Independent Reading Grade Level: 4-7
Awards: Newbery Medal (2004)

Independent Reading Level: Grades 3-5 Awards/Honors: Newbery Medal

A heartwarming and beautifully written story about a brave mouse.
This book won the award John Newbery Medal in year 2004. ( )

A small mouse falls in love with a human princess and is banished to the dungeon. A clever rat, born in the dungeon, longs for the world of light above. A farm girl turned serving maid has dreams above her station. When these three stories intersect, adventure ensues.

For me, this book is the high point of DiCamillo's writing to date, though I have enjoyed most of her stories and loved some of them. The characters are delightful, and though the book has that fairy-tale feel, it doesn't keep the reader at a distance the way fairy tales sometimes can. There's lots of humor and plenty of adventure. I've been reading it serially to a group of elementary school students, and they eagerly await each instalment. Reader, there is so much light here, if only you will look. ( )

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. And what happens then? As Kate DiCamillo would say: Reader, it is your destiny to find out.