Dear Rishi,

Well to be honest I haven’t read many books after grade 6 beside those which were enforced upon me by the school curriculum. I have read a few books which really haven’t been my grade level but have always given me a kick-start to continue my reading habits. My past choices of recommending a book to a friend has been The Hunger Games because it’s the few books which I’ve read recently that have had a book-based film produced on it. However, I would like to recommend a book which is way below grade level but gives any reader a journey into their childhood. The book I’ve chosen is The Tale of Despereaux, and yes the book has had movie produced for it but I would highly suggest forbidding from watching the movie first or after the reading of the book.

The movie destroys the imaginative characters which are developed Kate DiCamillo who is the author of the book. Most book-based movies eliminate the aspect of our five senses being touched. Kate DiCamillo creates an environment in which at any section of the book the reader can smell, touch, taste, hear, and see as if he is one of the characters themselves. Now I will try my best to not spoil the plot, but in order for me to persuade you in reading the book some spicy details will be brought up.

The Tale of Despereaux was a book I read in grade three, my first book without pictures. I continue to read the book once and while I start to drop my reading habit.  The book itself contains three main characters in which the author focuses through chapters of the book. The characters are Despereaux, a small mouse with abnormal sized ears and breaks all the laws of mouse code by being courageous and having no fear. Next is a rat named Roscuro, who unlike other rats is fond by light and tends to be kind and less-viscous when compared to all of the rats. Finally Miggery Sow, a young human girl who works in the castle for the princess and believes to be an orphan, long before she came to the palace she was given to her uncle by her father once her mother passed away. Her uncle had slapped her in the ears enough times to create the shape of her ears into a lettuce, therefore, reducing her hearing. All three characters live in the same castle but with different lifestyles.

Kate DiCamillo introduces each character at a different time period of the book, creating four sections in which three introduce and develop each main character. The fourth section bonds each story and lifestyle into one movement creating the smooth and slow mixture of the characters. The plot of the story takes effect in the fourth section which is why I personally enjoy this book because it changes the traditional plot line of how fictional stories are based. The setting is based in a castle in which live a king, queen and their one child who is the princess Pea. The city has had a tradition of soup and has a yearly soup festival, but one year Roscuro intends to become royal by having a sip of the soup and accidently slips into the queens soup. The queen dies on spot after seeing the Roscuro in her soup. The king now depressed and saddened by the loss of her queen forbids from the making of any soup or of use of any soup equipment. Roscuro soon goes into hiding underneath the castle in the dungeon where all of the rats live and die. Despereaux, however, has set a mission to be a gentleman and quickly breaks the law to not talk to a human. He discovers the princess in agony and asks her for the reasoning of her grief, soon Despereaux sets up a plan to bring soup back and create harmony.

During this period Roscuro teams up with Miggery who is upset that she cannot wear or be a princess, they both decide to take the princess into the dungeon where the rats will be able to eat her alive. Despereaux now needs to find a way to save the princess all by him against thousands of blood thirsty rats, but something else stands in his way.

There you go, I hope that was enough to motivate you to read the book and please do not find the summary of the book and spoil it for yourself. I’ve mentioned it before my favourite part of this book is the divided sections of the book which are set years apart but soon come together in which Despereaux has to save princess Pea. Anyway if anyone does have the time to read the book, just do it because their is nothing you will regret.

Sincerely, Deebaj