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A review by cstockey
After Hamelin by Bill Richardson
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.