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Ever wondered what the Pied Piper really did with the children of Hamelin? Bill Richardson has long been fascinated by the fate of the lost children in the folk tale that inspired the famous Robert Browning poem. In
After Hamelin, his first novel for younger readers, the popular CBC broadcaster retells
The Pied Piper of Hamelin through the eyes of the one child who failed to hear the Piper's seductive playing. Penelope, now 101 years old, recalls awaking on the morning of her 11th birthday to a world of silence and pain, her hearing gone and her playmates stolen by the Piper. She goes on to tell of using her newfound gift for "deep dreaming"--the art of travelling while asleep--to follow the Piper to a rocky fortress in the country between sleep and waking. On her journey Penelope attracts a motley gang of fellow questers, including a wisecracking tomcat and a swooning dragon. Together, armed only with their wits and Penelope's trusty skipping rope, they free the children and return the evil Piper to slumber.
From the valley where song is the only form of discourse, to the eerie vine-covered cottage where the Piper's dreaming body lies waiting, After Hamelin shows an extraordinary power of invention. But his best creation is Penelope herself, who combines the pluck of Pippi Longstocking and the crabby forthrightness of Margaret Laurence's Hagar Shipley. (Ages 10 to 13) --Lisa Alward
From Publishers Weekly
Featuring a wild and unpredictable dreamscape, this surrealistic tale begins 90 years after the Pied Piper of Hamelin's tale ends. Penelope, at age 101, is the only villager old enough to remember the events, and she records her account of what really happened to her town's children. She begins with her 11th birthday, marked by three significant occurrences. First she is mysteriously struck deaf. Then she watches helplessly as the piper lures her older sister and friends out of the city with an enchanting melody (her deafness spares her from the same fate). Next a mysterious town elder informs Penelope that she alone can rescue the children by journeying to a magic land that can be entered only through dreams. After falling into a deep sleep, Penelope embarks on her dangerous mission and, with the aid of a talking cat, a featherless snowbird and a rope-skipping dragon, she sets out to find the piper and his imprisoned victims. First-time YA novelist Richardson provides an effective framework for his narrative, juxtaposing the poetic musings of 101-year-old Penelope against the childhood adventure she meticulously recalls. Penelope emerges as a far more convincing character than her traveling companions, whose bizarre traits and talents seem too neatly tailored to advance the plot. If the events are somewhat convoluted and unevenly paced, Penelope's wise, sometimes bitter voice remains fresh and provocative. Ages 10-13. (Jan.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
