Scan barcode
annettebooksofhopeanddreams's review
4.0
Ik heb ooit ergens gehoord dat je de allerleukste boeken vindt op boekenmarkten. Dat is waar je boeken tegen het lijf loopt waarvan je niet wist dat ze bestonden. Dat is waar je voor weinig geld een onbekend pareltje koopt dat je zomaar kan verrassen. In eerste instantie had ik dit boek laten staan, maar toen ik nog wat geld over had en het aan me bleef trekken, ben ik het alsnog gaan kopen.
En wat een ongelooflijk leuk jeugdboek! Als ik 20 jaar jonger was geweest was dit ongetwijfeld een van mijn favoriete boeken ooit geworden, alhoewel ik niet zeker weet of ik op die leeftijd de manier van vertellen zo had kunnen waarderen als nu, maar dat is een kleinigheidje.
Dit boek gaat verder waar het beroemde sprookje van de Rattenvanger van Hamelen stopt. Penelope komt er op haar elfde verjaardag, de dag waarop ze doof wordt, achter dat ze een bijzonder talent bezit en dat juist dat talent haar zusje en alle andere kinderen van Hamelen terug thuis kan brengen. En vanaf dat moment werd het boek een echte avonturenroman zoals er zoveel geschreven zijn met mannelijke helden.
Penelope komt terecht in een magische wereld, waar ze vrienden en vijanden maakt, waar ze ontwikkelt en groeit, waar ze zich dapper door alle testen heen slaat en waar ze uiteindelijk in een spannend gevecht de strijd aan moet gaan met de boze rattenvanger die alle kinderen van Hamelen ontvoerd heeft omdat de burgemeester weigerde zijn beloofde beloning te betalen.
De schrijfstijl is uniek, de manier van vertellen ook, maar het is bovenal een avontuur zoals ik er vele gelezen heb, maar zelden met een dapper meisje in de hoofdrol. Mocht ik ooit een tweede exemplaar vinden, dan gaat het naar mijn nichtje. Ik hoop dat ze het net zo kan waarderen als ik!
En wat een ongelooflijk leuk jeugdboek! Als ik 20 jaar jonger was geweest was dit ongetwijfeld een van mijn favoriete boeken ooit geworden, alhoewel ik niet zeker weet of ik op die leeftijd de manier van vertellen zo had kunnen waarderen als nu, maar dat is een kleinigheidje.
Dit boek gaat verder waar het beroemde sprookje van de Rattenvanger van Hamelen stopt. Penelope komt er op haar elfde verjaardag, de dag waarop ze doof wordt, achter dat ze een bijzonder talent bezit en dat juist dat talent haar zusje en alle andere kinderen van Hamelen terug thuis kan brengen. En vanaf dat moment werd het boek een echte avonturenroman zoals er zoveel geschreven zijn met mannelijke helden.
Penelope komt terecht in een magische wereld, waar ze vrienden en vijanden maakt, waar ze ontwikkelt en groeit, waar ze zich dapper door alle testen heen slaat en waar ze uiteindelijk in een spannend gevecht de strijd aan moet gaan met de boze rattenvanger die alle kinderen van Hamelen ontvoerd heeft omdat de burgemeester weigerde zijn beloofde beloning te betalen.
De schrijfstijl is uniek, de manier van vertellen ook, maar het is bovenal een avontuur zoals ik er vele gelezen heb, maar zelden met een dapper meisje in de hoofdrol. Mocht ik ooit een tweede exemplaar vinden, dan gaat het naar mijn nichtje. Ik hoop dat ze het net zo kan waarderen als ik!
jessalynn_librarian's review
3.0
This was an intriguing retelling of the Pied Piper story, with a likeable narrator, but the gaps in the fantasy logic lost it points. The awesome rope-skipping dragon won it back a few, though.
ubalstecha's review
4.0
Nice retelling of the Pied Piper of Hamblin story, making a girl centre stage. Richardson also layers in an inventive detail of having the young woman be the only child left behind because she was deaf and couldn't hear the piper's music. Fantastical dream sequences. Worth the time.
beckyisbookish's review
5.0
I have been trying to remember the title of this book for yearsss!! 10 year old me lived for this book and I always remembered it because a boy in our reading club, who I was very competitive with and admired, corrected me when I mispronounced Penelope!! I was astonished that I had never realized that was the spelling for Penelope! My gosh!
I will definitely try to get my hands on a copy and reread this as an adult. After not reading much fantasy at all for years I'm starting to seek out the books that made me a fantasy lover as a preteen and teenager.
So 10 year old me says this was fantastic.
I will definitely try to get my hands on a copy and reread this as an adult. After not reading much fantasy at all for years I'm starting to seek out the books that made me a fantasy lover as a preteen and teenager.
So 10 year old me says this was fantastic.
cstockey's review
4.0
Ok so I had read this in the past. I am honestly not sure exactly how old I was but it was definitely in elementary school (probably age 8-12 range). I read it for school and I actually really enjoyed it even then. As a kid I read books for the story and as an adult I read books for the characters and the messages within the story. Having said that I loved this book as much as an adult and I did as a kid.
I enjoyed that the narration was by the main character but when she is 101. She talks about preparing for her death and part of that is making sure that people know her story. So she goes back and forth from present day to 90 years prior when she is 11 multiple times throughout the book.
The plot is great.
Penelope's present day story (as a 101 year old) seems unnecessary but still interesting until the very end where it becomes super important to the story as a whole. This story is basically about her writing her childhood adventures to prepare for death, her dislike of certain children in the village and how they treat her, and this man coming to ask for one of her harps for his daughter's 11th birthday. This story is important but doesn't actually have a lot of "life lessons" which is why it seems less necessary throughout the book.
Penelope's past story starts at the beginning of the Pied Piper story. Penelope is preparing for her elevening (which is where the children of Hamelin find out what their gift/talent is; anywhere from singing to sewing) where she hopes to find out that she is meant to make harps while the Piper takes away the rats. The piper arrives on the day of her 11th birthday and takes away all the children of Hamelin except two. One is the Harper's (Penelope's father's) blind apprentice and the other is Penelope herself who wakes up to find that she is deaf. I love that the children with disabilities are the ones who are set up to save the rest of the "normal" kids. (I would like to point out that as a kid I didn't even realize that they were different other than they couldn't be taken by the harper; I never saw them as disabled. Everyone makes such a point of calling out books with main characters with disabilities these days but they always existed.)
Penelope being deaf isn't her gift it's just something that happened that is looked on as a blessing in this situation. Her gift is actually deep dreaming meaning that she can actually go into a dream world that other deep dreamers can also go into. What happens in the dream world can be transferred into the real world. This dream world is where the Piper has taken the children of Hamelin. These two things (deafness and deep dreaming) is where we start to see that the magical realism is being used to conveniently move the plot along and create simple, unquestionable solutions to problems. In an adult book this would bother me but it's a kids book so while it seems forced and obvious to me it probably seems wonderful to kids. You have to read the book like this, like you are a kid. That's who it was meant for so that's who it was written for.
Penelope, through her gift of deep dreaming, meets old friends (Scally and Alloway the blind boy) and new friends (Belle the Trolavian and Quentin the dragon) and goes on an adventure with everyone.
This is where the life lessons start. Penelope is brave enough to go on this adventure for the benefit of all the kids she grew up with (life lesson: being brave is easier when it's for other people). Belle adventures further than she intended and meets and befriends someone she had negative preconceived ideas about (life lesson: do new things, push your boundaries, and meet new people and you'll be able to make your own opinions about things). Quentin learns to overcome fears in order to reach his goals and to push himself when faced with defeat to become better. I just think that the life lessons that each of the characters puts forward are great things for kids to learn.
This book is short and I honestly remember it being so much longer and the adventuring being so much more of the book but that's because I was a kid when I first read it. If it was much longer kids would get disinterested in it.
So overall the characters were great and their progressions were just awesome to see. The plot was so much more intricate than I thought despite being short. And I can forgive the convenient plot points because it's magic and it's a dream.
So 4.5 stars and I recommend this to any young elementary school children who can read a novel length book. It is probably best for ages 8-12 but both boys and girls could enjoy this book even though the main character is female.
I enjoyed that the narration was by the main character but when she is 101. She talks about preparing for her death and part of that is making sure that people know her story. So she goes back and forth from present day to 90 years prior when she is 11 multiple times throughout the book.
The plot is great.
Penelope's present day story (as a 101 year old) seems unnecessary but still interesting until the very end where it becomes super important to the story as a whole. This story is basically about her writing her childhood adventures to prepare for death, her dislike of certain children in the village and how they treat her, and this man coming to ask for one of her harps for his daughter's 11th birthday. This story is important but doesn't actually have a lot of "life lessons" which is why it seems less necessary throughout the book.
Penelope's past story starts at the beginning of the Pied Piper story. Penelope is preparing for her elevening (which is where the children of Hamelin find out what their gift/talent is; anywhere from singing to sewing) where she hopes to find out that she is meant to make harps while the Piper takes away the rats. The piper arrives on the day of her 11th birthday and takes away all the children of Hamelin except two. One is the Harper's (Penelope's father's) blind apprentice and the other is Penelope herself who wakes up to find that she is deaf. I love that the children with disabilities are the ones who are set up to save the rest of the "normal" kids. (I would like to point out that as a kid I didn't even realize that they were different other than they couldn't be taken by the harper; I never saw them as disabled. Everyone makes such a point of calling out books with main characters with disabilities these days but they always existed.)
Penelope being deaf isn't her gift it's just something that happened that is looked on as a blessing in this situation. Her gift is actually deep dreaming meaning that she can actually go into a dream world that other deep dreamers can also go into. What happens in the dream world can be transferred into the real world. This dream world is where the Piper has taken the children of Hamelin. These two things (deafness and deep dreaming) is where we start to see that the magical realism is being used to conveniently move the plot along and create simple, unquestionable solutions to problems. In an adult book this would bother me but it's a kids book so while it seems forced and obvious to me it probably seems wonderful to kids. You have to read the book like this, like you are a kid. That's who it was meant for so that's who it was written for.
Penelope, through her gift of deep dreaming, meets old friends (Scally and Alloway the blind boy) and new friends (Belle the Trolavian and Quentin the dragon) and goes on an adventure with everyone.
This is where the life lessons start. Penelope is brave enough to go on this adventure for the benefit of all the kids she grew up with (life lesson: being brave is easier when it's for other people). Belle adventures further than she intended and meets and befriends someone she had negative preconceived ideas about (life lesson: do new things, push your boundaries, and meet new people and you'll be able to make your own opinions about things). Quentin learns to overcome fears in order to reach his goals and to push himself when faced with defeat to become better. I just think that the life lessons that each of the characters puts forward are great things for kids to learn.
This book is short and I honestly remember it being so much longer and the adventuring being so much more of the book but that's because I was a kid when I first read it. If it was much longer kids would get disinterested in it.
So overall the characters were great and their progressions were just awesome to see. The plot was so much more intricate than I thought despite being short. And I can forgive the convenient plot points because it's magic and it's a dream.
So 4.5 stars and I recommend this to any young elementary school children who can read a novel length book. It is probably best for ages 8-12 but both boys and girls could enjoy this book even though the main character is female.
afterglobe's review
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0