Customer Reviews

The Tale of Despereaux: The Graphic Novel

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

My sons, ages 6 and 4, are a bit younger than the target audience (8-to-12-year olds) for The Tale of Despereaux so I went to a bookstore to look over the options. That's where I came across this graphic novel. I also found The Tale of Despereaux Movie Tie-In Storybook and The Tale of Despereaux Movie Tie-In Junior Novelization on the shelves.

I'm not opposed to the graphic novel (comic book) format. In fact, I own a collection of Classics Illustrated to introduce my sons to literature. I even gave a 4-star review to Chuck Jones' Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, a colorful yet simple version of Rudyard Kipling's story.

The product description for this edition states: "This fresh new graphic format, featuring all-new artwork inspired by the film The Tale of Despereaux, is destined to bring Kate DiCamilllo's award-winning classic to an even wider audience." However, I could find no compelling reason to pass over the Newbery Medal-winning book, The Tale of Despereaux for the graphic novel of any other movie tie-in.

This graphic novel and the paperback edition of the original are eligible for Amazon's 4-for-3 promotion (Buy any 4 eligible items and get the lowest-priced item free.) So, again, there's no advantage to choosing the movie tie-in edition over the original.

In summary, skip this graphic novel and the other movie tie-in editions and stick with the original, which is more than accessible for young readers.

BTW: Our introduction to author Kate DiCamillo came by way of her Christmas picture book, Great Joy, which I also highly recommend and gave a 5-star review here on Amazon.

This "graphic novel" is adapted from the movie that is based upon the novel by Kate DiCamillo. I haven't yet seen the movie, so I don't know how closely this book follows the movie. However, I have read the original book and I have read a lot of graphic novels and THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX: THE GRAPHIC NOVEL is a poor adaptation of the original story and a terrible imitation of a graphic novel.

Despereaux's story is similar to that of the original novel. Roscuro the Rat has a different origins story, though the tale of the soup remains, and he's not as vicious and vindictive as he is in the novel. Meanwhile, Mig Sow's role has been reduced and she doesn't seem to have any of the physical ailments that the novel describes her as having. There's also a whole new character of a "soup genie" that is added. I'm sure that in the movie the character is there to add some lightheartedness and comic relief to what studios thought is "too dark a story for kids". It might work better in the movie, but when I read this graphic novel I thought it was completely ridiculous.

The illustrations aren't very colorful or defined. There isn't really a particular style to them and they have no substance. In fact, most of them look like snapshots from a poorly drawn cartoon.

In short, THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX: THE GRAPHIC NOVEL is a poor adaptation designed for the sole purpose of marketing THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX movie. It's a poor graphic novel and, therefore, not a very good piece of marketing either. Young children who love the movie might enjoy this book, but other than that it's a book that has no audience or worth.

I must confess, I haven't read the original book, or seen the animated movie. I just finished reading this graphic novel adaptation and I came into it pretty darn skeptical... a comic book, based on the movie... based on the original novel? How good could it be? I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised. It's light-hearted and moves swiftly. Obviously, it's a completely different animal from the original work, but taken completely on it's own merits it's pretty good.

The book opens with Roscuro the Rat, sailing in for the Kingdom of Dor's Royal Soup Day, which is apparently an even bigger celebration than Christmas. Chef Andre's top-secret to his sumptious soups is his helper, a magical being made of vegetables. Meantime, among the mice, an unusually brave and intrepid Despereaux is born. His teachers soon despair of teaching him how to cower and scurry as ordinary mice do, which is handled with a fair bit of humor. "Despereaux, there are so many wonderful things in life to be afraid of it you just learn how scary they are."

After the Queen accidentally drowns in a bowl of soup (it's handled in such a way that it's not nearly as gruesome as it sounds) the King outlaws soup and a gloom descends over the country. When Despereaux is exiled from his community for his continually un-mousy behavior (reading books, befriending princesses and the like) he and Roscuro team up and eventually bring soup (and happiness) back to the Kingdom of Dor.

The bold dark outlines in the artwork lend a hand-drawn feel to this digitally created piece. The style of the full-color drawings seems inspired by the film; just a bit more cartoonish and with a slightly muted palette.

Beautifully illustrated book. I bought this for my friend's son for Christmas and he loved it. I read it to him and have to say that I loved it too! Thinking about purchasing my own copy. A must have for fans of the movie or graphic novels/children's books in general.

I was terribly disappointed, this is the "comic book" version of the story. Was looking for a book for my granddaughters to "read".