The Door

March 24, 2014
Marino (Uncrashable Dakota) presents a dark, surrealist tale that doesn’t always make sense, but isn’t necessarily supposed to, either. Twelve-year-old Hannah Silver and her widowed mother live in an old lighthouse; after years of being homeschooled, Hannah is being sent to the local middle school. This would be difficult for any child, but Hannah appears to be deeply schizophrenic. She converses with invisible friends, has invented a “Muffin Language” that no one else knows, and sees elaborate, hallucinatory deathtraps everywhere (Hannah is quickly labeled a “psycho” at school after she starts screaming about a vision of a staircase engulfed in flames). Then Hannah’s mother reveals that they, like generations of their forebears, are Guardians, protectors of a magical door in the lighthouse that leads to “the city of the dead.” After her mother is killed, Hannah travels through the door and becomes trapped in a universe like something out of a Dalí painting. Some readers will find this disjointed, madcap tale too confusing, but those with an appreciation for the strange and absurd will be left with much to dwell on. Ages 8–12. Agent: Elana Roth, Red Tree Literary.

March 15, 2014
Twelve-year-old Hannah Silver, armed solely with some newfound knowledge and her three imaginary friends, crosses a forbidden threshold to try to find the soul of her recently, unexpectedly deceased--likely murdered--mother. During the same week in which she begins public school after years of home schooling, Hannah learns that two mysterious visitors to her and her mother's solitary lighthouse existence are returned-from-the-dead Watchers and that she and her mother are Guardians: humans charged with guarding the only door from the world of the living to the city of the dead. Shortly after the visit, Hannah finds her mother's corpse and, grief-stricken, enters the city of the dead. Once there, she engages in a thrill-a-minute fantasy adventure, touring surreal, sometimes-high-tech neighborhoods populated by souls working toward something called Ascension--think Dante's circles as written by J.K. Rowling. The short chapters end with suspenseful hooks to keep pages turning, and the pace accelerates exponentially. The third-person-omniscient storytelling, coupled with plenty of humor, keeps the darker implications of the tale at bay. Hannah's new friends in the afterlife are especially delightful--particularly artistic Stefan, with his pet chameleon and magical paintbrush. The trope-heavy text contains some swipes at bureaucracy, ideologues and belief systems. The unwieldy plot twists and turns, always creating new questions, but it leaves an uncomfortably large aperture--an unfinished hero's journey or, more aptly, a literary purgatory. (Fantasy. 8-12)

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June 1, 2014

Gr 3-6-For all of Hannah Silver's life she has lived in an old lighthouse with her mother, where she's been homeschooled. Now, Hannah is going to middle school for the first time. The only problem is, she hears voices and often responds to them out loud. She has created a language (Muffin Language) that she uses with the voices. Additionally, she often imagines traps and dangerous scenarios, especially when going down stairs. The same week that she begins school, Hannah is introduced to two new people. This is especially odd since visitors are not usually allowed in their home. She learns that these people are Watchers from the afterlife and she and her mother are Guardians. Through many generations, the Silvers have protected a door in the lighthouse that allows people to go back and forth between this world and the next. Soon after this discovery, Hannah's mother is murdered and Hannah goes through the magical door to bring her back. Marino has created an interesting fantasy filled with action and suspense. The book moves quickly and keeps readers on their toes. Hannah and her friends-both the voices in her head and those in the afterlife-are quirky and at times humorous. Though the protagonist is well developed, several of the secondary characters lack depth. While it is unlikely to fly off shelves, there is an audience for this magical and mysterious book.-Kristyn Dorfman, The Packer Collegiate Institute, Brooklyn, NY

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