The family listened to this on a recent car trip. I love the positive message about empathy and choosing light over dark. The kids loved some of the silly characters. The only flaw was the repeated use of the word "cripes" by one of the characters. This probably wouldn't have bothered me as much in print, but it was uncomfortable to listen to over and over with my kids. It definitely sounded too much like another word for my liking. ( )

We have owned the book for years yet I never got around to reading this one to my daughter. She always rejected it. in favor of a story about dogs. Yet all these years later I still wanted to know the story of Despereaux. No, I did not read it to my daughter as she is twenty-two years old and putting the finishing edits one her first novel for her MFA program at the American College of Dublin, Ireland. So at sixty-six I am unashamed to have finally finished The Tale of Despereaux. I am glad I finally got around to it. ( )

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.

great children's book. my writing model

This book is very dark and violent. A huge percentage of the time the characters are being cruel to each other. Many parental figures in the book are particularly horrific such as a father who sells his daughter into slavery, a person who a six-year-old calls Uncle who beats her so regularly that she loses her hearing and her ears are shaped like a cauliflower, a father who serves on a jury and votes to send his son to death in the dungeon. There are very few positive role models for how beings can be kind to each other. Yes it all gets wrapped up in the end in a fairly positive way but violence and cruelty are there norm all the way there.