The rat king later holds Despereaux over the sharp-toothed cat as bait.
He is drawn to light and is torn between this and his darker self. Roscuro spends his time in the darkness of the dungeon. The next time you are looking for a good book to read, make sure to consider “The Tale of Despereaux”! After Despereaux s sad story, in which he falls deeply in love with the human Princess Pea and is greatly punished for his crime, we also meet Roscuro--a conniving rat whose love of light and soup get him in deep trouble too. Use this list to strengthen vocabulary! In the dungeon, there lives a rat named Roscuro, who persuades a slow-witted serving girl named Miggery Sow to kidnap Princess Pea. Later, in the same arena, the princess is tied down by ropes and taken to the floor where she is supposed to be the rats’ dinner. However, he one day sees light seeping through the crack of the door and becomes determined to explore this beauty further. The main plot follows the adventures of a mouse named Despereaux Tilling, as he sets out on his quest to rescue a beautiful human princess from the rats. Despereaux must rescue Pea and make it out of the dungeon without being killed by the rats. Roscuro throws a villainous rat into the hungry cat’s cage, a messy death implied. Now she performs a classic showtune to shine a light on these challenging times. The book won the 2004 Newbery Medal award. Roscuro is a good-hearted, plump rat and frenemies to Despereaux. Accolades. He spends his time in the darkest depths of the dungeon. And then there s Miggery Sow, a dim-witted peasant girl sold by her father for a red tablecloth, a hen and some cigarettes. Betsy Morgan endeared Globe audiences in the musicals Rain (2016) and The Tale of Despereaux (2019). Vocabulary list for chapters 19-24 of The Tale of Despereaux.
Crowds of rats chant “Eat! The Tale of Despereaux is a 2003 children's fantasy book written by Kate DiCamillo. Eat!” as they cheer the “games” on.