Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

As huge fans of Kate DiCamillo and after seeing that the book received hundreds of positive reviews, we were ecstatic to start The Tale of Despereaux! We were immediately disappointed. The story is slow and dull and could not hold my upper elementary children’s attention. Then the story turned dark, really dark. Despite the deeply disturbing storyline, we pressed on through the first two sections of the book (the book is divided into 3 distinct sections). Section 2 continued to spiral down until we felt that the context was no longer appropriate for children. At several points in section 2, I had to read ahead because I was honestly afraid of how much darker the story was going to go and didn’t want to accidentally read something inappropriate aloud. We stopped at the end of section 2 and never finished the book. I would not recommend this book to anyone, and frankly, the positive reviews it received make me question all positive reviews on Amazon.