I loved this book! I was really impressed by how much research the author must have done; she sprinkles in the most minute details of historical accuracy that it blew my mind - and I'm sort of a history buff. I also loved this story because it was the tale of the pied piper, which somehow I had never heard before. I love how she personalized the story and made it so real and vivid. I would recommend this book, for sure. ( )

Set in late 13th Century, Breath is the story of Salz, a 12-year old boy who has a serious illness that makes it almost impossible to work on his family’s farm. The story unfolds like a mystery – the people and animals in the town of Hamelin are sick and dying; is it the moldy grain brought on from the torrential rains; is it the plague of rats infesting the town; or is it witchcraft? When Salz is the one person not affected by the strange disease, he is accused of witchcraft. To prove his worth, Salz brings a pied piper to Hamelin to rid it of rats. In retelling The Pied Piper of Hamelin, Napoli creates a powerfully dark and vivid tale, everything one would hope a Medieval German fairy tale would be.

Napoli include a notes section where she explains certain details of the story, such as the illness that afflicts Salz, what was making the town folks ill, and why it was Salz was not affected. ( )

Something strange is happening to the people of Hameln and it's up to Salz to figure it out.
What a depressing book. If nothing else, it's a detailed description of how ergot poisoning moves through a medieval German village and how superstition and religion can get in the way of problem solving, especially if everyone's on an acid trip. However, it's as if the author got lost on the way to a more interesting story.
The cover flap implies that this is a retelling of the Pied Piper of Hamelin, and it is, but not in the way a reader would hope. It almost feels as if the author got lost in her research and decided to do a completely different book, but was under a contractual agreement to include the Piper. It would have been stronger without him.
Due to some graphic imagery, this book is unsuitable for anyone under 13 or 14. It is also written to a middle school level, so isn't quite right for grades 11-12. ( )

An adult in medieval Germany drank an estimated five liters of beer daily. This is just one of the facts Donna Jo Napoli uses in her retelling of the Pied Piper. Salz is a young man of twelve living with what Napoli reveals is cystic fibrosis in the postscript. Salz is a part of a papist coven, a group of people practicing Catholicism alongside the area's previous religious practices. While Salz struggles with this balance and with his health, a mysterious plague comes to Hamlen. Everyone assumes their infestation of rats is the cause, but Salz isn't so sure. Napoli has given us a thoughtful character in Salz, and his puzzlement about the cause of the plague adds mystery. As usual, Napoli does an excellent job with describing a historical period and making a tale realistically dark without overwhelming the reader. ( )