Invitation to Join
the Anthology of Student Writing
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The Pied Piper Literary World

The Pied Piper Literary World is meant to be a platform for exploration of literature in a cross curriculum study. The study of literature leads one to explore writing and story telling in old and new ways. The Brothers Grimm and Robert Browning give us examples of an old story telling method. The Literary World of the Pied Piper lets a reader take the story and expand and embellish it to fit the readers imagination.

Many parts of the Pied Piper Literary World seem to be unfinished. There are blanks in the narrative on purpose. As a student, you are invited to explore the world of the Pied Piper and develop some of your own ideas about what this world is all about.

In historical context, the Pied Piper story takes place in the middle ages (1284). 130 children disappeared from Hamelin, Germany. The story that most people remember is there was a rat infestation in the town. A man with a flute came to town, and led the rats into the river. When the mayor refused to pay the Piper, the Piper took the children instead. The story is he led them into a cave, and the cave closed in around them the children were never seen again.

Some people think the children went on a childrens crusade. Some people think the children and their families moved to another part of Europe. What do you think happened to the children?

The steps you might want to take are these:
Read the Character Notes first. There is a link in that note that will take you to the Grimm Brothers version of the story. You can also read the poem by Robert Browning.

Then you might want to read the Student Note, Instructions and Background Information.

After you read these introductory materials, you should be ready to venture into the Pied Piper Literary World for your own exploration.

You can enter into the world as a guest, or you can enter as a character. If you want to enter as a character, you will need a password from me. The fun part about being a character is you and your classmates can act out the roles in the story and explore the literary world in character. You should visit the world as a guest a few times to see how the environment functions. Its easy to get lost in the literary world, so a map has been provided for you to look at. Its located on a webpage, so you can look at it any time youre inside the literary world. The note with the link is in the Pied Piper Courtyard Entrance.

You can have a race to see who can find the lost children, as a sort of treasure hunt. The children (about 54 of them) have pictures on notes. The notes are hidden in boxes, wagons, baskets any type of container that can be opened or closed. The containers are locked and there is a collection of keys in the City Hall. You can only have a key for five minutes, and you wont especially know which key fits which box. There are clues programmed into the bots (the little robot helpers located throughout the literary world). Each time a new person enters the room, the bot will give out another clue as to which key opens which box. Youll want to look at the Game Rules if you want to play this treasure hunt.

Another way to explore the literary world is to look at the story in a holistic way. For example, when you read the Pied Piper poem by Robert Browning, there are a limited number of cast members players in the story who actually have names. When I set the literary world up, I decided to expand that cast. I thought about what kind of people would be living in Hamelin in 1284. I thought there might be a blacksmith even though the Pied Piper story does not mention a blacksmith I figured there had to be one because people used horses to get around in during this time frame. I also thought there might be a baker, and a shop owner who might sell things that people didnt know how to make themselves things like buttons or ribbons. I peopled the town with characters that I thought would be logical for 1284. And then I invited my students to begin to write the stories of these people. I invite you to do the same thing. Can you imagine what John Baker is like? Does he like to play with his friends? Does he go to school? Does he have a special friend he likes to hang out with?

So now, as you visit the literary world of the Pied Piper and you come across a picture of a child without a name or background can you imagine what this childs life is like? Can you write a story about this child? Can you think about whether the child went with the Pied Piper, or on a childrens crusade, or moved away and then write that story from the childs point of view? You can do the same thing with the setting the geography of the literary world. What are the Swiss Alps really like? Can you do some research and then describe what you find out? Picture yourself walking through a mountain pass, with a group of children and no adults how will you eat? Where will you sleep? Who will lead the way?

Even if you write John Bakers characterization one way, another student may imagine John Baker some other way. There is no right or wrong way to imagine a character. So many imaginations are at work together in the literary world, and they all work together to give different viewpoints of the story of the Pied Piper.

You can also draw pictures of what you think the Pied Pipers world looks like. The museum is pretty empty at the moment, but it will begin to fill up with pictures from students everywhere who visit the literary world of the Pied Piper.

I hope you enjoy your visit to the Pied Piper Literary World. I would love to have your ideas on how to make it a more interesting place to visit. Please send me your comments at linda.dick@wmich.edu.