The Tale of Despereaux

by Kate DiCamillo

The Tale of Despereaux

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Book Information

Publication Date: September 8, 2009


Reading Level: Lexile Measure 670L, Scholastic Guided Reading Level U


Interest Level: Grades 3-5


Major Awards: 2004 Newbery Medal


Number of Pages: 273 pages


Approximate Word Count: 82,960 words


Audible Book Length: 3 hrs and 30 mins


Book Themes: Compassion and Forgiveness, Family, Isolation, Loyalty, Revenge, Lies and Deceit, Courage, Principles


Genre: fantasy, quest


Setting: Fictional Setting - The Kingdom of Dor


Important Quote: Stories are light. Light is precious in a world so dark.

“Once upon a time,” he said out loud to the darkness. He said these words because they were the best, the most powerful words that he knew and just the saying of them comforted him.


First Line: The story begins within the walls of a castle, with the birth of a mouse.


Point of View: First Person (Peripheral Narrator - told from the perspective of a narrator who isn't directly involved with the story)

 

Free Resources from Gay Miller @ Book Units Teacher


Character Trait Cards


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Vocabulary List

absolute
abundantly
abused
abyss
accustomed
adoring
anticipate
ascertain
aspiration
atone
audible
beatific
bellow
billowing
borne
braced
brilliance
bungle
burly
capacious
clout
coda
comeuppance
communications
compelled
concoct
conform
consequence
consign
consume
contemplate
cornucopia
courtesy
covert
creation
crisis
curtsy
daintily
dank
dappled
defiant
despair
detain

devious
devotion
diabolical
diplomat
dire
disagreeable
disappointment
discernible
dismay
dispel
divine
domestic
dour
dungeon
duty
earnest
egregious
emboldened
emphatic
encounter
fate
ferocious
gratitude
gusto
heartily
horizon
humanity
implicate
indicator
indignant
indulge
infringe
innumerable
inspiring
instinct
instrumental
ironies
lodged
makeshift
maneuver
meditation/meditative
molding

muck
negotiate
olfactory
ominous
paralyzed
particle
perfidy
permeated
perspective
philosophy
portentous
presume
pronouncement
quest
renounce
repent
revenge
ridiculous
scrupulous
scurry
sensibilities
shard
sidelines
slumbering
slumped
sow
speculation
succession
swoon
tapestry
torment
tortuous
tragedy
tribunal
tufts
unsavory
utter
vengeful
vicious
waft
watercress
weeping

More Vocabulary Help

Tale of Despereaux Puku Summer Book Club Select from Merriam-Webster

Discussion Questions

Scholastic The Tale of Despereaux Discussion Guide

Candlewick Press - Teacher's Guide (20 Page PDF File)

Schmoop The Tale of Despereaux Questions

 

Links to Resources and Teaching Ideas