The Tale of Despereaux

[Alana]

I'd never heard of this book before this group, but it looks interesting!

[Suki]

I enjoyed the book, but parts of it were a lot darker than I expected, given that it is a children's book.

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The book starts off with Despereaux being the only surviving member of his litter, the rest being stillborn. He becomes shunned by his family for being different, and eventually betrayed by his family. The Mouse Council orders him exiled to the dungeon, where it is expected that the rats there will kill him. There is some eventual happiness, but I think that parts of the book are a bit dark and heavy for a younger audience.
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I really love the cover illustration of Despereaux.

[Leslie]

I don't remember how to do a spoiler, so don't read further if you aren't there yet.

I am enjoying this book very much. It's a cute tale and it's easy to relate to, but a few things are disturbing. Why is it a "sin" to behave this way and a few words are not properly used, in my mind. Does it make sense for him to "renounce" his sin as he heads to the dungeon? We are trying to educate young readers on vocabulary words, but I'm not completely feeling ok with some of these word choices. He may renounce his sins so that he may go to the dungeon with a pure heart??? The dungeon is feeling permanent at this point given his risk to the mouse community of discovery followed by extermination by the people. The renunciation of sins in the Catholic Church is not a clearing of the slate before death. A more proper term would be confession or you could renounce the selfish behavior and stay. I'm stopping myself here because it's a children's book and I don't need to go on and on, but you get it. Also, I took French and don't recall this word despereaux. I looked it up on a translator and it does not convert to despair or desperate or anything else. So, that's aggravating. I loved her book about Winn Dixie. That was a terrific book, so I'm a bit down. The tale is cute, whimsical and has loads of potential, but I guess the writer in me would wish for a more careful word choice, especially for a children's book.

[Leslie]

I felt frustrated compared to her other works. It didn't come off to me as a good children's book.