Book Report: The Tale of Desperaux

book cover. source: www.stackingbooks.com

Title: The Tale of Desperaux

Author: Kate DiCamillo

Publisher: Walker Books

Genre: Adventure






Main Characters:
Desperaux, Roscuro, Princess, the King, Mig, Gregory, Botticelli, Hovis

Setting:
In the kingdom of Dor





Summary:

Desperaux was born with a small body and big ears. One day, he was caught interacting with the King and the Princess, Pea. He was then sent to the dungeon by the mouse council.

Roscuro lived in the dungeon with the other rats. One day, he saw light through the dungeon door when a prisoner was sent in. He wanted to see more, so he went outside and encountered the royal party. He jumped onto the chandelier but fell right into the Queen's soup. Surprised, the Queen jumped and fell. The room exploded. The Pea's glare of hatred towards Roscuro motivates him to seek for revenge towards her.

Mig's mom died when she was just a little girl, leaving her with her dad. They were poor. Her dad sold her to be a slave to a mean 'uncle'. One day, he saw the Pea with the royal family. She started dreaming to be a princess. Due to the queen's death, the king banned the bowl and soup from the kingdom. While the king's men were collecting bowls from every houses, Mig was taken to the palace to work as a servant, since slavery was forbidden. And there, she met the Pea.

To make his revenge plans came true, Roscuro tricked Mig into helping him to capture the Pea and lock her in the dungeon. In the dungeon, they had a small conversation which led to Mig realizing what actually was going on and decided to attack Roscuro.

Desperaux set on an adventure to rescue the Pea. He finally joined the Pea, Roscuro and Mig in the dungeon. In the end, the Pea stopped them all from fighting and decided to set things right.

Everyone's dream came true. Roscuro's dream of light. Desperaux who fell in love with the Pea had great adventures with her, and Mig became the princess of his dad, who was once a prisoner in the dungeon.


Personal Opinion:

I personally think this book is great. It is written with easily understandable words and phrases. The writer's style of writing, as if she is directly reading the story for us and interacts with us. I like how the characters, each with different background stories are introduced in seperate chapters and how they all meet each other and forms a great adventure story.