The Tale of Despereaux
The Tale of Despereaux (pronounced "desper-oh") is a 2003 children's fantasy book written by Kate DiCamillo. The main plot follows the adventures of a mouse named Despereaux Tilling, as he sets out on his quest to rescue a beautiful human princess from the rats. The book won the 2004 Newbery Medal award and has been adapted into a film, a video game, and a stage musical. Accolades. In 2007 the U.S. National Education Association listed the book as one of its "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children", based on an online poll. Teachers also  made it a summer reading project. In 2012 it was ranked number 51 among all-time children's novels in a survey published by "School Library Journal" – the second of three books by DiCamillo in the Top 100. Plot. A noble mouse named Despereaux saves a princess named Princess Pea. Book I: A Mouse Is Born. A small, sickly mouse named Despereaux Tilling is born in a castle with his eyes open (most mice are born blind). Despereaux, unlike other mice, spends much time reading , and particularly enjoys a book about a knight saving a princess and living happily ever  after. One day while reading, he hears music that sounds like honey. He follows the sound, which leads him to Princess Pea and King Philip. He sits at the king's feet to hear the music, falls in love with the princess, and speaks to her. The king leads the mouse away because mice are related to rats, who were outlawed some years ago. Furlough Tilling, Despereaux's brother, sees this, and tells his father, Lester. Lester calls the mouse council as Furlough goes to collect Despereaux. The mouse council orders Despereaux to be sent to the dungeon to die , because talking to a human is forbidden. When Despereaux goes into the dungeon, he meets Gregory, the jailer, who saves him because Despereaux tells him a nice story. Book II: Chiaroscuro. Book II centers around a rat named Roscuro who loved the light and was less vicious and cunning than the other rats. He decided to go into the light. He climbed onto a chandelier, above a banquet. However, he fell into the queen's soup, and the queen, whose habit was to state the obvious, said, "There's a rat in my soup," before dying. The princess, now hostile  to Roscuro, ordered him to leave. Roscuro, angry, desired revenge against the princess. The king, upset, banned the use of spoons, soup, bowls, and rats. Book III: The Tale of Miggery Sow. Many years before Despereaux and Roscuro were born, a six-year-old girl named Miggery "Mig" Sow witnesses the death of her ill mother. Afterward, Mig is sold to work by her father for some cigarettes, a hen, and a red tablecloth to a man Mig calls Uncle. Uncle often clouts Mig's ears, leaving her partially deaf. Mig decides, upon seeing the princess pass by on a  horse, that she wants to be a princess. Mig is then sent to work in the castle by the King's soldiers, who tell "Uncle" that no human being is allowed to own another. In the castle, she gains a lot of weight. Only her head stayed small. Mig's main job is to go down to the dungeons to deliver Gregory the jailer his meal and, while there, she meets Roscuro and confesses to him that her greatest wish is to become a princess. Gregory gives her a handkerchief, Despereaux in it, and returns to the castle. Roscuro convinces  Mig that if she helps him kidnap Princess Pea, he'll make her a servant girl so Miggery Sow can become a princess. Book IV: Recalled to the Light. Despereaux escapes the dungeons on a tray of Gregory's that Mig brings back to the kitchen, where he hears her conversation with Roscuro. However, Despereaux is soon discovered by Mig and Cook. Cook, as a mouse-hating woman, orders Mig to kill Despereaux. She explains to Mig that her philosophy with mice is "kill 'em, even if they're already dead." When Despereaux is attempting to flee, Mig chops off  his tail with a knife so that she can tell Cook that she got a part of the "mercy". Despereaux spends the night in pain, sleeping on a sack of flour. He dreams of the castle's knights in shining armor, darkness, and light. However, when the knight removes the helmet, the shining armor is empty. Despereaux begins to doubt "happily ever after" and everything he has read and starts to weep. Meanwhile, Roscuro leads Mig to Princess Pea's room with a knife in one hand and a candle in the other to lead Princess Pea to the dungeon . The next morning, the castle is in a panic over the missing princess. Guards are sent to search the dungeon, only to find Gregory dead from terror. He was lost in the dark mazes because Roscuro has chewed the rope which secures him to the dungeon entrance. Despereaux is seen by the mouse council, who mistook him for a ghost because he is covered in flour from sleeping on the flour sack. Despereaux forgives his father, upon the father's request, for sentencing him to the dungeon, before mocking the rest of the council. Despereaux goes on to see the  King. Despereaux tells the King that he knows that Pea is in the dungeon, but the King refuses to believe him because Despereaux is related distantly to the rats. Despereaux then goes to Hovis, the thread master. Hovis gives him an entire spool of red thread and a sewing needle to serve as a sword for his quest to the dungeons. On his way, he runs into Cook, who has grown so anxious from Pea's disappearance she has resorted to breaking the law and making soup. Instead of attacking Despereaux, she offers him some soup before seeing him off . Mig, meanwhile, learns that Roscuro tricked her into helping him kidnap Pea and that she will never be a princess. Roscuro plans for Pea to remain locked in the dungeons so that he can marvel over her brightly colored dress, but Despereaux arrives to save Pea, and Mig chops Roscuro's tail off with the knife when he refuses to show them the way back. However, many rats arrive on the scene because they followed the smell of Despereaux, and the soup he recently ate. Despereaux threatens to kill Roscuro with the sewing needle. Roscuro, catching a whiff of the  soup left on Despereaux's whiskers, realizes he does not truly want to hurt anyone and begins crying. Pea offers that if Roscuro lets her go, she will treat him with some soup. Roscuro agrees. The other rats are so disgusted by the happiness of all that is happening that they return to the darkness. Despereaux and Pea become close friends. Because even in this strange world, a mouse and princess can not marry. Roscuro is allowed access into the upstairs of the castle, and reunites Mig's father, a prisoner in the dungeons, with his daughter. Mig's father  promises that he loves Mig and will never leave her. But before this, however, Roscuro, Mig, the King, Pea, and Despereaux all get together for soup, as Despereaux's friend Hovis, his parents, and his brother watch in amazement behind the scenes. Adaptations. Film. In 2008, the book was adapted as an animated film of the same name. Video game. On December 2, 2008, a video game for the Nintendo DS, Wii, and PlayStation 2 of the same name based on the film was released. On December 16, 2008, the game was also released for PC. Stage musical. In 2018 , the book was adapted into a musical by the PigPen Theatre Co.