The Tale of Despereaux: The Graphic Novel

by Matt Smith, David Tilton

This fresh new graphic format, featuring all-new artwork inspired by the film The Tale of Despereaux, is destined to bring Kate DiCamilllo's award-winning classic to an even wider audience.

The Tale of Despereaux tells the story of several unlikely Despereaux, a brave mouse banished to the dungeon for speaking with a human; Roscuro, a good-hearted rat who loves light and soup, but is exiled to darkness; Pea, a Princess in a gloomy castle who is prisoner to her father's grief; and Mig, a servant girl who longs to be a Princess, but is forced to serve the jailer. Refusing to live his life cowering, Despereaux befriends Princess Pea and learns to read (rather than eat) books - reveling in stories of knights, dragons and fair maidens. Banished from Mouse World for being more man than mouse, Despereaux is rescued by another outcast, Roscuro, who wants to hear the tales. But when the Princess dismisses Roscuro's friendship, he becomes the ultimate rat and plots revenge with fellow outsider Mig. After Pea is kidnapped, Despereaux discovers he is the only one who can rescue her.

Kate DiCamillo's literary classic about Despereaux Tilling has enchanted children and adults around the globe. In this tale of bravery, forgiveness and redemption, one small creature teaches a kingdom that it takes only a little light to show the What you look like doesn't equal what you are. Published in 23 languages, with more than 2 million copies in print, a New York Times #1 bestseller and winner of the Newbery Medal, The Tale of Despereaux is now animated adventure from Universal Pictures.

THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX is a trademark and copyright of Universal Studios. Licensed by Universal Studios Licensing LLLP. All Rights Reserved.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Fiction, Animals, Comics, Middle Grade, Childrens

126 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2008

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Matt Smith drew his first Conan the Barbarian adventure when was eight years old. A children’s book illustrator fascinated by traditional lore and comic-book heroes, Matt lives with his wife and their dog in Lexington, Massachusetts.

Reviews

[Spencer Orey]

My kid found this in the library and got me to read it. It's been standardized into something much more recognizably Hollywood. Some of that standardization helped with the extreme violence and cruelty of the source book. But the graphic novel has extra pointless saccharine stuff about forgiveness. Despereaux the mouse is more generically brave. Roscuro the rat is a sailor (wtf) who somehow gets pulled into dungeon drama. The only solid move I liked was combining Mig's dad and the dungeon keeper (though the dungeon keeper has much more personality in the original book).

[Calista · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think it's weird that Kate DiCamillo is not list as author of the story. This is based off the movie which is based off her book. I do love that they are talking novels and turning them into graphic novels. It's a quick way to re-read a book I've already read. I am surprised how much I had forgotten of this.

Despereaux is a brave mouse in a world where mice are supposed to be afraid. He is loyal, honorable and brave. He befriends the princess. His mice think he is too brave so they throw him in the basement with the other mice. Conclusion.

The art is good and it's a fast pace. I think Kate's novel is better and this does it's job.

[William Stanger · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a decent little graphic novel adapted from the movie of the same name. It's been so long since I saw the movie that I can't remember if the story was the same or not. I read the novel a few years ago as well, but I'd need to read it again before making any comparisons. Anyway, it's a decent, short read, with a good story and it would seem to be a great introduction to the brave, little mouse, Despereaux.

[Meg Mirza · Rating 4 out of 5]

I must confess, I haven't read the original book, or seen the animated movie. I just finished reading this graphic novel adaptation and I came into it pretty darn skeptical... a comic book, based on the movie... based on the original novel? How good could it be? I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised. It's light-hearted and moves swiftly. Obviously, it's a completely different animal than the original work, but taken completely on it's own merits it's pretty good.

The book opens with Roscuro the Rat, sailing in for the Kingdom of Dor's Royal Soup Day, which is apparently an even bigger celebration than Christmas. Chef Andre's top-secret to his sumptious soups is his helper, a magical being made of vegetables. Meantime, among the mice, an unusually brave and intrepid Despereaux is born. His teachers soon despair of teaching him how to cower and scurry as ordinary mice do, which is handled with a fair bit of humor. "Despereaux, there are so many wonderful things in life to be afraid of if you just learn how scary they are."

After the Queen accidentally drowns in a bowl of soup (it's handled in such a way that it's not nearly as gruesome as it sounds) the King outlaws soup and a gloom descends over the country. When Despereaux is exiled from his community for his continually un-mousy behavior (reading books, befriending princesses and the like) he and Roscuro team up and eventually bring soup (and happiness) back to the Kingdom of Dor.

The bold dark outlines in the artwork lend a hand-drawn feel to this digitally created piece. The style of the full-color drawings seems inspired by the film; just a bit more cartoonish and with a slightly muted palette.

I imagine I'll recommend this short 126 page graphic novel as a gateway drug to kids who can't seem to tear themselves away from Pokemon.

[Joell Schmidling-Peysar · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this story to my son at bedtime a few years ago. It was his first dip in the chapter book pool and I think he actually liked that. He is now reading the book for himself. It's a sweet story. My son enjoys stories about animals that are heroic and so this was right up his alley. I think he will soon try to find other books by this author.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sierra LOVED this book. She actually read the whole thing in one day. I've never been able to get her to read more than a picture book on her own in one day. These graphic novels are a great way to introduce chapter books to children. They still have lots of pictures, yet they give them the feeling of reading a long book, but they are very quick reads at the same time.

[Duane · Rating 3 out of 5]

I admit I've never read the original book or seen the movie so when I came across this graphic novel I was intrigued. The story is nice and easy to follow. Based on a kingdom suffering the blues, a young mouse tries his best to save the princess and make things better. The artwork is nice and the text is easy to follow. A nice graphic novel.

[Becca Sharp · Rating 5 out of 5]

This wonderful graphic novel is based on the novel The Tale of Despereaux, a lively story about a mouse and a rat both looking for something more than their life currently gives them in the Kingdom of Dor. This graphic novel, with excellent illustrations, would be perfect for the younger reader who wants to enjoy the story, but isn't quite ready for the lengthy chapter book by Kate DiCamillo.

[Jarrett Bell · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Tale of Despereaux is an action packed story filled with the brave actions of a mouse. I feel that graphic novels are best reserved for showing (as opposed to telling) emotion. While there is a great moral lesson in the story, I think this particular action packed based book was poorly done. These are best kept in vivid, descriptive language.

[Megan Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really cute adaptation of the story. The plot is somewhat different from the novel, but that's okay! It'd be perfect for a class to read this and DiCamillo's novel to do a side-by-side comparison.

4/5 on here, 8/10 for myself

[Nancy Jo Lambert · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have read the original story and seen the movie. This graphic novel is definitely more like the movie than the book, but this is still a great graphic novel adaptation. I am sure that kids will like this more than I did. I wasn't just a huge fan of either the original story or the movie...

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a quick read. I had already read the novel and so I eagerly turned these pages to see how they illustrated different characters and scenes. You still get the same feelings of grief, darkness and then forgiveness and light. Great book.

[Carly · Rating 4 out of 5]

The graphic novel was a great way to read this tale. The pictures and color made the story very visual while reading. I will use this book and recommend to any child that enjoys comics or looking at pictures while reading.

[Emilycwg · Rating 3 out of 5]

This can not compare to the book, but it was still entertaining!

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute. Not as good as the actual book.

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I haven't read the book I can't tell you about the storyline of it. But I love that this author did the Bones series. Very cute. I think Despereaux is really really adorable!

[Amy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read DiCamillo's version!

[Pam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well done graphic novel version of Tale of Despereaux. This will appeal to those that watch the movie. However, I wouldn't recommend as a replacement for the book.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a great graphic version of the novel. The illustrations were clear--very similar to the movie (from what I can gather, I haven't actually seen the show).

[Brittany · Rating 3 out of 5]

They changed quite a bit of the original book for the movie. I have very mixed feelings about this.

[Bob · Rating 5 out of 5]

was so inter resting

[Class 501 · Rating 5 out of 5]

My review is i do not get why they crided for the soup there are other things to eat than soup. how did the rats manage to get a tomcat and despereaux was so cute when he was a baby

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad. Illustrations bring the story to life, however, I prefer more text. I found it very similar to Ratatouille.

[Acton · Rating 2 out of 5]

very good comic book.... and if you like it i recomend ASTERIX, which is also a good comic book.

[Tom Pappalardo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Matt Smith is an amazing illustrator.

[Joenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun illustrations.

[Kaye · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the graphics. The pictures take on more importance than most of the graphic novels I have read thus far. My students seem to like the graphic novel as much as the book.

[J · Rating 5 out of 5]

My 11yo read this to me; it's a very good depiction of the original book, which we both loved.

[Kimberly Garcia · Rating 4 out of 5]

really good