Brixen Witch

An enchanted coin. A witchs curse. And rats, rats everywhere! Whats a boy to do? Fresh and satisfying for middle grade readers (Kirkus Reviews, starred review).When Rudi Bauer accidentally takes a witchs coin, he unleashes her curse. Accident or not, he knows hes got to fix things, so he tries to return the coin, only to lose it on the witchs 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 vanishedand a plague of rats has descended on his village. Then a stranger arrives and promises to rid the village of ratsfor 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 courageand some help from his savvy grandmother and a bold young girlto set things right in this fast and funny adventure.