reading, and particularly enjoys a book about a knight saving a princess and living happily ever after. One day while reading, he hears music that sounds like honey. He follows the sound, which leads him to Princess Pea and King Philip. He sits at the king's feet to hear the music, falls in love with the princess, and speaks to her. The king leads the mouse away because mice are related to rats, who were outlawed some years ago. Furlough Tilling, Despereaux's brother, sees this, and tells his father, Lester. Lester calls the mouse council as Furlough goes to collect Despereaux. The mouse council orders Despereaux to be sent to the dungeon to die, because talking to a human is forbidden. When Despereaux goes into the dungeon, he meets Gregory, the jailer, who saves him because Despereaux tells him a nice story.
Book II: Chiaroscuro
Book II centers around a rat named Roscuro who loved the light and was less vicious and cunning than the other rats. After he took a red table cloth from a prisoner who confessed that he traded his own daughter for it and didn't look back at her when he left her, Roscuro decided to go into the light; against the wishes of his friend, Botticelli Remorso. He climbed onto a chandelier, above a banquet. However, he fell into the queen's soup, and the queen, whose habit was to state the obvious, said "there's a rat in my soup" before dying. The princess, now hostile to Roscuro, ordered him to leave. Roscuro, angry, desired revenge against the princess. The king, upset by the death of his wife, banned the use of spoons, soup, bowls, and rats.
Book III: The Tale of Miggery Sow
Many years before Despereaux and Roscuro were born, a six-year-old girl named Miggery "Mig" Sow witnesses the death of her ill mother. Afterward, Mig is sold to work by her father for some cigarettes, a hen, and a red tablecloth to a man Mig calls Uncle. Uncle often clouts Mig's ears, leaving her partially deaf. Mig decides, upon seeing the princess pass by on a horse, that she wants to be a princess. Mig is then sent to work in the castle by the King's soldiers, who tell "Uncle" that no human being is allowed to own another. In the castle, she gains a lot of weight, with only her head staying small. Mig's main job is to go down to the dungeons to deliver Gregory the jailer his meal and, while there, she meets Roscuro and confesses to him that her greatest wish is to become a princess. Gregory gives her a handkerchief, Despereaux in it, and returns to the castle. Roscuro convinces Mig that if she helps him kidnap Princess Pea, he'll make her a servant girl so Miggery Sow can become a princess.
Book IV: Recalled to the Light
Despereaux escapes the dungeons on a tray of Gregory's that Mig brings back to the kitchen, where he hears her conversation with Roscuro. However, Despereaux is soon discovered by Mig and Cook. Cook, as a mouse-hating woman, orders Mig to kill Despereaux. She explains to Mig that her philosophy with mice is "kill 'em, even if they're already dead". When Despereaux is attempting to flee, Mig chops off his tail with a knife so that she can tell Cook that she got a part of the "meecy". Despereaux spends the night in pain, sleeping on a sack of flour. He dreams of the castle's knights in shining armor, darkness, and light. However, when the knight removes their helmet, the shining armor is empty. Despereaux begins to doubt "happily ever after" and everything he has read and starts to weep. Meanwhile, Roscuro leads Mig to Princess Pea's room with a knife in one hand and a candle in the other to lead Princess Pea to the dungeon.