The Pied Piper's Magic

Steven Kellogg is a master storyteller and illustrator with decades of successes (I was a fan of "Much Bigger than Martin" in the 70's). The Pied Piper's Magic takes the rough idea of the Grimm's tale and turns it into a beautiful tale about the transformative power of love. And... with the reversing words and letters, it's a great book for reinforcing text and letter awareness and vocabulary learning. Great for kiddos three and up.

Peterkin is a cheery elf even though he is poor. He is searching for work when he comes across the home of a retired witch whose house need some repairs. The witch tells him she has no money to pay him, but he does the work anyway. Upon Peterkin completing the work she gives him a magical pipe. The pipe does not make the sound of notes but instead letters. When he spells out the letters of animals they appear before him and then when he reverses the letters the animal turns into what he has spelled out. While Peterkin is traveling the county, he comes upon a dark and dreary city full of rats. With his magical pipe he is able get of rid the rats but also turn the city into a lovable place for people to live. The illustrations in this book are bright and colorful. The pictures make the reader happy just looking at them. I never read the original tale of the Pied Piper which apparently is not a very happy story but this one has a feel-good ending. My granddaughter and I liked the book, and we will read it again. If you were to pick just one of Kellogg’s books, I think there are better ones such as the those that retell American folk stories.

This book is so cute! I purchased this book because I am a music teacher and I plan to read it to my younger students.

Creative, original with a lesson about love. Beautiful, detailed art work typical of Stephen Kellogg. Great read to extrapolate with kids.

I must confess, after all these years, that the original tale of the Pied Piper, the Grimm's version, which was the one I grew up on more or less scared me and depressed me when I was a wee one. For me it was a dark and scary tale and had a feeling about if of hopelessness and medieval justice. It was not a favorite of mine...still isn't for that matter. Steven Kellogg has taken this old dark tale and turned it into a truly happy story which is a delight in that he explores, for lack of a better term, the `happiness,' and goodness of people. In this story the Pied Piper is a small and good natured elf (who by the looks of his garb sort of reminds me of me). He happens upon a very depressed and dreary person; a failed witch who is living in a rundown old house. After helping her he is presented a flute; a magic flute of which the witch has no idea how to use. The elf soon discovers that he magic qualities of this flute, when played correctly, can make good things appear; animals, flowers, rainbows, mythical creatures and so on. He happens upon a town that is overrun by rats and is ruled by a wicked and selfish Duke. Well of course our little elf dose his thing with his magical flute and....well, all turns out well with a rather sweet and surprising ending. The tale is well retold by Kellogg and the art work is wonderfully executed and is worth flipping through the book just to look at the pictures...busy, busy, busy and oh so colorful! I found absolutely nothing, from the story telling to the lessons taught and hopefully learned to the wonderful art work to complain about. This is simply a great children's book. This was a library find. Don Blankenship The Ozarks

"I think that "The Pied Piper's Magic" is a good book for little kids. It is a lot of fun, it has great illustrations, and a happy ending. Older children may enjoy the book that the author was inspired by- "The Pied Piper of Hamlin." - anonymous 9 year old

I always found Grimm's The Pied Piper of Hamelin to be a rather macabre and dark tale and my young daughter was quite terrified by the original tale. When we saw "The Pied Piper's Magic" on the library bookshelf, we were drawn to the vibrant color illustrations depicting a benign-looking elf on the cover. I am glad we checked it out because this retelling, inspired by Grimm's original tale, takes a more lighthearted approach and focuses on the healing powers of love. The story begins with a small elf, Peterkin, who is looking for work. His travels take him to a tumbledown cottage inhabited by an ill-tempered witch named Elbavol. The little elf's diligence and cheery disposition affects the grumpy witch and she relents for a while, presenting Peterkin with a magical pipe as payment for his work on her cottage. By sheer accident, Peterkin discovers that the pipe makes the sound of letters when played, and the words spelled out through the pipe morph into actual objects. This works when a word is spelled backward as well, for example "Deer" turns into a "Reed" and so on. Peterkin's travels take him to a large city where the children are in torment because their parents have been put to work all day and night by a cruel Grand Duke. The rest of the story deals with how Peterkin uses his magic pipe to transform the gloomy city into a place of happiness, and brings about positive changes in the inhabitants as well. Unlike the original tale of The Pied Piper of Hamelin which sees the Piper leading the children of the town away into a place where they will never see their parents again, this retelling by talented author-illustrator Steven Kellogg focuses on the positive and especially on the changes brought about by love and compassion. It is a beautifully-illustrated tale that will have children smiling at the antics of Peterkin the Piper-Elf and will cheer the hearts of anyone who reads this beautifully-conceptualized tale.