Cute story and take on the Pied Paper, with colorful and detailed (and often busy) illustrations. ( )

I am a huge fan of Steven Kellogg. I adore the Jimmy's Boa stories, I laugh over his retold folktales, and I enjoy his exuberant and detailed illustrations. However, I am sadly disappointed by his newest book, Pied Piper's Magic. The illustrations are as fresh and colorful as ever, but the humorous and charming details are missing.

And the story...well, this isn't the classic Pied Piper story. A small elf named Peterkin comes across a depressed and lonely witch named Elbavol. He fixes her house and she gives him a magic flute. He discovers that it plays words and whatever words he plays, that thing appears. He arrives at a city where the cruel Grand Duke makes all the parents work in factories and all the children sweep the multitudes of rats away from the monuments. He offers to get rid of the rats and give the reward to the people. He pipes up all the rats, then plays backwards and turns them into stars. He then takes the cruel Grand Duke out to Elbavol's cottage, plays backwards, and everybody becomes Lovable.

The plot has several holes in it - originally he creates the different animals he pipes up - is he then creating the rats? Why does his pipe suddenly call them? If piping the witch's name backwards makes her Lovable, why does that affect the duke? Now that no one is working in factories, exactly how is the city surviving - and buying all that fancy paint to decorate everything?

Verdict: My main regret is that Peterkin doesn't continue to play backwards, contract that dread disease named Nikretep, and expire of the story's sickly sweetness.

ISBN: 978-0803728189; Published April 2009 by Dial; Borrowed from the library

This is a remake of an original story, with a different twist. Elf who comes across a pipe and starts playing tunes to fight off the Grand Duke.

In a story loosely based on The Pied Piper of Hamelin, an elf acquires from a miserable witch a magic pipe that allows him to transform things, including the mean-spirited Grand Duke who rules over a rat-infested town.

The Pied Piper, by Steven Kellogg is a book about a village that becomes overun by rats. Everyone in the village is at a loss of what to do. Then a mysterious drifter wanders into town and gets rid of the rats and much more.

I feel that every child should know this story. This is a great imaginitive fairy tale that allows the reader draw his or her own conclusions.

The Pied Piper is a great story for children to act out or write about in their journals. The story can come alive with this wonderfully illustrated book. Have the children talk about why they think the story ended the way it did. There are also wonderful songs that go along with this story.