Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
The story is an engrossing page-turner with a parade of near-escapes, hilarious mishaps, and courageous face-offs with terrifying villains. The nonstop action will keep readers on the edge of their seats
APRIL 2013 - AudioFile
Three children get a nasty reception when they move into their new home. The strange bald woman who visits them turns out to be a resentful witch who separates them from their parents and transports them to a magical storybook world. Narrator Daniel Gordh’s youthful and dynamic voice captures the assorted accents, ages, and personalities of the fearless child heroes, malicious warriors, and bloodthirsty pirates. As the children attempt to understand the secrets and spells of their new world, Gordh delivers perfectly timed pauses and sinister renditions of the wicked witch and marauding pirates. An exciting story creates engaging suspense for children. M.F. © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
In a rousing adventure reminiscent of The Emerald Atlas, director Columbus (The Help) and author Vizzini (The Other Normals) catapult a trio of siblings across time and space, as they square off against a forgotten writer’s literary legacy. When eight-year-old Eleanor, 12-year-old Brendan, and 15-year-old Cordelia Walker move with their parents into the ancient, eerie Kristoff House, they instantly suspect something’s not right. Then they’re attacked by the Wind Witch, their parents go missing, and the entire house is thrust into a bizarre conglomeration of settings taken from the works of Denver Kristoff, a prolific early 20th-century author. Seeking a missing book of immense power, the siblings battle warriors, giants, pirates, and skeletons to get home again. The nonstop action comes with increasingly high stakes, various scenarios paying homage to the likes of H.P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard. The kitchen sink aspect of the plot gives the story a somewhat crowded, frenetic feel, but the deft characterizations and wildly imaginative concept more than make up for it. Final art not seen by PW. Ages 9–up. Agent: Dorian Karchmar, William Morris Endeavor. (May)
ALA Booklist
A swift-paced…clever page-turner for any reader who has wanted to take part in literary adventures … This story is compelling, great fun, and sure to be popular.
J. K. Rowling
A breakneck, jam-packed roller coaster of an adventure about the secret power of books, HOUSE OF SECRETS comes complete with three resourceful sibling heroes, a seriously creepy villainess, and barrel loads of fantasy and fear.
J.K. Rowling
A breakneck, jam-packed roller coaster of an adventure about the secret power of books, HOUSE OF SECRETS comes complete with three resourceful sibling heroes, a seriously creepy villainess, and barrel loads of fantasy and fear.
School Library Journal
Gr 4–8—Brendan, Cordelia, and Eleanor Walker are dragged by their parents to look at houses in San Francisco. Their father, a doctor, has lost his job due to an incident at the hospital, and the family has to downsize. The Kristoff House overlooking the bay seems to be too good to be true for the money, but, surprisingly, their father buys it. Once the family moves in, all kinds of strange things start to happen. It turns out that there is bad blood between a former owner of the house, Denver Kristoff, and an ancestor of the Walkers. Kristoff's daughter is now the Wind Witch, and she has enticed the family to the home so that she can get hold of The Book of Doom and Desire, which she plans to use as her vehicle to rule the world. To accomplish this, the witch incapacitates the parents and sends the children into the books her father created in the hope that they will help her retrieve the magical tome she desires. Along the way the youngsters meet many of Kristoff's characters, some of whom help them and others who try to annihilate them. The setup of the story drags a bit, but once the siblings leave contemporary San Francisco for the magical world of the Wind Witch, the pace picks up. The young Walkers are plucky, quick thinkers whom readers will grow to love. With a new adventure that seems to arrive with every chapter, the story unfolds quickly, thus keeping kids hooked and wanting to find out what will happen next.—Elizabeth Kahn, Patrick F. Taylor Science & Technology Academy, Jefferson, LA
APRIL 2013 - AudioFile
Three children get a nasty reception when they move into their new home. The strange bald woman who visits them turns out to be a resentful witch who separates them from their parents and transports them to a magical storybook world. Narrator Daniel Gordh’s youthful and dynamic voice captures the assorted accents, ages, and personalities of the fearless child heroes, malicious warriors, and bloodthirsty pirates. As the children attempt to understand the secrets and spells of their new world, Gordh delivers perfectly timed pauses and sinister renditions of the wicked witch and marauding pirates. An exciting story creates engaging suspense for children. M.F. © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
Columbus and Vizzini craft a fast-moving, cinematic narrative that packs plenty of punch but may still have trouble measuring up to the competition. The plot is predictable yet peculiar. Three kids lose their parents suddenly--and horribly--before being thrust into a series of manic adventures. The action ping-pongs wildly from a primeval forest peopled by savage warriors to the high seas, festooned with murderous pirates and hungry sharks, to a medieval-style castle ruled by a vicious queen. The children are cardboard characters at best: Cordelia, the brainy, bookish oldest sister; Brendan, the hyperactive, game- and sport-obsessed 14-year-old brother; 8-year-old Eleanor, spunky and sweet with a learning disability thrown in for spice (and plot potential). Secondary characters are even more sketchily drawn, which suits perfectly in some cases but weakens their impact in others. The text often reads like a script, providing direction rather than description. Some details seem gratuitously gross and/or violent, and the dialogue doesn't always ring true. Worst of all, how the authors get their heroes out of trouble and back to the real world seems anticlimactic and, even within the fantastic framework of the story, not entirely believable. Ending with the promise (or threat) of further adventures, this is clearly intended to be the next big thing--whether it fulfills that ambition remains to be seen. (Fantasy. 10-14)
