Peter Piper played his pipes so well
Entrancing mice and men under his spell
If only the queen
Were slightly less mean
But then Alice wouldn't have had this fine story to tell.

Bad poetry aside, this story was amazing. Alice has a gift for taking an old familiar fairie story and turning it into something entirely new and delightful. Her latest book is no exception. The pied piper played his pipes and drove the mice away from Hamelin, but then returned to put the village under a sleeping spell just long enough to lead all the children away. All except for two: a blind girl and a deaf girl.

Adelaide had been deaf since she was young and worked hard to prove herself, while always feeling like an outsider. Her family loved her and she loved them, but they couldn't understand. Then her sister followed the music and she became more of an outsider since she couldn't even hear it. But maybe being the only person to withstand the enchantment meant she could also be the one to break it. So she gathered up her resolve and her courage and set off to do exactly that.

I love this, the way she learned to face her fears and insecurities, how she found unlikely allies, how she failed and succeeded and attempted impossible things out of her love for her family and her village as well as from a strong sense of justice. She did what she could because it was right. And she grew up a bit in the process, discovering truths about herself that she hadn't believed previously. There are pieces of several fairy tales in the story as well as challenges that a cross between the Hunger Games and The Princess Bride (you know, R.O.U.S.s). The lives of children are at stake, after all.

I received an ARC from the author and have reviewed it willingly. ( )