An enchanted coin. A witch’s curse. And rats, rats everywhere! What’s a boy to do?
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.
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful.
Excellent read for all ages
By JCK0127
Despite "The Brixen Witch" being written for young adults, I, at 21 years old, thought it was a great book. I found the writing to be very smooth and the story to be clearly presented, two qualities that I consider extremely important in a young adult book. I read this book in one afternoon, and the last 100 pages went especially quickly. Numerous plot twists and little bits of comic relief kept me hooked until the ending, which had me teary-eyed (in a good, cathartic way). Similar to many of the books I enjoyed as a kid, such as "Harry Potter" and "The Giver," "The Brixen Witch" has elements of both a story of adventure and a story of coming of age. I am definitely recommending this book to my 13-year-old brother, and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading about adventures and the insight of those who undertake them.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.Great Re-imagined Fairytale!
By Children's Book Collector
I am a fan of fairytales re-imagined and this one did not disappoint. This version of the Pied Piper is a fresh take on the original. The POV is from one of the village children, a boy named Rudi who lives in the shadow of the Berg, a forboding mountain which is home to the Brixon witch.When Rudi finds a golden guilder outside of a cave in the mountain, he begins to hear a haunting melody. Seems the witch is looking for her stolen treasure. Thus begins a series of misfortunes that threatens the whole community and Rudi is at the center of it all.This entertaining read would be great for your 8 and up readers.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.Fantastic!
By A. Vernick
Lesson learned: be careful if you accidentally take a witch's coin. Poor Rudi learns this the hard way, as he's plagued by nightmares and as he watches his town become overrun with--ew--rats. He would return the coin if he knew where it was...THE BRIXEN WITCH is an awesome and very well written middle-grade adventure. It's great fun to watch Rudi try to summon courage and find a way to fix all that has gone wrong.It's hard to imagine the reader who could resist this one.
