The book After Hamelin is a new twist on the story of the Pide Piper. Not only does this verson end wit the children returning, but its also includes characters that have to travel through another world to save them. In this verson the main character Penelope, one of the two children left in Hamelin, is the onl person who can save the children.

Penelope goes deaf the night before her eleventh birthday. that night the Pide Piper plays his magical flute and takes away all but two of the children of Hamelin, just as he did with the rats. Penelope is the only one with the ability to save the children because of a gift she never knew she had. the gift of "deep dreaming", which allows here to travel to another world while she sleeps.

In this world she finds many unusual compainions. Through her journey she is aided by creatures called Trolavian, a talking cat, a three legged dog, a dragon, a magician, and the only other child left in Hamelin, a blind boy. With their help she is able to defeat the Piper and save the children, while also learning a few spells along the way.

The story goes back and forth between two different times. One time is written as if in the present, from the point of view of the main character Penelope, while she is 101 years old. The other is of her while she is 11 years old, while she goes on her journey to save the children of Hamelin.

The structure of the text is writen to mimic that of an old lady rambling on about her past. While the words also resemble the characters age, with their complexity and the gramar very correct. Both the structure and word choice helps give the story more meaning as the reflect the characters age.

All in all, this book is very well written and cleveraly written. Bith delivering adventure and excitement, while also keeping the story in the history. It also has a unique way of allowing you to see two different views within the same character with the help of time. This story leave good cloaser while also leaving the reader with a little bit of wonder.