The Tale of Despereaux
Kate DiCamillo (2003)
“A mouse who loves music and light and a princess falls in love with a story, and the story saves them both.”
Short Summary
Despereaux Tilling is a mouse born with oversized ears and open eyes who falls in love with a human princess, music, and light. His own community banishes him to the dungeon for breaking mouse law. Meanwhile, a rat named Roscuro, scarred by a moment of beauty that was taken from him, plots to destroy the princess. A servant girl named Miggery Sow, who has been sold and beaten and dreams of being a princess, is manipulated into helping. The three storylines converge in the dungeon, where Despereaux must rescue the princess with nothing but courage and a story.
Detailed Summary
The Tale of Despereaux is told in four books, each following a different character toward the same convergence point: the dungeon beneath the castle of a king who has outlawed soup. Book One follows Despereaux Tilling, a mouse born different — small, sickly, with enormous ears and eyes open at birt...