The Tale of Despereaux
Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup and a Spool of Thread

I picked this book up on a whim in the Barnes & Noble because I liked the look of the cover and the jagged edges of the paper that gave it a "classic" feel. I was looking for a new bedtime book to read to my children - 2 and 6 at the time. We like to read a bigger book, one chapter each night - for......more

i hated this book SO MUCH when i was a kid. everyone thought i would like it. librarians recommended it to me. family friends gave it to me as a birthday present. other kids were reading it. it was the newbery medal-winning book the year i was 6, and i was a tiny nerd. you do the math. but even then, i......more

Absolutely enchanting. Full of compassion, sweetness and dreamers, with exquisite word choice and delicate rhythms. The narrator's voice is like a comforting but sharply intelligent grandmother, pushing you to both see and feel with the best of yourself. I started to read this this this morning for......more

Is this a simple children’s hero story told in the style of a classic fairy tale? I wondered. I first saw it as a story of a mouse who is born different from “others.” As he grows, he doesn’t develop an interest in typical mouse pursuits and is somewhat spurned by the mouse community. One day he hea......more

I wish that I had read this when I was still a child, because I know I would’ve absolutely adored it and read it countless times. But alas, I read it now, much older. And my silly, nostalgic little heart loves it just as much as if I had read it years ago. It’s such a charming, unique, hilarious tale......more