An Iranian marries a Frenchman in Southern California and a French mouse is born

Well, Funny in Farsi proved to be heart-warming if anything can be said. I am glad I was able to read the book. The stories are very inspiring. What I learned most from the book is that the smallest actions can wield the biggest heart. I think Firoozeh Dumas has one of the biggest hearts of any autobiographical/biographical authors I have read. She loves her family and that is something to be said. Not many people can recount stories of their ENTIRE family with such warmth. She has the best things to say even about her mother's brother's son's cousin's aunt's daughter's babysitter's mom. It is unbelievable the love this woman has for everyone and the love her family extends. I would like to adopt an Iranian family, preferably hers, for the times I cannot be around my own family. I think one of my goals in life is going to be meeting Dumas and having a chat with her to hear more stories...even though I could read Laughing Without an Accent...but it is almost time to move on to "E" and I am just now starting my Newbery Medal in the "D" week.

Her afterward is great. It is basically a summation of thank yous to her family and friends for their stories and love. She speaks of her family's reaction to her publishing the book. My favorite part is her father's reaction to her sales rank on "Amahzone." He sees her at 1.5 million and thinks that is how many copies she has sold prior to the book being released. So many moments of beauty find their way to the surface in this story. She says her father often searches the internet to find articles/stories/biographies on her. I hope he finds my thoughts on her and realizes, even more, what a wonderful person he raised.

The most heart-warming component of the final part I read was about an earthquake she experienced in San Francisco. While looking for a phone with a dial tone, she found a scared elderly neighbor and comforted her. Each year after that, the Eastern European woman would show up at her apartment with a chocolate bundt cake to thank her between sobs for saving her life. Life throws so many obstacles at us and we never realize who we touch.

Please read Funny in Farsi if anything just for a good laugh, but there is much more to be found buried within the meanings of each word.

As I move from an Iranian married to a Frenchman in Southern California, I have found a mouse named Despereaux. Kate DiCamillo won the 2003 Newbery Medal for her book The Tale of Despereaux, also known as The Tale of Desperaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread. She is the author of many award-winning chidren's books; Because of Winn-Dixie (2000), The Tiger Rising (2001), The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane (2006) and The Magician's Elephant (2009) are her other books. She has also written the Mercy Watson series for younger readers. DiCamillo (an Italian) was born March 25, 1964 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She moved to Florida at the age of five to recover from pneumonia. In 1986, she obtained a degree in English from the University of Florida. She moved to Minneapolis and started working for a book warehouse. This was the inspiration for her writing. She met a representative from Candlewick Press and now we know her as Kate DiCamillo, author.

The Tale of Despereaux is about a mouse born to a French mouse mother and a father of British mouse lineage. The story was inspired by DiCamillo's best friend's son, Luke, who wanted her to write a story about an unlikely hero. We then ended up with Despereaux. Now, I will have to say, I made it through 83 pages of the book in about 30 minutes (and this was not from treadmill dancing which I did with Funny earlier today burning about 400 calories). I was sitting on my bed reading, texting and Facebook messaging. But trust me, I did concentrate on the book. I have read through it and I am legitimately at page 83 with a full comprehension of what I read (my brain is clear tonight thanks to my friend Justin and the fact that I scored a free entry to Mister 312 spa downtown and got a paraffin hand wax, hand massage and haircut clean-up...and btw...the girl massaging my hands LOVES Myrtle Beach, SC and says she LOVES sweet tea and anything Southern and Southern people. She rocked.). Ok, back from the parenthetical expressions. Despereaux is not a story one should read after a really fun day or after feeling really good. This is the type of story that requires anti-depressants.
From the beginning, we learn of a self-centered pair of mice, Antoinette and Lester, that being a mouse apparently comes with standards. Despereaux Tilling is the only mouse to survive out of Antoinette's last litter. She is sure he is going to die. She is such a schadenfreude mess. So she names him a name representing many despairs. Despereaux does indeed survive (no shit or we wouldn't have the book) but has many "flaws" for a mouse. He is too small, his ears are too big, he doesn't look for crumbs, he doesn't like to eat paper, blah, blah, blah. I feel like Goldilocks is about to take him for a ride to find the most suitable mouse. Well, his family treats him like garbage. His brother Furlough and his sister Merlot degrade him. Despereaux is told he is a nothing and such a waste. Even his parents are so degrading and tell him what a failure he is as a mouse (remember, do not read if you are feeling good. In fact, do not read if you are feeling bad). The pictures of him are really cute and you hurt for him while reading. Well, to make a long story short, Despereaux loves the things we take for granted. He loves stained glass colored light, he loves reading, especially Once Upon a Time stories.

One day, he hears King Philip playing music on his guitar for Princess Pea. He is enchanted and ends up coming out of the wall and sits right in front of them. Startled, the Princess looks at him and opens her heart to him. She asks the near-sighted King to play a song for him. The king says it would be too "topsy-turvy" to play a song for "bug," but he does anyway. Then Despereaux gets pet on the head by Pea. And THEN...the NO NO. He talks. The king tells him to get off and stomps at him. The Princess is sad about this. As Despereaux runs off, he tells her his name and how he will honor her. He is in love with Pea. Unfortunately, his brother Furlough is witness to this non-mouse behaviour. Furlough tells their parents and Lester holds a meeting with the Mouse Council. They decide they will have a hearing for Despereaux for his crimes of being touched and talking to a human. When they meet with him, they decide to send him to the dungeon to be killed by the rats. Furlough is one of the "executioners" assigned to him. Antoinette is sad and simply wishes him adieu. *PS...I love the occasional code-switch from English to French. Despereaux is thrown into the darkness of the dungeon and is discovered and saved by a prisoner Gregory (a human). The human recognizes he was sent down to die because of red thread tied around his neck. Gregory says he will have Despereaux tell him a story in order to save his life...this is where I left off at the end of Book 1: A Mouse is Born.

I do see how this is a Newbery. It has the elements of emotion and real-life dealings that are major topics for kids. I am enjoying DiCamillo's attention to Despereaux's detailed environment. I just wish people were nicer to him!!!

The Tale of Despereaux was released as an animated film in 2008. Click on Despereaux for the preview. I am not sure how close the book and movie are related. The movie looks too happy. BUTTTTTTT...Emma Watson, aka Hermione and her hot self, is a voice in the movie! ;)
Today was a great day. I got a lot accomplished. I feel good about life. I had a great hang-out session and ran many errands. I have a pic to share of the beauty of Rogers Park right outside my bedroom window during the Fall. It is a vastly different scene from the snowy one right now.
Have a lovely night!!! :)