The Tale of Despereaux By Kate Di Camillo

I usually do not spend alot of time looking at the presentationof a book. After our discussion in class last week, I decided to take a closer look at the packaging of The Tale of Despereaux. I have the hard back edition of this book. On the front of the cover is a beautiful watercolor of Despereaux scampering across the castle floor with his sword tid to his side. The back of the cover is the staircase leading down to the dungeon. The spine of the book is adorned to look like a classic collector's book. It is red and black with gold writing and it contains a small picture of Despereaux and the caption, "The Tale of Despereaux being the story of a mouse, a princess, soom soup, and a spool of thread". The cover pages are a mint green with a scroll design all over the page making the pages appear to be part of an old book. The book itself is printed on a parchment, linen like paper with the edges of the pages appearing to have been chewed by a mouse. All in all it is the perfect set up for what is too come.
The story itself is absolutely magical. I love the convention of the author addressing the reader periodically throughout the test. I also like Di Camillo's use of unusual vocabulary, such as perfidity, and the explanation she provides.
The characters are well developed and each have their own distinctive personality. The plot is well crafted and perfectly meshed together. I also, thouroughly enjoyed the use of humor and irony throughout the book. One of my favorite parts is when Despereaux is being taken to the gallows by the two hooded mice and he asks is he might have one final word with the princess to which one of the mice replies, "Cripes. You don't learn, do you?" and Despereaux realizes one of the mice is his brother , Furlough.
I feel this book firmly establishes Di Camillo as a force in children's literature. Despereaux is so different from her other Newberry Award book, Because of Winn Dixie. But, each of these books is perfectly crafted for its particular genre.
This is a book I will definately recommend.