Barbra Hesson

by N.D. Wilson

When twelve-year-old Henry York’s parents get mysteriously kidnapped he is sent to stay with his aunt and uncle and cousins Henrietta and Penelope on a farm in a town called Henry, Kansas.

Henry can’t understand why he has to sleep in the attic when Grandpa’s old room is empty.  He soon finds out that Uncle Frank has been trying to open the door to that room for 2 years.  Nothing works, not even a chainsaw.

Lying in bed at night Henry hears scratching and thumping behind the wall beside his bed.  When a piece of plaster falls on his head, Henry can’t help picking away at a hole in the wall until the whole wall is revealed.

Underneath he discovers 99 cupboards of all shapes and sizes and when he manages to open some he sees, a glowing room with a man who deposits mail into a slot from the other side, he hears rain and wind through one, and feels an impending sense of doom through another.

Henry soon realizes these are portals to another world and that Grandpa’s room has a connection to them.

In this first book, some of the wonder and wickedness of those other worlds are revealed, and we find out about Henry’s true family background.

With a lot of stories out there about time travel and other worlds, I found this novel to be unique and fun with a twist of terror.

The second in the series is called, “Dandelion Fire.”  The title alone intrigues me.

Good for grade 4 to 8, boys or girls.