The Pied Piper of Peru

by Ann Tompert, Kęstutis Kasparavičius (Illustrator)

The legend of Martin de Porres, and how he rids a monastery of mice

Genres: Picture Books, Geography, Religion

32 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2002

About the author

Ann Tompert is an award-winning children's book author who has written more than 20 books, including Harry's Hats, Just a Little Bit, and Little Fox Goes to the End of the World.

Reviews

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Based on the life of Brother Martin de Porres who lived in Peru. There are tales of his goodness helping others, and his ability to help those in need, whether sick or hungry. This one tells of the problem in the priory with the mice. They had been getting along until one greedy mouse moved in and began making great holes in the wheels of cheese. They got a cat! What happens to save them isn't their ability to also thrive on bits of clothing but a kind man who seemed always to find a way to compromise. The illustrations illuminate the story so beautifully, done in muted tones by noted illustrator Kestutis Kasparavicius of Lithuania.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a cute story about Martin helping the smallest and weakest, the mice. You don't really learn much about him in the story, but there is an About page at the end that gives a brief biography. The pictures were well done.

[Alissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a legend about Saint Martin De Porres. He was a monk. In his Priory lived a colony of mice. At first the mice did no harm, only eating what they needed. Unfortunately, the colony was found so they had to move or be killed. Brother Martin was ordered to kill them with traps or poison but he could not follow the orders to kill God's creatures. So he promised the colony if they moved to the barn he would feed them every day. The mice eventually moved to the barn and Brother Martin did in fact feed them every day and everyone lived in harmony.

One lesson students could do with this book would be to complete a venn diagram. They could read another legend picture book and compare and contrast between the legends.

Another idea would be to have the students come up with other ideas of how to save the mice. They could split up in groups and come up with a advertisement, march chant, or another idea of how to save the mice.

[Holly Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first, I thought that this would be a book that I would want to take out of the library because it looks a little old. but then I started reading and I immediately wanted to know what would happen to the little mouse colony! Would they starve, die, move? And how does the benevolent Brother Martin solve the problem of being told to kill the mice?