The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread (Newbery Medal Book) (original 2004; edition 2003)

by Kate Dicamillo

Members	Reviews	Popularity	Average rating	Mentions
15,211	561	393	(4.09)	256
The adventures of Desperaux Tilling, a small mouse of unusual talents, the princess that he loves, the servant girl who longs to be a princess, and a devious rat determined to bring them all to ruin.

▾Book information

Member:	unseelieprincess
Title:	The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread (Newbery Medal Book)
Authors:	Kate Dicamillo
Info:	Candlewick (2003), Hardcover, 272 pages
Collections:	Your library
Rating:
Tags:	None

Work Information

The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread by Kate DiCamillo (2004)

all members

▾Members

Recently added by

ViciousMaggot, mafarniok, Dahlekn, paige-s_pages, murphy_5, wesmustangs, ICALibrary, private library, Tpoole

▾Tags

▾LibraryThing Recommendations

▾Member recommendations

▾Lists

Best Newbery Medal Winners (7)

1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up (52)

Favorite Animal Fiction (23)

» 30 more

EEK! A Mouse ::: Best Children's Books (2)

Best middle grade books (31)

Female Author (195)

KayStJ's to-read list (31)

School Library Journal - 2012 Top 100 Children's Novels (31)

Favourite Books (801)

Scholastic 100 Best Read-Aloud Books (33)

Newbery Medal Winners - By Year (14)

Mensa for Kids Excellence in Reading Award Program (Grades K-3) (38)

Satori Smiles Children's Book List (102)

Books Read in 2007 (40)

One Book, Many Authors (212)

Children's Classics Worth Reading (29)

Books Read in 2021 (4,210)

Princess Tales (11)

Geek Dad Read to Your Kids List (14)

Books Read in 2013 (1,394)

Books available on Open Library (55)

KID BOOKS (18)

GCS 6th grade summer reading list (5)

Inkworld Trilogy Books (2)

Books read in 2015 (18)

Unshelved Book Clubs (42)

Middle-Grade Novels with Mice (4)

Books Tagged Abuse (63)

children's/y.a. reclist (8)

Torchlight & Build Your Library Level 1 (19)

Allie's Wishlist (57)

Is contained in

The Kate DiCamillo Collection by Kate DiCamillo

Kate Dicamillo Classic Six Books Box Collection Set (The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, The Magician's Elephant, The Tale of Despereaux, Because of Winn-Dixie, Flora & Ulysses,The Tiger Rising) by Kate DiCamillo (indirect)

The Kate DiCamillo Classic Collection: Because of Winn-Dixie, The Tiger Rising, The Tale of Despereaux, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, The Magician's Elephant, Flora & Ulysses, Raymie Nightingale, Louisiana's Way Home by Kate DiCamillo (indirect)

Newbery Medal/Honor Chapter Books: Set of 12 (Tuck Everlasting ~ Sarah Plain and Tall ~ The View From Saturday ~ On My Honor ~ Maniac Magee ~ Dear Mr. Henshaw ~ Hoot ~ Holes ~ Whipping Boy ~ From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler ~ Out of the Dust ~ The Black Pearl) by Natalie Babbitt

Newbery Set (Perilous Gard ~ Hero and the Crown ~ Blue Sword ~ Tale of Despereaux) by Robin McKinley Pope, Kate DiCamillo Elizabeth Marie

Set of 12 Newbery Medal/Honor Books (Ramona and Her Father, Kneeknock Rise, Hoot, Princess Academy, Sarah Plain and Tall, Charlotte's Web, Philip Hall Likes Me, Tale of Despereaux, Family Under the Bridge, From the Mixed-Up Files, Because of Winn-Dixie, Afternoon of the Elves) by Natalie Babbitt

Has the adaptation

The Tale of Despereaux [2008 animated film] by Sam Fell

The Tale of Despereaux: The Graphic Novel by Matt Smith

Is abridged in

The Tale of Despereaux : A Junior Novelization by Jamie Michalak

Inspired

No Ordinary Mouse (The Tale of Despereaux) by Gary Ross

A Hero's Quest (The Tale of Despereaux Movie Tie-In Storybook) by Kate DiCamillo

The Tale of Despereaux Movie Tie-In: Glow-in-the-Dark Sticker Book by Candlewick Press

The Tale of Despereaux Movie Tie-In: Coloring and Activity Book by Candlewick Press

(show 1 more)

The Tale of Despereaux [COMPUTER GAME]

Has as a commentary on the text

The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread.(Book Review)(Children' by JoAn W. Martin

Has as a student's study guide

The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo | Summary & Study Guide by BookRags

The Tale of Despereaux LITERATURE KIT by Marie-Helen Goyetche

Tale of Despereaux: Novel-Ties Study Guide by Kate DiCamillo

The Tale of Despereaux Student Packet Grades 5-6 by Kate DiCamillo

(show 1 more)

The Tale of Despereaux Literature Novel Unit Study by Teresa Lilly

Has as a teacher's guide

A Guide for Using The Tale of Despereaux in the Classroom by Melissa Hart

▾Awards and Honors

Awards

Audie Award (Finalist – Children's Titles – Ages up to 8 – 2004)

Blue Hen Book Award (Winner – Middle Readers – 2005)

Chapman Awards for Best Classroom Read-Alouds (k-6)

Charlie May Simon Children's Book Award (Winner – 2006)

Cocheco Readers' Award (Winner)

Colorado Blue Spruce Award (Nominee – 2005, 2007)

Garden State Children's Book Award (Winner – Fiction, Grades 2-5 – 2006)

Golden Archer Award (Winner – Intermediate – 2005)

Great Lakes Great Books Award (Winner – 4th & 5th Grade – 2006)

Indies Choice Book Awards (Honor Book – Children's Literature – 2004)

Kentucky Bluegrass Award (Winner – Grades 3-5 – 2005)

Land Of Enchantment Book Award (Winner – Young Adult – 2006)

Maine Student Book Award (Winner – 2005)

Massachusetts Children's Book Award (Winner – 2007)

Minnesota Book Awards (Finalist – Young Adult Literature – 2004)

Notable Lists

view history

▾Common Knowledge

You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.

For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.

Canonical title

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

Original title

The Tale of Despereaux

Alternative titles

Original publication date

2003-08-25

2004

People/Characters

Despereaux Tilling

Chiaroscuro (Roscuro)

Important places

Important events

Related movies

The Tale of Despereaux (2008 | IMDb)

Epigraph

The world is dark, and light is precious. Come closer, dear reader. You must trust me. I am telling you a story.

Dedication

For Luke, who asked for the story of an unlikely hero

First words

This story begins within the walls of a castle, with the birth of a mouse.

Quotations

There are those hearts, reader, that never mend again once they are broken. Or if they do mend, they heal themselves in a crooked and lopsided way, as if sewn together by a careless craftsman.

Reader, you must know that an interesting fate (sometimes involving rats, sometimes not) awaits almost everyone, mouse or man, who does not conform.

Last words

(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

Disambiguation notice

Publisher's editors

Blurbers

Original language

English

Canonical DDC/MDS

Canonical LCC

▾References

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English (2)

Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis

The Tale of Despereaux

▾Book descriptions

The adventures of Desperaux Tilling, a small mouse of unusual talents, the princess that he loves, the servant girl who longs to be a princess, and a devious rat determined to bring them all to ruin.

▾Library descriptions

No library descriptions found.

▾LibraryThing members' description

Book description

Haiku summary

Despereaux is a
small mouse with big ears and the
heart of a lion.
(passion4reading)