The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo (2003)

This Newberry Award winning book is about a mouse named Despereaux, a rat name Chiaroscuro, a girl named Miggery Sow and a princess named Pea. Despereaux is a unique mouse that finds himself in the presence of Princess Pea. He allows her to pet him and for that he is sentenced to death by the Mouse Council. Miggery Sow is a girl that is sold to be a slave, and when this is found out, she is sent to live in the castle. She is excited to live in the castle because she one day dreams of becoming a princess. While she is in the castle, she meets Chiaroscuro who was the one responsible for the Queen's death and wants to get revenge. He tricks Miggery into bringing the princess down to the dungeon where she will be chained up forever. Despereaux escapes from the dungeon after hearing Chiaroscuro's plan and ends up saving the princess.

I absolutely loved this book. The way the author changed perspectives gave the story a lot of life and made it more interesting. I also liked how it was a story written for students, but it is one that adults could easily enjoy. There were several adult-directed parts such as the art terms "Chiaroscuro" as the name for the main rat, and "Botticelli" as the name for the evil rat. Although it is a typical story where a hero saves a damsel-in-distress, there are a lot of exciting events that keep you guessing along the way. One thing I noticed that this author did well, was the introduction of new vocabulary. The way it was introduced, the word wasn't always defined, but it gave enough clues within the context to help the reader figure out what it means. The author also 'talked' directly to the reader at certain points in the book. This really helps to draw you into the story so you feel like you really are taking part in the plot. The book has several illustrations through out, all of them complimentary to the text. The illustrations also help you create a vision of the characters and setting.

I think this book would be great for almost any grade. I could see it being a read aloud book to younger elementary and an independent read for older elementary grades. I could also see where it could create some interesting projects and group work through the use of different character perspectives. Since this book has been adapted to a movie, I could see a project where the class would read the book and watch the movie to compare and contrast.