The Tale of Despereaux in Into the Forest

Mar 28, 2012 Melanti rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: e-book, 2012, intotheforest-2012, library, children, mythopoeic-award, group-reads

Awww. Cute...

It did seem to be a bit threadbare at times. But I think that's because the comparison to The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making is inevitable since they're both faux-Victorian fairy tales, and Valente's writing style is so ornate compared to practically anyone else's. ...more

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Aug 14, 2012 Christine rated it it was amazing

Shelves: diverse-and-women-authors, childrens-chapter-books, animal-fiction

I wish this had been out when I was a child.

Perfect story of a knight and a princess. Features a princess who is beautiful without mentioning her physical traits, a mouse with big ears, a girl who wants, and a rat.

Beautiful story of light and dark. Wonderful narrative voice. I now see why people raved about it.

Perfect.

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Jun 03, 2013 JS rated it it was amazing

Shelves: children-books, fantasy, my-kids-reads-summer-2013

This rating is actually a mix of my rating and the kids'. And remember, I don't generally like books about animals (curmudgeon!), but I really enjoyed this one. It was fun and sweet and silly and thoughtful. Three cheers for Kate DiCamillo for making me like TWO books with animal protagonists/main characters (Because of Winn Dixie was the other).

Daughter C also really enjoyed. Daughter A didn't get to hear all of it, mostly just bits and pieces as I read it for bedtime and she fell asleep. But This rating is actually a mix of my rating and the kids'. And remember, I don't generally like books about animals (curmudgeon!), but I really enjoyed this one. It was fun and sweet and silly and thoughtful. Three cheers for Kate DiCamillo for making me like TWO books with animal protagonists/main characters (Because of Winn Dixie was the other).

Daughter C also really enjoyed. Daughter A didn't get to hear all of it, mostly just bits and pieces as I read it for bedtime and she fell asleep. But I don't think she cared. At the end of the book, I asked Daughter C what her favorite parts were, and I was surprised to hear her mention something from the very beginning; I'd kind of wondered how much she would really remember. (Her favorite part, in case you're wondering, was how Despereaux was born with his eyes open.)

One minor warning, just so you don't get grumpy at me when you discover it, is that the character of Miggery Sow gets hit a lot by her "uncle." ("Do you want a good clout to the head?" "No, thank you.") And I guess by a couple others as well. Reading it to my five-year-old, I was torn between the importance of children understanding that bad things happen and some complicated feelings about how it was portrayed (sort of lightly, with the "good clout" stuff above). While I don't know that I am perfectly satisfied with the treatment in the book, it wouldn't have kept me from reading it to the girls. We just used it to talk about the Bad Stuff people sometimes do. Plus, in all honesty, I don't think she really completely understood. It will come up again, and we'll talk about it again. Such is the way of these things.

I loved that this book was about darkness and light, both literally and metaphorically. The narrator states at the end the wish that this story could be a bit of light to the reader. And for us, I think it was.

Part of me wants to watch the movie now with the girls, and part of me doesn't want to spoil the book. Quandary...

Rating: PG, probably, for Miggery Sow's life and other thematic stuff like betrayal, revenge, death and grief, but also forgiveness, redemption, awesomeness. ...more

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May 25, 2010 The Winter Rose rated it liked it

Shelves: middle-grade

What an adorable story!
I love DiCamillo's writing so much.
She has such a soft and subtle hand that pulls me in.
Pure charm.

The story is a quirky, but sweet tale.
I think it's great for young readers.
There was nothing that honestly stood out for me to make me cling to it, but it was gentle and soft enough for me to enjoy.
A nice, easy read. I don't have any strong feelings about it one way or the other - in the end my final impression is just "awww, that was cute". I want to read some more of DiCami ...more

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May 06, 2018 Lacey Louwagie rated it it was ok

Shelves: book-club, fantasy, animals, children-s, middle-grade

This book fell so short for me that I can barely remember anything about it despite having read it just last month.

It felt like it was trying too hard to be clever, although perhaps the storytelling tone would have resonated better with a younger audience, and perhaps I would have had a deeper appreciation for it had I read it aloud/shared it with a child in the appropriate age group. As it was, I had trouble following the thread (no pun intended) because I just wasn't interested enough. And I d ...more

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