Despereaux

For the past three years, I've kept a list of the books I've read over that year.  My third and newest list is nearing completion!  So far in 2012 I've read forty-four books, mostly children's books; I'm not sure if I will be able to squeeze a forty-fifth book in or not!  (Even if I am able to, the forty-fifth will definitely not be Les Miserables, haha!)

In November I subbed for a friend at one of the local junior high schools.  The students were taking tests all day, so I picked up a book that I heard about but never read, The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo, a Newbery Medal winner.  The main character is a tiny, noble mouse named Despereaux who is very different from his family.  He meets the human princess who lives in the castle and talks to her and even lets her pet his soft, huge ears.  This is a capital offense, so Despereaux is sent to the dungeon where he meets other characters, both good and bad.  Despereaux escapes and attempts to save the princess, his brave little heart enduring many setbacks.  DiCamillo's writing style bothered me at points, but the story she told made up for the weird references to the reader. ("Reader, do you know what this means?  Maybe you should look it up in the dictionary to make sure!" "Reader, has this ever happened to you?" "Reader" "Reader" "Reader" you get the point...)  I read while students were taking tests, during my free period, and through lunch.  At one point a little seventh grader asked if he could have the book; apparently he had been reading it on an other day and wanted it back!  He put it under his desk to read after his test; I thought about asking for it back, but resisted. ;)  

Anyway, Despereaux didn't take long to read.  I usually wait about ten minutes after the last bell rings before I try to leave a school; traffic can be crazy, especially with the junior highs, a few of which are situated in neighborhoods with poor traffic flow.  I was sitting at the teacher's desk, trying to take in the flow of words as fast as possible, when I realized that I couldn't do it: I had to leave the book behind.

Nooooooooo!!!

I drove across town, went to a few grocery stores, went to church for our bulletins, picked up Amos from work, and resisted the urge to stop at the library to read the last thirty pages of the book.  We got home, and I set off right away for the library around the corner, determined to find Despereaux before the library closed.  No luck.  There were several copies at the two libraries across town, but none at ours!

Nooooooooo!!!

The next day Amos was going to a men's dinner at church, and I was going to a ladies' dinner at a friend's house.  I left Amos to be picked up by one of our elders, who lives around the corner, and headed off to the library across town.  I selected a nice copy of the book, checked it out, and headed to my friend's house.  I pulled into a parking lot across the street from her complex to finish the book, turning up about five minutes late for the dinner.  I sat in my car and finished the epic story about the brave mouse, the kind princess, some delicious soup, a mistreated girl, a good-and-bad rat, the ridiculous king, an unfair mouse council, the kind keeper of the dungeon, and a red tablecloth.  It was lovely.

"Mig, as you might have guessed, did not get to be a princess.

But her father, to atone for what he had done,

treated her like one for the rest of his days."