masterwordsmith-unplugged

Books. I live to read and read to live. It's the same with my younger boy :-). For once in my life, I was actually fighting with him over one book - "The Tale of Despereaux" written by Kate di Camillo, one of his favorite authors whose books have all won awards.

He has read "Because of Winn-Dixie" (and both of us cried our eyes out while watching the movie version of this heart-wrenching doggy tale) and the achingly beautiful "The Miraculous Journey of Edward Toulane". Currently, he is bugging me to find and buy "The Tiger Rising" to complete his Kate di Camillo collection.

Just yesterday, my boy begged me to get the movie version of "The Tale of Despereaux" to which I responded with a firm "I will only get it for you AFTER you have read the book". His response was "Mom, I HAVE finished reading the book."

Me - stunned. ????? I just got him the book two Saturdays ago and last week was his school exam so how on earth.......?

With a sneaky smile, he said, "I was reading and studying at the same time - except that it was both that book and my school books that had my attention :-)".

With that, I bought it for him as a reward for his brilliant results. End of story. Or so I thought!!!

While he hurried off to watch the movie in the comfort of my room, I hurried to get the novel. What captivated my boy for him to devour this story in less than a week even though he had to revise for his exams and to cope with his many musical practices?

As soon as I started reading the book, I was totally enthralled with this delightful tale that is written so elegantly, almost exquisitely by Kate di Camillo. I disregarded my boy's stifled laughter when he saw me reading a kiddy's fantasy book and was completely lost in this tale.

The Tale of Despereaux is told in four separate stories called "books". Book the First tells of Despereaux's beginning, Book the Second tells of Chiaroscuro, and Book the Third is about Miggory Sow. All the characters are brought together in Book the Fourth. I won't say much more lest I rob you of the joy of reading this wonderful fantasy tale of a mouse with big ears. She only wrote this book because her best friend's son, Luke, asked her to write a story about an unlikely hero and she finished the book three years later.

If you have children and if you are still a sentimental dreamer like me, you MUST get your hands on this book available from MPH at 39.90RM. Believe me - it is such a beautiful tale that you and your whole family will be completely enthralled!!

The book has been adapted into the CGI animated film The Tale of Despereaux. Released on December 19, 2008, the film features the voices of Matthew Broderick as Despereaux, Emma Watson as Princess Pea, Dustin Hoffman as Roscuro, and Tracey Ullman as Mig. Video games based on the film were released for Playstation 2, Nintendo Wii, and Nintendo DS, and PC formats. Several short movie-based picture-books, including Hero's Quest, The Princess and The Mouse, and No Ordinary Mouse have also been released.

Please click here for a synopsis of the book.

Here's a review of the book taken from here:

Forgiveness, light, love, and soup. These essential ingredients combine into a tale that is as soul stirring as it is delicious. Despereaux, a tiny mouse with huge ears, is the bane of his family's existence. He has fallen in love with the young princess who lives in the castle where he resides and, having read of knights and their ladies, vows to "honor her." But his unmouselike behavior gets him banished to the dungeon, where a swarm of rats kill whoever falls into their clutches. Another story strand revolves around Miggery, traded into service by her father, who got a tablecloth in return. Mig's desire to be a princess, a rat's yen for soup (a food banished from the kingdom after a rat fell in a bowl and killed the queen), and Despereaux's quest to save his princess after she is kidnapped climax in a classic fairy tale, rich and satisfying. Part of the charm comes from DiCamillo's deceptively simple style and short chapters in which the author addresses the reader: "Do you think rats do not have hearts? Wrong. All living things have a heart." And as with the best stories, there are important messages tucked in here and there, so subtly that children who are carried away by the words won't realize they have been uplifted until much later. Ering's soft pencil illustrations reflect the story's charm. —Ilene Cooper, Booklist

I hope you and your kids will have a wonderful time reading this book and then watching the movie :-).

Have a lovely weekend, dear reader!