[에세이 만점은 독서 교육으로부터!] Title/Author: The Tale of Despereaux by Kate Dicamillo

Level : 05
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This popular book won the Newbery Medal and has even been made into a delightful film. Despereaux is a mouse-but not a normal rodent. He adores music and art, and he is in love with the castle‘s Princess Pea. His antagonist is Roscuro, the rat that dwells deep in the dungeons.

A lowly servant girl named Miggery Sow also has a place in Despereaux’s grand adventure as he moves through the castle’s many dangers in his quest to save the Princess Pea. Despereaux’s story is a new fairy tale destined to endure for many generations.

Essay Question

This story has an unusual hero, Despereaux the mouse. Describe the qualities that make Despereaux a hero. Be sure to give examples from the book that show these heroic qualities.

Student Essay

Despereaux was a mouse and lived in a hole of a castle, but he wasn’t a normal mouse. Despereaux was very small mouse that talked to humans and read storys.

Despereaux was in love with Princess Pea. So when he heard Pea trapped in the dungeon, he immediately dashed to the dungeon with a needle as his weapon. Despereaux knew how dangerous the dungeon was. Their are rats in the dungeon that was twice his size and loved to eat small mouse like Despereaux. The dungeon is also dark so you can get lost and will not be able get out. Knowing what he had to face Despereaux still chose to go and try to rescue the Princess. This shows that he is very brave. Even though he is so tiny he still decides to go through the obstacles and rescue Princess Pea.

Despereaux was now on his way to rescue the Princess, but the problem was that he didn‘t exactly know where Princess Pea was. So Despereaux was trying to find the Princess when he met a rat called Botticelli. Botticelli was a rat and rats knew every single passage way of the dungeon. Botticelli loved to torture mouse and also eat them.

So Botticelli said that he will lead Despereaux to the Princess. Everyone knows that you should never trust a rat, but Despereaux loved Pea so much followed him with. This shows that Despereaux has courage. Despereaux showed no fear for Botticelli even though Botticelli could easily eat Despereaux.

Despereaux had two qualities that made him a hero even though he was a mouse. The first quality was bravery and the second was courage. These two quality made Despereaux a true hero.

Teacher Comments

Although you explain the situations and use great examples, both of your qualities--bravery and courage--are the same thing! They are the same quality, aren’t they? Since both examples are so good, we can still use them…I don‘t want to erase a whole paragraph! However, we can also say he is romantic. He is romantic because he loves the Princess. Right? Also, he is brave because he must save the princess, so being brave and being romantic are connected for him. Therefore, if we say he is brave and romantic, then we can add a little more to both paragraphs yet keep the main ideas and descriptions as they are.

Let’s do that. What you need to do is add a sentence to the first paragraph that sets up the idea that Despereaux is brave/courageous and romantic. If you make that thought clear in the beginning, then we will expect you to discuss these qualities in the two big paragraphs, so your essay will be organized and clear.

You also need to proofread for errors with plurals. For example, you write “Their are rats in the dungeon that was twice his size and loved to eat small mouse like Despereaux.” One error is the first word--THEIR. Nothing belongs to a group, so what you need is simple “There” to begin the sentence.

THEIR = belongs to them
THEY’RE = they are
THERE = everything else you use “there” for

Next, if there are ratS (plural), then you have to use WERE. “There are rats in the dungeon that WERE twice his size and loved to eat small MICE…” As you can see, Despereaux. is one of many MICE that might be eaten, so you have to use MICE. You must have noticed in the book that the plural of “mouse” is “mice”. Right?

Later, Botticelli loved to torture MICE (more than one). OK?

Please hunt for more errors with plurals…look in your last sentence where you need “two qualities”, for example. See how many you can catch and correct on your own. Also, set up the idea that he is romantic and will act bravely to save the princess.