BookPikks

My favorite Napoli book to date.  This one tells the tale of a spoiled Irish princess who is kidnapped and brought far from home on a Viking slave ship.  Sold into slavery, Melkorka’s one protection is the vow of silence she has taken.  Fabulous book–highly recommended.

This re-telling of the Pied Piper of Hamelin was quite interesting.  Young Salz lives in the medieval town of Hameln, and suffers from cystic fibrosis–although of course his disease is unnamed and unknown at the time.  When a strange illness begins to show up among the people, and then a plague of rats begins, Salz is as puzzled as the rest of the townsfolk.  The church can’t help, the magic coven can’t help, only the piper promises a cure.

Part fantasy, part horror, quite graphic. . . This definitely isn’t a children’s fairy tale.  It’s not my favorite fairy tale retelling (that would definitely be Ever After by Gail Carson Levine) but still quite engaging, and certainly not predictable, even though I already knew the ending!

Dom is a nine-year-old stowaway, who ends up in New York City on his own in 1892. With only a pair of shoes from his mother, Dom must find food and shelter, avoid the “padroni” who prey on homeless boys, and somehow earn enough money to get home to Italy. Dom is up to the challenge, and works harder that he ever has before to survive. This is an excellent book that really highlights both the best and worst in our country.