After Hamelin is a lovely, lovely book with poetic words and phrases and heartfelt times. Penelope is the main character, seen both as a child and as an elderly woman. She is 101 years old as she begins to tell the tale and talks about preparing for death. She wants others to know her story, from this day to 90 years before when she was just 11. It starts with the beginning of the Pied Piper tale. Penelope is preparing for her elevening (when the Hamelin children determine their gift/talent). She hopes that she is meant to make harps as the Piper takes away the rats.
Arriving on her 11th birthday, the Pied Piper takes away all the children including her older sister and friends. The only children remaining are the Harper's (Penelope's father's) blind apprentice and Penelope who is deaf. Penelope wants to rescue the children even though she disliked some for how they treated her. She discovers that her gift is deep dreaming. She can go into a dream world with other deep dreamers, including the Pied Piper and the children. What happens in the dream world can become reality.
Following the advice of a town elder, Penelope, through her gift of deep dreaming, finds old friends (Scally and Alloway the blind boy) and makes new friends (Belle the Trolavian and Quentin the dragon). So the adventure begins providing the reader with fFun, imaginative characters mixed with mysticism, silliness and melancholy.
Arriving on her 11th birthday, the Pied Piper takes away all the children including her older sister and friends. The only children remaining are the Harper's (Penelope's father's) blind apprentice and Penelope who is deaf. Penelope wants to rescue the children even though she disliked some for how they treated her. She discovers that her gift is deep dreaming. She can go into a dream world with other deep dreamers, including the Pied Piper and the children. What happens in the dream world can become reality.
Following the advice of a town elder, Penelope, through her gift of deep dreaming, finds old friends (Scally and Alloway the blind boy) and makes new friends (Belle the Trolavian and Quentin the dragon). So the adventure begins providing the reader with fFun, imaginative characters mixed with mysticism, silliness and melancholy.
