The Tale of Despereaux

Author(s): Kate DiCamillo

Picture Books

Welcome to the story of Despereaux Tilling, a mouse who is in love with music, stories, and a princess named Pea. It is also the story of a rat called Roscuro, who lives in the darkness and covets a world filled with light. And it is the story of Miggery Sow, a slow-witted serving girl who harbors a simple, impossible wish. These three characters are about to embark on a journey that will lead them down into a horrible dungeon, up into a glittering castle, and, ultimately, into each other's lives. What happens then? As Kate DiCamillo would say: Reader, it is your destiny to find out.


Product Information

From the opening line you will fall in love with this beautiful and enchanting tale of a very small (even for a mouse) mouse and his unexpected passions, adventures, loves and talents. Told with wonderful lyrical prose throughout, it's a treat for adults too and wonderful for reading aloud. 

Winner of the Newberry Medal, The Tale of Despereaux is one of those books that will stay with you forever. It (Think Antoine De Saint Exupéry's The Little Prince) that deftly guide the reader to positive open mindedness as well as entertain. It's a long time personal favourite of mine and I am very fussy! (A staff pick of Bernice at the Dorothy Butler Children's bookshop) 

Kate DiCamillo lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She is the author of BECAUSE OF WINN-DIXIE, a Newbery Honor book, and THE TIGER RISING, which was a National Book Award Finalist. Kate DiCamillo says, "A few years ago, my best friend s son asked me if I would write a story for him. Well, I said, I don t normally write stories on command. But this is a story that I know you would want to tell, he said. It s about an unlikely hero. He has exceptionally large ears. What happens to this hero? I asked. I don t know, he said. That s why I want you to write it down, so we can find out. Well, Luke Bailey, three years later, here is the story of what happened to your exceptionally large-eared, unlikely hero." Timothy Basil Ering is the author and illustrator of THE STORY OF FROG BELLY RAT BONE, and he also created the cover image and interior black-and-white drawings for 33 SNOWFISH by Adam Rapp. Of his inspiration for the illustrations in The TALE OF DESPEREAUX, he says, "My mother may have been a mouse in her past life, as I watched her save and help so many mice in our house while I was growing up. The illustrations I ve done of Despereaux Tilling are, in a way, my tribute to her." Timothy Basil Ering s artwork has appeared in books, magazines, theater sets, private murals, and fine art galleries."

General Fields

  • : 9780763680893
  • : Candlewick Press
  • : Candlewick Press
  • : 0.221353
  • : August 2015
  • : 190mm X 130mm X 23mm
  • : United States
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : Kate DiCamillo
  • : Paperback
  • : 316
  • : Timothy Basil Ering
  • : English
  • : very good
  • : 270
  • : illustrations