The Tale of Despereaux
Kate DiCamillo
Candlewick Press
Fiction, YA Fantasy
****
DESCRIPTION: Sole survivor of his mother's last litter, the mouse Despereaux came into the world under a cloud of superstition. For one thing, he was born with his eyes open, and for another his ears were far too large for a proper castle mouse. As he grew, he developed a strange fascination with books and, to his family's shame, repeatedly failed to behave as he ought to: terrified and scurrying. Then Despereaux, head full of chivalrous ideas and unmouselike bravery, meets the beautiful human princess of the castle, and quite foolishly loses his heart as he is caught up in a tale of grief and longing and love... and soup.
REVIEW: I was unimpressed with DiCamillo's The Tiger Rising (liked the writing style, wanted more story), but I saw the preview for the upcoming Despereaux movie and thought it looked good, so I figured I should read the book first. First off, just judging by the previews, a fair bit has been changed for the movie. That said, I enjoyed this book. DiCamillo's almost lyrical writing style supports a nice story here, with more depth than one might think at first. Despereaux's tale, painted in shades of bright light and brooding shadow, touches on many emotions, with an overall air of determination in the face of global disapproval. Some of the characters were disturbingly dense, but then several young adult fantasies (and full-grown adult fantasies as well) would be much shorter if everyone had a full set of marbles in their skulls through the entire book. The author interruptions in the narrative got old; it was a good enough story that she didn't need to keep interrupting it to explain it, so either she should trust her audience to follow her through the dark bits or not write them at all. Other than that, it's a good book.
You might also enjoy:
The Hork-Bajir Chronicles (K. A. Applegate, YA Fiction - A prequel to the Animorphs series, where an Andalite girl whose family has been ostracized by her father's kindness to an alien menace meets a prodigy among the simple Hork-Bajir)
Redwall (Brian Jacques, YA? Fiction - The animals of Redwall Abbey face a horde of evil rats)
Dragon's Fire, Wizard's Flame (Michael Mennenga, YA Fiction - A young flameless dragon, seen as a freak by his kind, sets out on a quest to "find his fire")
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The Tiger Rising
Kate DiCamillo
Candlewick Press
Fiction, YA General Fiction
***
DESCRIPTION: Since the day of his mother's funeral, Rob Horton hasn't let himself cry, or remember, or even think about his loss. He is bullied mercilessly at his new school, but hardly cares, too busy keeping his not-thoughts and not-crying from overwhelming him. Then, one day, he finds a caged tiger in the woods. Somehow, the memories and the tiger seem one and the same, both tied also to an angry girl named Sistine whose own rage consumes her.
REVIEW: This wasn't bad, but it wasn't very long. I had hoped for more character development, and more with the tiger itself. As it was, the whole matter resolves itself in a couple days of story time and maybe an hour or so of reading time. What story there is written well, as it deals with the emotional aftermath of tragedies. Considering what I paid for it, I guess I just wanted more.
You might also enjoy:
Heart of a Tiger (Marsha Diane Arnold, YA Picture Book - A shy gray kitten wants a tiger's name on Naming Day)
Devil's Race (Avi, YA Fiction - A boy is haunted by an evil ancestor)
Wolf Rider (Avi, YA Fiction - When a stranger calls to confess a murder that hasn't happened, a boy can't stop digging to find out who it was)
The Stoneheart trilogy (Charlie Fletcher, YA Fiction - An angry boy who strikes a stone dragon finds himself pulled into the invisble war between the gargoyles and the statues of London)
The Five Ancestors: Tiger (Jeff Stone, YA Fiction - A young kung fu master bonds with an orphaned tiger cub)
Dragon's Bait (Vivian Vande Velde, YA Fiction - A girl accused of witchcraft plots vengeance with a dragon ally)
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