Fairy Tales & Folklore - General & Miscellaneous

The Brixen Witch

Name: The Brixen Witch
Author: Stacy DeKeyser
ISBN: 9781442433298

by Stacy DeKeyser, John Nickle (Illustrator)

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Overview

An enchanted coin. A witch’s curse. And rats, rats everywhere! What’s a boy to do? “Fresh and satisfying for middle grade readers” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review).

When Rudi Bauer accidentally takes a witch’s coin, he unleashes her curse. Accident or not, he knows he’s got to fix things, so he tries to return the coin, only to lose it on the witch’s magic mountain just as the snows come. Plagued all winter by terrible dreams, Rudi tries to find the coin again in the spring, but it has vanished—and a plague of rats has descended on his village.

Then a stranger arrives and promises to rid the village of rats…for the price of the missing coin. Desperate to get rid of the rats, the villagers agree; but when they cannot pay, the stranger exacts a price too terrible for anyone to bear. Now Rudi is going to need all his courage—and some help from his savvy grandmother and a bold young girl—to set things right in this fast and funny adventure.

About the Author, Stacy DeKeyser

Stacy DeKeyser is the author of The Brixen Witch, which received two starred reviews, and Jump the Cracks, as well as two nonfiction books for young readers. She lives in Connecticut with her family. To learn more, visit her online at StacyDeKeyser.com.

John Nickle is the illustrator of Judi Barrett’s Things That Are Most in the World, as well as the author and illustrator of TV Rex, Alphabet Explosion!: Search and Count from Alien to Zebra, and The Ant Bully. He lives in Brooklyn, New York. Learn more about him at JohnNickle.net.

Reviews

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Editorials

BCCB

"[V]ivid and intriguing."

The Horn Book

"A well-fashioned addition to the Pied Piper shelf."

From the Publisher

“Stacy DeKeyser deftly updates the Pied Piper’s tale. The story scuttles with rats, of course, and you end up reading it on your hind legs.”—Richard Peck, Newbery Award-winning author of A Year Down Yonder

“With lilting language and a unique voice, DeKeyser spins a tale like no other. I loved it!”—Barbara O’Connor, author of How to Steal a Dog

“A surprisingly powerful retelling of the ancient story of the stranger with a magical musical instrument.”—Zilpha Keatley Snyder, three-time Newbery Honor winner

* "Fresh and satisfying for middle-grade readers."—Kirkus Reviews, *STARRED

School Library Journal

Gr 4–6—When 12-year-old Rudi finds a golden guilder while hunting, he can't wait to share the news at home. But unearthly noises haunt him, even safely in his village, and his grandmother tells him that if he has taken something from the Brixen witch, she will not rest until it is returned. The next day, he sets out to return the coin, but an avalanche buries it before he can do so. For months, he is tormented by nightmares and feels at ease only when they finally fade. When a severe infestation of rats strikes the village and the witch's servant arrives offering a solution, Rudi knows that his relief was premature: the payment required to get rid of the rats is the golden guilder. The desperate villagers agree, certain that they can reason with the man, but when they cannot pay, he uses the same fiddle that lured the rats away to lead all of the village children deep into the mountains. As Rudi learns more about the village witch and the servant who has stolen some of her powers, he realizes that he must battle the evil that is threatening to destroy the witch's magic. The final confrontation requires Rudi to rely on his wits and on the other villagers, and leads to a satisfying conclusion. The folksy language and silhouette spot art give this Pied Piper-inspired story an old-fashioned quality that fans of fairy tales will appreciate.—Kim Dare, Fairfax County Public Schools, VA

Kirkus Reviews

An enchanted coin, a plague of rats, an itinerant fiddler and the disappearance of the village children are familiar folklore elements that find their ways into this original adventure. Although 12-year-old Rudi Bauer thinks he's found a treasure, no good can come from taking something that belongs to the Brixen Witch. His sleep is plagued by nightmares, but when they stop there's no relief--the village is infested with rats. Setting her third-person narrative in a tiny, Germanic mountain community, DeKeyser makes a traditional fantasy world come to life with homey details and believable dialogue. The witch's old-fashioned speech reveals her great age. Occasional small silhouettes effectively highlight important symbols in each chapter: grandmother's rocking chair, a mountain flower and then, more ominously, rats and more rats. Around the Pied Piper events, the author weaves a substantial story that includes both good and bad magic and the power and purpose of a medieval witch for a village. "Sounds like you're just a midwife, really. Or a philosopher. Not really a witch," Rudi blurts out. But the witch really is a witch, even though much of her power has been stolen by her greedy servant; she's necessary to her mountain and her village. As his Oma points out, young Rudi, the one child left behind after the children disappear and the one who precipitated the crisis, is the one to make things right. Fresh and satisfying for middle-grade readers. (Fantasy. 9-12)