The Tale of Despereaux!

Last week our family went to catch the movie adaptation of one of our favourite children’s books of all time – The Tale of Despereaux. What a disappointment! The movie so lacked the subtleties and depth of character of the book. However, we used it as an opportunity to discuss the creative process of movie making with our kids and how they thought it could have been done better – they did say they thought Miggery Sow’s character was just how they imagined her!

If you haven’t read the book, then I can’t highly recommend it enough – a really great read out aloud book for children 6-10 years of age. The book opens with these words: "The world is dark, and light is precious. Come closer, dear reader. You must trust me. I am telling you a story", and it never looks back. It truly is a tremendous tale about love and courage, betrayal and friendship, darkness and light. The characters are rich and many-layered with great voices. My two girls and I would read it together on the bed every night and it was very hard to keep just to one chapter – we all adored it and of course I cried!!!

Kate DiCamillo is quickly becoming one of our best-loved writers and we will be stocking all her books in our stores: Miraculous Journey of Edward Tullane and Because of Winn Dixie – both of which we have also read and thoroughly enjoyed!!!