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My Grandma bought us The Tale of Despereaux about a year ago, and I have not read it to the children. I pre-read the beginning right after she gave it to us, and I didn't like that the mother mouse was calling her son a disappointment. I put it away and noticed it again and was wondering if it's worth reading. I am selective about what we read, but I don't want to be TOO picky! My oldest is 8, BTW.

Opinions on this book, please?

we listened to the book on CD and liked it, but didn't like the movie very much. Just one opinion.

Like you, my dd received it as a gift for her birthday when she was 6 or 7. I pre-read it, and also was not thrilled with the mother's attitudes, as well as the morbid nature of the dungeon, etc. I didn't feel she was ready for that kind of content at that age. She's now 8, and I can envision her being more prepared to handle and analyze the darker side of things. I think it's a really well-written book, but I would like for my kids to have an appropriate maturity level before reading it. At these tender young ages, I like my kids to have very uplifting, more innocent books. We did read some of Narnia, which can get rather "dark" at times, too, but at least there were some good spiritual parallels to teach on.

So... like you, I'm a bit hesitant about it for the younger audience, but can see that it would be a good read for a mature reader (ie: a kid who really understands about respect, value of life, etc). After all, they are going to have to be able to deal with and analyze "good vs bad" as they grow up, and we want them to be able to recognize that! I bet going through Despereaux would be great in conjunction with DITHOR, as those spiritual issues can really be discussed in light of what the Bible says!

Thanks for the opinions. I'm thinking it's not a good one to read aloud to all of the children, but I might let dd read it eventually. I already have plenty of books lined up for her to read during 3rd grade, so I'll just shelve this one for now!

I also pre-read it when my eldest was 7 and decided to wait. We read it together fairly recently (he's about to be 9) and he adored it. It is ODD though. I didn't know it was a movie but we live in a bubble here.

I should add that he likes odd books and stories with twists. We have read all of Narnia, for example, and he was ready for this book. My youngest son... no way will he be ready at nine. More like twelve. I think it really depends on personality. And for us, how grounded they are in the Word. That's a HUGE part of when we introduce anything.