Response to The Tale of Despereaux

[Sarah]

There are a lot of very different characters in this novel. Which character is your favorite and why? Are there any characters that you really disliked?

[Jordan]

My favorite character was Desperaux for the obvious reasons. He was brave and different and he did not let his fears get in the way of saving the princess. I also really liked the cook. She was not in the story very much but I found it entertaining that she cared about soup so much that she let Desperaux go free. I loved that she thought soup could fix anything.
The character that I really disliked was Roscuro. Roscuro seemed to embody all of the bad characteristics of a rat and was selfish. All he lived for was revenge and even at the end of the book, he did not seem completely happy.

[Jamie]

I also really liked Despereuax but I think my other favorite was Princess Pea. I really liked the courage that the author gave her and that the author made her humble. Even though Pea was mad that Roscuro made her mother die she still forgave him and let him eat with her up in the castle. I also liked the way Pea treated Miggery Sow. She was kind and respectful no matter what.
I thought the outcome with Roscuro was going to be different. When the author first started talking about Roscuro's obsession with the light I thought he and Despereaux were going to become friends because they both really liked the light and were different. But of course Roscuro had to become evil and be the antagonist of the story. I felt bad for him at first after he fell into the soup but I lost all sympathy when he became evil and wanted to plot against Princess Pea.

[Denise]

My favorite character in The Tale of Despereaux was definitely Despereaux. I love underdog stories and this one takes the cake! Despereaux is physically weak and sickly, but his heart is full of ambition and courage even when other mice have low expectations for him. For some reason him wanting to be a knight also really resonates with me. I’ll admit when I was a very little girl I always related to or wanted to be like the princess characters, but as I got older I definitely wanted to be like the valorous, honorable, and brave characters in any story. My first reading of this novel was after when I had reached that mindset, and even now I still favor those character traits, which Despereaux has even though he doesn’t realize it at first.

While I actually liked the complexity of Roscuro, I didn’t like the simplicity of Mig! I pitied her all through the story but I found it unfavorable that she was so lazy. It’s an odd character trait to give to someone the reader is meant to pity, in my opinion. You’d think her ambition would drive her to greater things if she wants to be a princess, though I’m sure a perk to being a princess was having people wait on her while she didn’t have to work.

[Anna]

I really loved this book. I agree that the characters are really interesting to disect and compare to each other. I really enjoyed how DiCamillio interwove plotlines starring different characters into one cohesive story. I think that Princess Pea may have been my favorite character. I liked that she was unlikely in the sense that she appreciated Despereaux and was accepting of Miggery Sow. She was a sweet character, despite the fact that she had just lost her mother. Also, I liked how DiCamillio described her as having dark parts in her heart as well as light. I think the author did an excellent job in developing Princess Pea.
I didn't love Miggery Sow, which made me feel like such a jerk because she is the one that noone ever really loved which made her as annoying as she is. I was frustrated with her never understanding, and her just generally not having an positive characteristics. But i think without her, a lot of the story would be lost.

[Erica]

I really liked Princess Pea. I thought she was so nice, and my favorite part of her character was her empathy. I really resonated with her character traits and her nice-ness. I thought it was so sweet that while she was being forced into the dungeon with a butcher's knife she still had compassion for Miggery Sow.

This is interesting, however, because I really did not like Mig! I felt bad for her a little, but that was about it. She got on my nerves the whole time. I know the story was supposed to have intertwining features but I wish that she could have been left out of it.

[Elizabeth]

I loved Despereaux. He was definitely my favorite character. He was so focused on the world around him and the "light," or goodness he saw in it. When confronted by the mouse council, it was completely natural for him to explain his actions because of the beauty of the music and his love for Princess Pea. Even though others couldn't understand, he stayed true to himself and what he cared about.
I definitely didn't like Botticelli Remorso. He was obviously one of the "dark" characters. I found there to be redeeming qualities in the other characters as the story progressed, but none within him.