Product Description

Alfredo, a choir boy in 18th-century Italy, loses his family in a fire, and his mysterious Uncle Giorgio spirits him away to their ancestral home below a volcano. There he learns that Uncle Giorgio is the Master of the Mountain; he can control the volcano. He is also an alchemist, able to make gold from the tears of the fiery salamander he captured from the heart of the mountain. Alfredo is his heir, the next Master; and as Alfredo learns the history of his family and its power, he begins to suspect that his uncle is actually a fearsome sorcerer.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #602783 in Books
• Published on: 2005-02-08
• Released on: 2005-02-08
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

From School Library Journal
Grade 6-9-An intriguing, intricately woven fantasy set in Italy and then Sicily. Because of his magnificent voice, Alfredo is selected to be trained as a choirboy. On his name day, he receives a mysterious gift, a gold charm of a salamander on a chain, from his father's estranged brother. Thus starts this complicated tale that relies on folklore related to salamanders as the spirit of fire and the power of music. After Alfredo is orphaned when his family's bakery burns down, the Prince-Cardinal begins to arrange for the painful and dangerous surgery that will make Alfredo a castrati to ensure that his voice will not change. Claiming that he is Alfredo's only living relative, Uncle Giorgio arrives and prevents the operation from taking place. At first Alfredo believes that his uncle cares about him as he takes him away to Mt. Etna. However, he begins to realize that his uncle is a sorcerer, the Master of the Mountain who can control when it will erupt and spew fire on its environs. Giorgio has Alfredo sing for the salamander, and the beauty of the boy's voice makes the creature cry, and readers learn that its tears have restorative powers. Eventually, Alfredo understands that Uncle Giorgio has sinister intentions for him and begins a plan that leads to the man's ultimate destruction. The story takes many twists and turns, some convenient and some confusing. This latest offering from a master storyteller is not an easy read, but fantasy fans will stick with it, hoping for good's triumph.
Renee Steinberg, formerly at Fieldstone Middle School, Montvale, NJ
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
*Starred Review* Gr. 6-9. In this sophisticated story, Dickinson takes readers inside a volcanic mountain of fire, where a salamander sheds healing tears and excretes liquid gold. Thirteen-year-old Alfredo is happy with his Tuscan life, singing in the choir and tending to the fires of his father's bakery oven. Then comes tragedy: the family house burns. Alfredo, the only survivor, is whisked away to his ancestral home by his mysterious uncle, who has an ulterior motive. Although simply and elegantly written, Dickinson's story is, nonetheless, complex, as Alfredo moves from a wary gratefulness to discovery of the horrifying truth: his uncle, who controls the volcano, is ready to use his sorcerer's powers to claim Alfredo's strong, young body for his own. Not everything here is easy to understand: the power of the salamanders and the mystical relationship they have with the mountain's fire are sometimes too esoteric to grasp. But Alfredo's relationship with the people who live under the volcano is sharp and strongly written, and the fierce beauty of the mountain and its fire will linger in memory. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
Praise for The Ropemaker:
?A challenging magical adventure for the thinking reader.??Publishers Weekly, Starred -- Review

Customer Reviews

INTENSE AND GRIPPING YOUNG ADULT DRAMA
A dramatic and gripping story of a young boy, Alfredo, orphaned when his home is burned down and suddenly finds himself in the care of his strange uncle. Uncle Giorgio is more than just strange he is also the Master of the Mountain, the one with the gift to control the volcano and protect the lives of all who live under it's shadow. But is he just strange or maybe something more, something evil? Alfredo discovers that he too has the power to talk to the mountain and what it tells him is that Uncle Giorgio is maybe trying to control more than just itself.

TEARS OF THE SALAMANDER is a fairly short book and a very quick read. Of course one of the reasons it went so quickly is the fact that I had a difficult time putting it down at all!

Young adults (and some of us older ones also) who like a bit of drama with a dash of fantasy are going to really like this story.

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND it!

Intriguing
This is an intriguing book. At first I thought it was bizarre - salamanders living in the lava of the volcanoe making gold and curing cancer with their tears. But, after finishing it, I find myself reflecting on the story and liking it more and more. The evil uncle is consumed with his quest for incredible wealth, and conquering death and having unending life. Unfortunately to achieve his desires he commits some unspeakably evil acts - he is totally corrupted. I think you should read it and see what you think!