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These are the most recent 10 blog posts about The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread in JacketFlap's Children's Publishing Blog Reader

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The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread

Average rating
4 out of 5
Based on 190,892 Ratings and 12,958 Reviews

Book Description
Kate DiCamillo, author of the Newbery Honor book Because of Winn-Dixie, spins a tidy tale of mice and men where she explores the "powerful, wonderful, and ridiculous" nature of love, hope, and forgiveness. Her old-fashioned, somewhat dark story, narrated "Dear Reader"-style, begins "within the walls of a castle, with the birth of a mouse." Despereaux Tilling, the new baby mouse, is different from... More
Book Information
PublisherThorndike Press
BindingPaperback (53 editions)
Reading LevelAll Ages
# of Pages247
ISBN-101410415279
ISBN-13978-1410415271
Publication Date06/01/2004
Read the First Chapter of The Tale of Despereaux for Free
The Creators
Picture
About Kate Dicamillo (Author) : Kate Dicamillo is a published author of children's books. A published credit of Kate Dicamillo is The Tale of Despereaux: Special Signed Edition: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup and ... more
View Kate Dicamillo's profile

About Timothy Basil Ering (Illustrator) : Timothy Basil Ering is a published author, illustrator, and a narrator of children's books and young adult books. Some of the published credits of Timothy Basil Ering include The Tale of Despereaux: S... more
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Trailer for the feature film release of The Tale of Desperea...
Reader Comments
7/1/2010 Sheri Radford tagged as: I recommend

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4/27/2010 Mary Sandford said: Wonderful! No surprise it won the Newbery, but a bit of a surprise that the constant narrative to Reader worked so well.
tags: I recommend

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1/25/2010 Annette K

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11/24/2009 Cole Rush

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11/17/2009 jacklyn curb said:
This is the story is of a little mouse that does not live by the rules of the other mice, and finds great adventure. The little mouse’s name certainly does not sound like a brave, adventure seeking hero’s name, but that is the way it is supposed to be. DiCamillo talks directly to the reader at t... more

tags: 4 year old loved it, I recommend, I read

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10/10/2009 Nicole Acomb said: This story was so cute! I loved how the author spoke to the reader, and the lesson about consequences was cleverly intergraded into the story. I was a little surprised/confused with the large size of the font, paired with the short chapters, but very long length of the book (almost 300 pages).
tags: I read

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6/30/2009 Nicole Downing tagged as: I read

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6/23/2009 julia b tagged as: I read

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6/9/2009 Kelly Burstow said: Wonderfully written. My children loved me reading this book to them. I love reading it to them too! Great book to read aloud.

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5/16/2009 CORINTHIA JONES tagged as: I read

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5/12/2009 Debbie Williamson said: I love Kate DiCamillo and Despereaux is charming..
tags: I recommend

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4/26/2009 SJ Kessel said:
DiCamillo, K. (2003). The Tale of Despereaux. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press. 9780763625290 The Tale of Despereaux plays with both story structure and time to tell the tale of how an outsider and small mouse can save a human princess from a rat and misguided servant girl. The book, a Ne... more

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2/28/2009 Karen Chilton tagged as: I recommend

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2/17/2009 Harold Clark said: A great story by one of my favorite authors. An unlikely hero with big ears.
tags: I recommend

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12/23/2008 Ali B said: 167714
tags: newbery, juvenile

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12/22/2008 Cathy Voelker tagged as: I read

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12/10/2008 Jonathan Wilson

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12/2/2008 Sara Joiner tagged as: I recommend

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9/25/2008 celia Leary said: Beautiful illustrations and writing.
tags: I recommend, I read

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9/8/2008 k. stokes smith tagged as: I'm reading

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4/27/2008 Atthys Gage said: Winn Dixie was good, but Despereaux was tremendous.
tags: I recommend

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4/10/2008 Naomi Hawkins Rowe said: A superb book that is beautifully written and original. I only wish I had written it.
tags: Read it - it will make you want to be a better writer

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3/17/2008 Tracy Wymer tagged as: I recommend, I read

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3/9/2008 Blake Hoena tagged as: I read

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12/19/2007 jama rattigan tagged as: I recommend, Inspired me, I read

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8/21/2007 Becky Laney tagged as: challengetitles

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4/20/2007 Little Willow tagged as: I Read

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4/7/2007 j p said:
Spend enough time with this book and the narrative may start to grate on your nerves; however, DiCamillo's mimicing of fairy tale narrative is effective and inspiring to the right reader as I found out first hand. The main characters are dynamic and actually fall outside the realm of a normal fairy... more

tags: Inspired me, I recommend, I read

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1/11/2007 Tracy O'Daniel

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