Beyond the Doors

May 1, 2017
Four motherless siblings embark on an adventure that leads them through the memories--and nightmares--of the past.The Rothbaum siblings--Janice, Zack, Sydney, and Alexa, all white--are having one of the worst days of their young lives. Their father has been badly burned in a fire and is in a coma, leaving the foursome to be raised by their peculiar aunt. Living with Aunt Gladys means following her unusual rules, the most important of which is to not touch the doors. This rule itself seems odd, as the rooms of Gladys' house have archways, not doors. Equally strange is that although the rooms have no doors to close, several are filled with unattached doors in arbitrary piles. The children soon learn of the connection between doors and the memories of the people who use them, setting them on the path to unlock the mysteries of their father's accident and their mother's disappearance. Neilsen's premise is better than its execution. The Rothbaum siblings' character development is superficial, and their voices frequently run together with little distinction for individual personality. Neilsen haphazardly interjects broad humor through the story, primarily through unusually named one-dimensional adult characters. A subplot concerning the foster system is misleading and outdated, causing the humor to fall flat. Unsuccessful; readers may be more pleased with Charles Gilman's Lovecraft Middle School series for sci-fi fun or The Mysterious Benedict Society or A Series of Unfortunate Events for mystery and humor. (Fantasy. 8-12)

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June 1, 2017

Gr 4-7-The four Rothbaum siblings, ranging in age from first grade to middle school, are left without a responsible parent after a family disaster. (Their dad is in a coma, and their mom is missing.) When the continually sobbing social worker finally finds a long-lost, eccentric aunt, the kids settle into their new home. The house is odd, to say the least. There's a drawbridge and not a single door. The siblings decide to investigate the mysterious disappearance of their grandparents and rescue them, using an intimidating time travel machine. Soon, piles and piles of doors begin to fill their aunt's house, with more supplied every day by a hilarious delivery man. The doors, like the time machine, are portals to a specific person's memory of an event. This story provides an interesting look at perspective. The protagonists must locate the correct door leading to the exact memory in which the grandparents are trapped. But as a memory is entered again and again, it begins to "spoil." The story gets slightly confusing with all the switching among memories to discover the right one. However, the characters are well developed, the plot intriguing, and the pace well suited to middle grade readers. Minor characters add realism as well as laughs. VERDICT An entertaining romp; recommended for large collections.-Elizabeth Swartz, Warrior Run School District, PA

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2017
Grades 4-7 When their father is caught in a house fire and falls into a comatheir mother having mysteriously disappeared years beforethe four Rothbaum children are sent to live in the care of the estranged, eccentric, and quite possibly off her rocker Aunt Gladys, who lives in a round mansion with a drawbridge and no exits. The strange house is full of abandoned, unhinged doors and warnings not to touch. Soon the children discover Aunt Gladys' secret lab, where she uses the doors as portals to travel into other people's memories. Curious, they follow her inside the MemorySphere, not realizing that they are setting off a chain of events from which they can never return unchanged. While the four protagonists are a bit unmemorable, the supporting characters broaden into an array of delightful slapstick caricatures with punch lines galore, the settings are bold and elaborately arranged, and the story is cinematically told. The MemorySphere itself is imaginative, curious, icky, and terrifying, and it grows increasingly more fascinating as the journey unfolds. An odd, colorful, funny tale. Final illustrations not seen.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)