Kate DiCamillo’s mouse that soared

When author Kate DiCamillo addressed the American Booksellers Association’s award luncheon a couple years ago, I was smitten. Few authors speak as powerfully in person as on the page, and Kate is one of them. She told of how, as a young girl, she discovered books in her town’s small local bookstore, and how it changed her life forever.

Years later, Kate DiCamillo would change the lives of countless young readers herself. She did it with the help of a very small mouse.

The Tale of Despereaux is the book that not only won the most prestigious award given to children’s books—the Newbery Medal—but also gave to children and adults a story that will likely endure alongside those from Hans Christian Andersen, A. A. Milne  and E. B. White. Despereaux, you see, is a little mouse with the big ears and bigger heart who is desperate to save a princess.

Despereaux went Hollywood several years ago, with a full-length feature film from Universal Studios. In 2012, Kate and Levenger conspired to bring him into 3D as a bookend. And this bookend itself tells a story.

Levenger Press editor Mim Harrison spoke with Kate about Despereaux’s morphing from an idea in her head to an object on her shelf. Here’s their conversation: 

Levenger Press: What has it been like to have a two-dimensional mouse made into a three-dimensional bookend?

Kate DiCamillo: It is an odd and humbling thing to sit alone in a dark room in the early hours of morning and try to imagine your way into the heart and soul of a (smaller-than-average) mouse, and then to watch him come to life in so many different ways. It truly seems like a dream to me.

LP: How is it different from seeing him being made into an animated film?

Kate: There is something wonderful about being able to reach out and actually touch the top of Despereaux's head. It was grand to see him up on the screen. And it is comforting to think about having him on my bookshelf.

LP: When you’re first creating the characters for your books in your head, do you see them in 3-D?

Kate: I do!  They are whole, complete, multi-dimensional, complicated and confounding in my mind.

LP: Despereaux is a children’s book—the recipient of the Newbery Medal for children’s literature, in fact—and yet you use grown-up words like coda in it. How do you write to appeal equally to children and adults?

Kate: I just work on trying to tell the story in the best way I am able. That is, I try to get out of my own way and let the story tell me what to do.

LP: For readers who haven’t read Despereaux (cripes, as Despereaux’s brother might say), what would you want to tell them about why there’s a spool of red thread on the bookend?

Kate: Something like this: that red thread is there to remind us all that there is a way through our troubles.

LP: Your message on the bottom of the bookend says, “Reader, I hope you found some light here.” What did you mean by that?

Kate: Stories are light to me. To read a story comforts me. To tell a story comforts me. The reading and the telling both illuminate. And that is a grand, grand thing.

And now to you, dear reader: what was the book where, as a youngster, you found light and comfort? I’d love to hear. Just click on the Comments link below with your submission. (If you’re reading this as an email, click here and you'll connect to Comments).

Comments

[Donna Guiliano]

The book for me was Kon Tiki. It took me to faraway exotic places, far from the small New Jersey town I grew up in where, when I looked out my window I saw the Manhattan skyline.

[Pattie McManus Reber]

When I was eight years old, T.H. White's MISTRESS MASHAM'S REPOSE was published. My mother read it to me, and later I read it to my fifth grade class. The book always gave me comfort and light. One has to empathize with the Lilliputians who want only to be left alone, and one learns with Maria that others must not be bullied but must be left to live their own lives. In the end, it comforts me when greed and meanness are defeated and Maria comes into her own at last.

[Rick Estep]

I need your help on this one!
When I was a young teen in the 70's, I found a small book in our local library, I think it must have been in the young/adult section.
I can't remember the title, but it was about a boy around my age that had a pet husky dog.
He lived somewhere by the mountains and had some kind of adventure or something. I think maybe he lost his dog and got him back.
I know, I know, kind of vague...
..but I was so captivated by the story, I read through the whole book on a Saturday afternoon without leaving the library!
(We lived within walking distance of the library.)
I would so love to find out what book that was.

Any suggestions are welcome.

[Steve Leveen]

Ah, lovely stories, Donna and Pattie, thank you for sharing. For me it was Now We Are Six by A.A. Milne. I can see the illustrations yet. It was the first book that took me outside myself and helped me begin to feel what others must feel. Happy Holidays, Steve

[Loanis Menendez-Cuesta]

HI Rick,
Mr. Leveen asked me to check out your book hunt...and since I love these scavenger hunts...

Could it be “Wild Dog” by Jane Rietveld? I believe it was originally published in 1953 but there was a 1970 reprint in paperback.

~This is a nice children's story about a young boy Jerry and his Canadian Husky dog, "Wild Dog." Jerry and Husky had wonderful times until Husky found out how thrilling it was to catch his own food, including the farmer's chickens. The book was published by Young Reader's Press and is dated 1970. Jane Rietveld wrote the book and also did the illustrations. Book is 189 pages.~ From Bluejay.com – a used book seller)

Let us know!
:)

Loly, Delray Beach Public Library

[Carol W Baca]

I loved all four A. A. Milne Pooh books and poetry books--I still think Pooh's solution to all problems can't be beat, just declare that it is "time for a little something." Also, I still love to quote from the poems, from "Why would I go to the zoo and be bad? And would I be likely to say if I had?" and the beleaguered ship-wrecked sailor who can't decide what to do first ending with "I think it was dreadful the way he behaved, he did nothing but basking until he was saved" to the chanting refrain of "round about and round about and round about I go..." Classic!

[Rudy Checker]

So what happened to his tail???

[Mim Harrison]

Dear Rudy,

The absence of a tail is intentional, as we wanted to be true to the tale. Here is our truncated version of Desperaux's tale (and tail):

Despereaux, a tiny mouse with too-big ears, falls desperately in love with the princess whose castle he lives in. One day, while cornered, he gets his tail trimmed by the castle’s cook. When Despereaux learns that the princess has been kidnapped and is being held in the dungeon, he vows to rescue her. With a spool of red thread for his armor and a needle as his sword, he dashes off to save her. The bookend captures Despereaux in his passionate act of chivalry.

I hope this was of help.

All best,

Mim