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Gr 8-Up Legend has it that in 1284 the city of Hameln (or Hamelin) suffered a plague of rats of which they tried to rid themselves by hiring a piper to lead the vermin away. When the residents reneged on their payment to him, he led their children away, as well. This tale has proved fertile ground for a lot of literature, from the 19th-century poem by Robert Browning to a 20th-century novel by Gloria Skurzynski. Now Napoli adds Breath-and breadth-to the canon. She includes the potent elements of ergot poisoning and suspected witchcraft in her plot, which is narrate...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

Napoli's spare title captures the suffocating atmosphere of medieval Germany ravaged by plague brought on by rat infestation and illness brought on by a "killer fungus" called ergot. In Hameln, each family endures the effects of this twin devastation in ignorance and confusion. Twelve-year-old narrator Salz suffers at the center of the chaos. An outsider in his family and the community, Salz is sensitive and book educated, but his disting...Log In or Sign Up to Read More