The Pied Piper's Magic

by Steven Kellogg

Peterkin, a colorful elf, brings music and hope everywhere he goes with the aid of his magic pipe. It gives him the power to call any animal to him, and even to transform one creature into another. This is just what the evil Grand Duke needs to rid his village of its never-ending rats. But when Peter turns the rats into stars, the Grand Duke is still as mean as ever. Discover the pipe?s true magic as our hero uses it to inspire and save the whole village. Steven Kellogg?s clever new take on The Pied Piper of Hamelin is friendly, whimsical, and full of surprise.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Fairy Tales, Magic, Fantasy, Elves, Storytime

40 pages, Hardcover

First published April 2, 2009

About the author

Steven Kellogg is an author and illustrator who has contributed over 90 books for children. He is best known for writing books about animals, for which he credits his grandmother .

Reviews

[Manybooks · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I know that some seem to consider Steven Kellogg's The Pied Piper's Magic as an adaptation of the world-famous Pied Piper of Hamelin legend, personally and after having just completed reading The Pied Piper's Magic, there is NO WAY I would even remotely consider Kellogg's featured text in any manner a retelling (or more to the point a rewriting) of the former, but rather a completely and altogether original story, a tale that might indeed feature a plague of rats and a chief protagonist who succeeds in getting rid of those rats by the use of a pipe, but indeed really NOTHING else (no town of Hamelin, no townspeople making empty promises to the piper, no subsequent but also understood revenge of the piper when the townspeople renege on their promise of delivered riches upon completion of the task).

And although main elfin character Peterkin certainly is a sweetly enough constructed and a very much humane and loveable character (and that I do appreciate how in The Pied Piper's Magic Peterkin's pipe plays words and not musical notes), personally do I have to admit that I have found Steven Kellogg's narrative not really at all to my personal fairly and folklore tastes, as yes, I have always very much loved the traditional Pied Piper of Hamelin story with its not so happily ever after ending and have therefore and naturally in my opinion found The Pied Piper's Magic also much too saccharinely positive and the optimistic ending for all kind of majorly annoying and frustrating (and of course also lacking that all important message of the original Pied Piper tale that if one breaks ones' sworn promises, terrible, horrible events could, might well occur).

Therefore but two low and not all that luminous stars for The Pied Piper's Magic, as aside from my totally lacklustre response to Steven Kellogg's invented story, to his presented narrative (and that it really does not at all correspond to Hamelin's Pied Piper), I also and equally am not very much aesthetically impressed by and pleased with his (with Kellogg's) accompanying illustrations, finding the pictures for the most part too garish and gaudy for my visual tastes, and in particular, the many depicted pink hearts at the end totally and overly exaggerated.

[Amy Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

So first of all it's important to realize that this book is not a retelling of the PIped Piper of Hamelin. It has a pied piper and magic and rats but everything else is mixed up and/or new. The pied piper is given a magical pipe that makes the sounds of letters (great book for letter recognition). When he plays letters that make up a particular word, that object appears. He can reverse the word and what he created turns into something else. For example deer becomes reed. The pied piper discovers a town were The Grand Duke makes parents work day and night and kids get rid of the rats. He tries to save the town with his magic pipe. It's light and fun and a little sappy but I like the illustrations and am already thinking how I could use the magic letter pipe for a preschool storytime.

[Nancy Kotkin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Story: 5 stars
Illustrations: 5 stars

Fun adaptation of The Pied Piper of Hamelin, but without the revenge angle. Love the colorful, magical illustrations and the wordplay aspect added to the story.

[Beverly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Humorous story. I liked that the magic pipe put out letters and words rather than music. Also a bit of a tract against air pollution, but not in an intrusive, dogmatic way.

[❂ Ann ❂ · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Pied Piper retold with "print awareness" in mind. Words are upside down, right side up. It also reinforces the alphabet for letter knowledge. Cute story, great pictures, as the Peterkin is able to get two curmudgeons, with the word pipe, to hook up together and save the township.

[Kayla · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Pied Piper's Magic by Steven Kellogg.

-This is a retelling of the Pied Piper like you've never seen it before, and not only because the main character and piper is an elf named Peterkin.

-The story was a little odder than expected. The pipe doesn't play music; it plays words into the air, which can sometimes be flipped around to magically transform things into something other than what they originally were.

-The illustrations are very vivid, with wonderful colors and words piped by Peterkin woven into the backgrounds in very interesting and cool ways.

-Reading this aloud to a child would be a chore because of all of the words spelled out in the books (like r-a-t-s which can't be read as rats) though it would teach younger kids more about spelling and how different words can look and sound similar.

-Because the story focuses so much on words and not real "magic" like might be anticipated from the cover, it's less magical than grammatical.

I think this book could be useful when children are beginning to learn to spell and write, though it wasn't a favorite of mine. I wouldn't want to have to read it aloud (some of the words spelled out are quite long, when they're repeated several times!) and kids might be confused when trying to read it themselves. Still, the pictures are really captivating, and of course there's a happy ending to look forward to.

[Rose Rosetree · Rating 5 out of 5]

This tale of the Pied Piper is updated, and enlivened, by adding the character of Peterkin the elf.

Then the plot twists and ingenious illustrations (by author AND illustrator Steven Kellogg) take the plot to a whole new level.

Here's a sample of the sparkle, verbally:

The cheering roused the Grand Duke.
"SILENCE!" he roared. "Return to the factories at once!"
"Wait!" cried the children. "It's a celebation. The rats are gone,
and the piper has earned the reward!"

FIVE GORGEOUS STARS!

[Beatrice Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice and quaint magical tale and a reimagining of a famous tale. I really like what Kellogg came up with. He changed and expanded upon certain things in a smart way. And the art is VERY appealing. I kind of wish he did MORE with the rats. And with the piper vs the children but this was a nice story too. IT's much much less sinister than any of the originals so more accessible to younger children I suppose, yet even with that fact it doesn't slack on coming up with fun and unique ideas.

[Villain E · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very embellished retelling of the pied piper. An elf in a patchwork outfit earns himself a magic pipe from a witch which he uses to lure all the rats out of a city.

Steven Kellogg's usual detailed watercolor and wordy text.

[Katie Flegal Jensen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love books like this where they use letters and words to change and create

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute, simple, I would have loved it when I was a child. But of course Browning's original is the version that still should be read.

[Leah Scriver · Rating 3 out of 5]

My three year old son just couldn’t get into this book. Yes the colors and art is pretty, but the story was drawn out and a lot about love and marriage that just couldn’t keep his interest.

[Lillian Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was fun cute and silly. And I really like elves, I really wish I could be an elf.

[Kelly Anderson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I want to love this more than I do....Steven Kellogg's books are so wordy 😭 I do love the idea of the elf flipping words around to turn rats into stars, and Elvabol into Loveable. But I don't understand how the Duke escaped the rats? I thought they crushed him? And he automatically became a new person after seeing Elvabol change? I cannot read this more than one or two times...

[Josiah · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is one of Steven Kellogg's better efforts, in my view. The Pied Piper's Magic is a gentle retelling of the classic fable of the pied piper of Hamelin, retold without the theme of revenge that eventually motivated the pied piper who saved the town of Hamelin from rats. In the Steven Kellogg version, the pied piper (an elf named Peterkin) is motivated chiefly by his own kindness and concern for others, and these character traits open the door to the grand adventure that follows.

When Peterkin comes into possession of a an astonishingly magical flute, of course he only uses its powers for good, to help those around him; however, not all people are ever grateful for the benevolent acts of others, and when Peterkin is confronted by a tyrannical king, he has to use his brain and the powers of the magic flute to save himself and all of the king's miserable subjects from the harshness of their monarch's anger.

The illustrations in The Pied Piper's Magic are very impressive, and Steven Kellogg adroitly shows that he hasn't lost any of his ability to entertain readers with stories of adventure, humor and good characters. I would probably give two and a half stars to this book.

[Lavonnia · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Pied Piper's Magic book is a fantasy and science fiction book. This book is intended for ages 3 through 5 years old. This would be in the (N) Nursery age range from birth through the age of 5.

The book discloses the idea that whatever it is that we are searching realize it. Then one day someone comes along and creates an environment like never before and magical or unexplainable things begin to happen.

I gave this book a 3 star rating, because I liked the message it displayed. The theme of this enchanting story was kind and encouraging. The illustration throughout the book was very magical. The colors were vivid and multiple layering one on top of the other. I believe that this book would be appealing to young readers. It is a fairytale and most children are attracted to such stories, because of their imaginations. I would use this book maybe allow the children to put on a short play within the classroom and taking turns, while allowing them to explore their own imagination in free play.

This book was read in October 2013.

[Danie P. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Peterkin the elf stumbles upon a dreary home in hopes of asking the owner for a penny or two in exchange for helping clean it up. She has no money to give but Peterkin feels for the woman and helps fix her house up regardless. The old woman gives Peterkin a magical flute that she doesn't know how to work as payment for his help. Peterkin discovers what magic the pipe holds and uses it to help a neighboring kingdom.

[Tara Weaver · Rating 3 out of 5]

1-3 (read aloud)

Kellogg uses a few sentences per page to tell the story of a elf who is given a magical pipe that plays letters into objects. The use of watercolors fills the pages with detailed pictures. His art is playful and inviting. Young children will enjoy how the elf changes rats into stars and Grand Duke is changed into loveable.

Spelling/Language Arts

Young children can use the words associated in the book as their spelling words for that week.

[Meltha · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was cute. Most of the angst of the original is completely gone, and I don't think anyone could possibly label this a horror story. Elbavol was a nice touch as I did wonder where the original pipe came from, and kudos for slipping in spelling as magical. Something felt a bit too happy here, though, if that makes sense. It was a bit too easy to fix everything. Still, it's a kid's book, not Shakespeare, so I'll cut it some slack.

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sweet revision of The Pied Piper. This time, the magic pipe plays letters that form words that form the actual objects. When the piper flips over, the letters reverse, so he turns "rats" into...
Nice for the younger elementary crowd. Kellogg's art is playful and inviting as always. The end is a bit too sweet for me, but still a nice book to share.

[The Brothers · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this re-telling of the old fairy tale, the pied piper is a kindly elf who receives a magic flute by doing some yard and house work for an old witch. He discovers the secret of the flute, goes to town, gets rid of the rats and the evil Grand Duke and everyone lives happily ever after.

Colorful, pretty illustrations.

[Lissie Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book would be great for second graders to read by themselves! It was a cute story with great pictures. It is not a hard book, and it has a good moral. The moral of the story is trying to do things for others, can help others too!

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of THE BEST children's books that I have ever read. The message is beautiful and, of course, the illustrations are hard to beat. I actually cried a bit the first time I read it. It will make your heart melt........

[Allison · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought that the Pied Piper was this evil guy that lured children away with a pipe and then killed them. Apparently he is an elf who spells words with a pipe.

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun varient of the Pied Piper. This is a wonderful retelling that would work for anyone looking for it. Very sweet about very good intentions. Ages 4+

[Lesley Looper · Rating 3 out of 5]

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

[Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pleasant variation on the Pied Piper tale. Personally, I found it a little saccharine, but enjoyable.

[Tiffany · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ellie likes this book. It's about a flute that plays letters. She spells out the words as the piper plays them. Great read aloud for 2-4 range.

[Melanie Hetrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Steven Kellog does a great job retelling the tale of the Pied Piper of Hamelin.

[Pinky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Peterkin helps Elbavol become Lovable and the Grand Duke falls for her.