The Tale of Despereaux

details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Fairy Tale Recommendations”

In this activity, students will assign fairy tales to Despereaux’s family members based on text details.

Think of the ways in which Despereaux’s character is built by reading fairy tales. Consider his family members and their lack of moral reasoning. What fairy tales might you recommend to each of Despereaux’s family members so that they might develop character traits that match Despereaux’s? Create a list of fairy tales in a slideshow presentation that you would recommend to Lester, Antoinette, Furlough, and his other siblings. Then explain what each of these fairy tales might offer to Despereaux’s family members.

• Consider character traits such as love, nonconformity, compassion, self-sacrifice, and acceptance.
• What qualities do you believe Despereaux’s family members lack?
• What fairy tales might you recommend to help family members develop their character?
• In what way will these fairy tales help family members?
• Create a slideshow presentation with the character and the fairy tales you might recommend for each character.

Share a few of the fairy tales you identified that may help Despereaux’s family members and explain why they represent a moral or standard of behavior Despereaux’s family may lack.

Teaching Suggestion: Students may find it beneficial to analyze the character traits of Antoinette, Furlough, and Lester before selecting fairy tales that offer a lesson they might benefit from. Encourage students to consider more than one fairy tale for characters that are lacking in more than one character trait.

Differentiation Suggestion: Students who require an additional challenge may analyze other characters in the novel such as the king, Roscuro, and Mig to determine the fairy tales that may help them to develop character traits that align with Despereaux’s.