Author and Illustrator: Steven Kellogg
One-Sentence Plot Summary: A pied piper gets a magic trumpet from a grumpy old witch and uses it to save a nearby village and help the witch find true love.
This book got off to a great start and appeared ready to fulfill all of those criteria and more. However, I think the author missed some opportunities and settled for writing a good book instead of an excellent book.
This author definitely creates conflict, but it's not really conflict that you care about, because it doesn't directly affect the main character. Instead, the piper faces a couple of uncomfortable situations that affect other people, and he finds ways to fix them.
This book loses points for not taking advantage of the potential for imagination. The piper can use this trumpet to create almost anything he wants, but all he does is make a handful of animals. He instead uses the trumpet's less-interesting power of flipping one object into another.
The pictures are pretty good, although they border on hallucinogenic, especially when the trumpet is in full use. I think the artist went a little overboard.
Rating: 3 stars
Worth Getting from the Library: Yes
Worth Buying: No
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