From School Library Journal
Grade 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 narrated by 12-year-old Salz-a boy whose frequent, serious illnesses render him almost useless on his family's farm. (An afterword explains that he has cystic fibrosis.) The author vividly describes the frightening conditions facing the townspeople and their increasingly desperate attempts to understand and overcome the torrential rains; the rat infestation; the diseases afflicting their livestock; and the physical, mental, and sexual maladies that beset them. Salz is an intelligent observer who is tried for witchcraft when he doesn't succumb to the same illnesses as the rest of the population. (He doesn't drink the beer made from the infected grain.) Readers unfamiliar with the psychotropic effects of ergot poisoning may be as mystified as these medieval citizens by the events presented here. Salz's illness is likely to be equally puzzling until it is explained in the postscript. The confusion and speculation this ignorance might produce are realistically portrayed, but it's possible that foreknowledge would provide a richer reading experience for teens.Miriam Lang Budin, Chappaqua Public Library, NYCopyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
Gr. 8-12. It is the late thirteenth century, and Hameln town and its surroundings are overwhelmed by a terrible, incurable illness. Everywhere animals are sick and dying; humans may be next. What can be causing the scourge? Perhaps it's the result of the recent infestation of rats. No one knows for sure, but Salz hopes the piper he meets has the answers. Napoli has written a grotesquely powerful reimagining of the familiar German legend (and Robert Browning poem) about the Pied Piper of Hamelin. Seen through the eyes of a boy who himself suffers a mysterious illness, the medieval setting is a world of ignorance, superstition, and cruelty, which owes more to Pieter Bruegel the Elder (one of his paintings is used on the jacket) than to Browning. Relentlessly downbeat and dense with ghastly details and vivid depictions of the fear and despair visited on the illness' victims, this is definitely not for the faint of heart. History buffs, however, and Napoli fans will find it inarguably artful in its unsparing vision of a pre-Enlightenment Europe. Michael Cart
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Book Description
Salz is a boy afflicted with a strange disease -- he coughs and coughs and cannot catch his breath. The only way he can stay alive is by doing things that make him an outcast: joining a coven, throwing himself into a handstand when the fits overtake him, avoiding the ale that his brothers and all the townspeople drink. Salz lives in a time of superstition and fear, in the medieval town of Hameln. This summer his bare-bones existence has been more fearsome than ever. Salz's father and brothers are affected by horrifying fits. The rest of the townspeople are gripped by a plague of madness. And the entire town is visited by a pestilence of rats -- rats that crawl in their soup bowls, swarm in their sick beds, jump into their babies' cradles. Only Salz remains unaffected. But is that because he is innocent? Or is he the devil himself? Only Donna Jo Napoli can conjure a world like this -- so real that readers will fill their lungs with the fetid air of Hameln with every breath they take.

ANNOTATION

In this re-imagining of the Pied Piper tale, a boy afflicted with cystic fibrosis in the Middle Ages is an outcast. When the townsfolk of Hameln are affected by a grain mold, he survives an outbreak of madness, followed by a plague of rats.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Elaborates on the tale of "The Pied Piper," told from the point of view of a boy who is too ill to keep up when a piper spirits away the healthy children of a plague-ridden town after being cheated out of full payment for ridding Hameln of rats.

FROM THE CRITICS

Children's Literature - Ann Philips

Twelve-year-old Salz is nicknamed for his salty sweat, a symptom of the disease we know as cystic fibrosis. The good advice of his grandmother, the healer, has so far kept him alive. But a fungal epidemic seizes thirteenth-century Hameln, causing madness, decay, and painful death. People mistakenly blame the growing population of rats. Salz and his grandmother belong to a coven practicing cures and magic combined with the Pope's teachings. But their rituals have no effect on this epidemic. Salz tells town officials of the mesmerizing piper's music he heard one day, and a messenger invites the piper to lead away the rats. The piper succeeds, but is paid just half of his fee. Then, in a diseased frenzy, Salz's brother kills Grandmother. Although Salz displays the world-weariness of a chronically ill youth, he loves and protects his kitten and the orphaned girl who joins their household. Salz's constant self-questioning at times disengages the reader, but Napoli's style is generally thoughtful and intense. The book's real focus is not the pied piper's magic but rather the Middle Ages and its epidemics, superstition, civil corruption, and shifting religious doctrine. At the end Salz is still alive, determined to locate his new sister, and applying empirical reasoning of a later era to the mystery of the epidemic. And Napoli's searing grip lingers on our flesh. The novel will serve as a gruesome but fascinating addition to the social studies curriculum. 2003, Atheneum Books for Young Readers/Simon and Schuster, Ages 12 up.

KLIATT - Paula Rohrlick

The cover of this historical novel gives some important clues to its themes: the nose and mouth of a child are featured over a reproduction of Bruegel's grim painting The Triumph of Death. Young Salz, who suffers from terrible coughs and often cannot catch his breath, lives in the medieval German town of Hameln. The town is going through a bad time: the farm animals have been falling ill, rats are rampant, the plague is starting to sweep through Europe, and the townsfolk have been afflicted with fits of madness. Salz, whose grandmother has always forbidden him to drink mead like everyone else because he is sickly, is unaffected by the madness, and therefore suspect. He is locked up by the townspeople, but saves himself by telling of a piper he encountered in the woods who has the power to charm the rats away. The piper is summoned, but when he is not paid in full, he retaliates by charming away all the children-all but Salz, who hasn't the breath to follow. It's essential to read Napoli's postscript, which reveals that Salz suffers from cystic fibrosis, and that the rats are not the real culprits in the town's madness. Instead, it's a killer fungus called ergot that affects the flowers of grasses or grains, and therefore the mead made from grains; ergot poisoning can cause hallucinations and fits of insanity, as well as stimulate sexual desire (this sexual licentiousness is touched on in the book). Napoli, the author of Beast and many other novels for young readers, has clearly done her research and she vividly evokes the harsh and superstitious medieval world. This version of the Pied Piper tale is nightmarish but memorable. KLIATT Codes: JS-Recommended for junior andsenior high school students. 2003, Simon & Schuster, Atheneum, 272p., Ages 12 to 18.

School Library Journal

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 narrated by 12-year-old Salz-a boy whose frequent, serious illnesses render him almost useless on his family's farm. (An afterword explains that he has cystic fibrosis.) The author vividly describes the frightening conditions facing the townspeople and their increasingly desperate attempts to understand and overcome the torrential rains; the rat infestation; the diseases afflicting their livestock; and the physical, mental, and sexual maladies that beset them. Salz is an intelligent observer who is tried for witchcraft when he doesn't succumb to the same illnesses as the rest of the population. (He doesn't drink the beer made from the infected grain.) Readers unfamiliar with the psychotropic effects of ergot poisoning may be as mystified as these medieval citizens by the events presented here. Salz's illness is likely to be equally puzzling until it is explained in the postscript. The confusion and speculation this ignorance might produce are realistically portrayed, but it's possible that foreknowledge would provide a richer reading experience for teens.-Miriam Lang Budin, Chappaqua Public Library, NY Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews