By Kate DiCamillo, 2003

ISBN 0763617229

The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread is a fantasy book written by Kate DiCamillo that won the Newbery Medal in 2004. The Tale of Despereaux begins with the birth of Despereaux Carlos Tilling. Despereaux is born tiny, sickly, with massive ears, and, most strangely of all, with his eyes open and able to read.

He is thus named Despereaux, meaning "despair." Despereaux lives in desperate times. A rat named Chiaroscuro ("Roscuro" for short), entranced by the light of a candle, explores the castle's upstairs, so unlike the dark dungeon where he and the other rats live. While there, he accidentally falls into the queen's soup tureen, startling her to such an extent that she suffers a heart attack and dies.

The grief-stricken king outlaws soup, and orders all rats to return to the darkness. This angers Roscuro, who would like nothing more than to live above ground in the light; he vows revenge on the king and his castle. Despite the mouse community's general mistrust of humans, Despereaux falls in love with a princess named Pea and goes so far as to talk to her and be touched by her.

Despereaux's interaction with a human thoroughly outrages the mouse community and he is sent to the dungeon, filled with rats. He meets the jailer, Gregory, who offers to save him in exchange for being told a story. Meanwhile, a servant girl, Miggery Sow ("Mig" for short), sees Princess Pea riding by on horseback.

This sight gives Mig hope for the first time ever in her life. Mig has ended up at the palace after being traded away into illegal bondage by her father in exchange for a hen, a handful of cigars, and a blood red tablecloth. No one has ever cared about what Mig wants.

She is set to work in the castle dungeons; this is where she meets Roscuro. She tells him that her greatest wish is to become a princess. Roscuro forms a plan by which he will manipulate Mig into killing the princess, enabling him to take over the castle.

The rats manage to capture princess Pea and, in attempting to save her, Despereaux has his tail chopped off. Determined to rescue his beloved princess, Despereaux goes to the Threadmaster, who gives him a spool of thread to lead him back into the dungeons. Despereaux saves the princess and Roscuro's tail is cut off.

However, Roscuro is finally allowed to live upstairs, and Mig is treated like a princess by her formerly abusive father. Despereaux and Pea remain close friends.

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