Book Review: The Books of Elsewhere

“It's been my experience that those people who seem the most 'normal' are in fact the most dangerous.” 

Now is the winter of my content.  I love winter.  And I love reading books in winter (or any time of the year, for that matter).

This is one of my "grabbed off the shelf of the library for no reason" finds.  And it was a great find, to be sure.  The Books of Elsewhere grabbed me, and I love each and every moment of it.


Olive Dunwoody and her mathematician parents have moved into the old broken down house where Mrs. McMartin died.  They bought it with everything still inside, including the paintings that move.  Olive discovers that, with the use of special spectacles, she can go inside the world within those paintings, which she calls "Elsewhere."  She, and her friends she makes along the way, including the three cats, Horatio, Leopold and Harvey, guardians of the house who can talk, must work to protect the people of Elsewhere and this world from the evil powers of the McMartin family.

One of the things that I like most about these books is that too often children's literature authors forget that, even if children have spunk, they're still children.  They're not simply small adults.  And this author doesn't forget that. Olive is still uneasy about the dark, and she still needs her mommy sometimes.  And occasionally, she is tempted by the notion that she just wants to go home.  She has the thoughts of a child, the anxieties of a child, but also the spunk of a child.  She is a child.

Furthermore, I really enjoyed how Mr. and Mrs. Dunwoody are great parents.  Sure, they don't understand how they could end up with a daughter who still needs her fingers to count, and would rather go to the art museum than figure out the perfect cream-to-peach ratio, but they love her.  A lot of fantasy books have heroes/heroines who have borked homes and unloving parents--which is useful for reasons of literary.  But not everyone has bad parents, and I think it was a refreshing change.  

I also like the old-timey feel to the book.  I appreciate modern writing, but I also kind of like just plain traditional writing sometimes.  The creativity of the story is still there, but with a nice nostalgic feel to the whole story. I haven't read Bunnicula, but I've heard comparisons.  Well-written and enjoyable, the entire series was a delight for advanced reader children and young teens--but I'm twenty-four and still liked 'em.  So they pass the C.S. Lewis test.

Also, I finished the last one on the airplane coming back from Christmas at my parents' in NY. The person next to me thought I was a total nutjob when I was crying.  But it was an awesome ending!

I recommend this series highly. 5 stars for the whole series (though different stars for different books..none below four).