A Delightful Yarn
The writing style in The Tale of Despereaux stays true to its fairy tale and whimsical roots. The story is told as though it's a delightful tale filled with many twists and turns, and has some clever asides to the reader that add some humor to even the darkest of situations:
At least Lester had the decency to weep at his act of of perfidy. Reader, do you know what "perfidy" means? I have a feeling you do, based on the little scene that has just unfolded here. But you should look up the word in your dictionary just to be sure. (8.18)
For example, the story doesn't remain all too serious even when Despereaux is sentenced to death. Instead, the reader is introduced to a new vocabulary word and told to look it up in the dictionary. The language has an old-fashioned, romantic feel to it, as if it could have been written in the 19th century.
And the little princess! How lovely she was! How much like light itself. (19.7)
The characters have exotic names like Chiaroscuro and Botticelli, words reminiscent of Renaissance art. But there are lots of hints here and there that this story wasn't really written long ago. The author sneaks in some familiar pop culture references (well, maybe familiar for your parents or grandparents) that are pretty modern. One of the songs that the King plays for Pea is described as being about "deep purple falling over sleepy garden walls." (5.1) That's a real song that won a Grammy in 1963 for Nino Tempo and April Stevens. It's about someone who lost their love but she lives on in his memory and comes to him in dreams (just like Queen Rosemary). The same duo also recorded a version of "Stardust," which is mentioned in chapter 4.