From: fairrosa
Date: Sun, 18 Jan 2004 20:24:41 -0800 (PST)

I'm seconding everyone who has posted about Despereaux. I, too, read this in
"half-illustrated" galley earlier this year, and have been hoping for its recognition by award committees ever since.

So, here are some of my questions for those who thought otherwise:

1. This title is absent from the National Book Award finalists list and it does not appear on the New York Public Library's Best Books for Children annual list. Why? Quite a few people have said that Despereaux is "too sweet" and I passionately argued for how it is NOT a sweet book at all, but dangerous, dark, and sophisticated. (A sweet book will have Chiaroscuro completely reformed and not still struggling between two worlds.) If you still think that it is too sweet, would you care to explore the reasons?

2. A current student of mine (at Simmon's continuing ed. course)expressed despair, commenting that a book with such an abused child (Miggery Sow) should never have won an important children's literary award. Do you agree with her?
(And she did not mention the two deaths in the story as something to be avoided.)

3. I heard someone commenting that Despereaux is too "dirivative." I can't quite figure out from what DiCamillo "derived" her story or form. Do you feel that it is dirivative? If so, how? Because it echoes a folk-lore tone? Because it uses a "Dear Reader" convention? Because it presents a Light against Dark/Good vs. Evil story?
Received on Sun 18 Jan 2004 10:24:41 PM CST