“House of Secrets” by Chris Columbus and Ned Vizzini (2013)
Yes, that’s right, Chris Columbus… the guy who wrote the screenplays for “Gremlins” and “The Goonies”, not to mention directing a couple of the Harry Potter movies. Like I was ever NOT going to read this book! Mind you, I had to find out it existed first. And the way I did that was by developing and delivering an extension reading unit to my top year 7 class last year. The unit was all about reading outside your comfort zone. Each student had to bring their favourite book and write about it and its genre, explaining why they loved the genre. Then, I paired everyone in the class up with a person who had brought a book from a (preferably significantly) different genre. The students then had to read their swap books and complete two tasks. The first task was a discussion in front of the class. First, the student who had brought the book had to explain why they brought it. Then, the new reader had to offer a review of the book and explain why they did or didn’t like it. Then they had to discuss their similar or differing responses. After that, each student had to make a promotional book trailer for the book they had read, even if they didn’t like it.
Two excellent things happened as a consequence of this unit. The first thing was that every student did an amazing job of every aspect of the unit. The second thing was that I got a new list of ‘must read’ books to add to my already loooooooong list. This book, “The House of Secrets” sounded especially appealing. As an added bonus, the student who brought the book in happily let me take it home over the holidays to read… but it took me a bit longer than that to get it finished. As I’ve already mentioned in previous posts, I seem to be reading very slowly this year.
So, you’re probably wondering what the book is about. It is a story of 3 normal kids, living in San Francisco. Their names are Cordelia, Brendan, and Eleanor Walker and they are not very impressed when their parents buy Kristoff House, an especially creepy and strange house. They are even more concerned when a mysterious woman appears and demolishes it. She claims to be the “Wind Witch” and the daughter of the original owner of the house, Denver Kristoff. As if that isn’t bad enough, within the first couple of chapters, the Walker parents are apparently dead and the kids appear to have become characters in a novel written by Kristoff himself. Soon after, they are joined by one of the characters in the novel, Will, who is a member of the National Flying Corp from WWI. Things get even more confusing when they realise they are not stuck in one, but three novels! The Wind Witch promises to release their not actually dead parents if they retrieve a lost book and return it to her. And that’s where the real adventures begin…
I can totally see why kids love this book. And, of course, it’s a series, with a third book due to be published soon I think. It was a rollicking adventure with good characterisation and a fast-paced plot that kept you reading ‘just one more chapter’, but I don’t think I’ll bother with book 2. Great for the 8-12 age group.
samreads 