THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX

Despereaux is a mouse who reads stories about knights, loves music, falls in love with a princess, and is sentenced to death for communicating with humans. Graeme Malcolm gives a formal, unembellished reading of the text. In some ways, this fits a story that feels like a fairy tale, and, in other ways, it does little to enliven a story that is somewhat slow paced. Malcolm's voices for the scheming rat Roscuro and the bumbling Miggery Sow are inventive, but his narration doesn't pull any suspense or tension out of the lengthy exposition and flashbacks. There are also many instances of deliberate authorial intrusion that don't work as well in audio as they do on the page. An uneven production. A.F. Winner of the 2004 Newbery Medal; 2004 Audie Award Finalist © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine [Published: FEB/ MAR 04]