This book had so much promise: two children magically shrinking to explore the Thorne Rooms (at the Art Institute of Chicago) and their various time periods. Idea gets an A+, execution something less . . .While the reading of it is a bit labored and long, we were still excited to go visit the actual Thorne Rooms. Did find this little jewel of a quote (p. 236):Mrs. McVittie smiled at them. "You might have to be content with not knowing all the answers.""But I thought you wanted to know the truth," Ruthie said, feeling confused again."Truth is always precious. But mysteries are part of life - a wonderful part. You can't always know everything."She smiled as she added, "At my age, it's much easier to understand that."This book could stand a little more Minerva McVittie. Note: if we could assign half stars I would bump this up to a 2.5.I think the word that best applies to this book is "sufficient". It's got sufficient charm, magic, historical details, exiting scenes, a mystery - it doesn't do it's job badly. Also god knows as a person who loves tiny stuff it's very successful in that quarter. (tiny stuff! shrinking down to a tiny person and using the tiny stuff!)As you can see it has a lot going for it that would be appealing to a lot of kids. So while I found it slightly lacking (just a little too stiff, a little too broad, a little too simplistic) and did not love it I am happy to recommend it.Also Note: speaking of the audience this will appeal to, I got the impression that this was more of a intermediate book than a middle grade one. Whether we have any room in the intermediate section... that's another question.-Angela
What do You think about The Sixty-Eight Rooms (2010)?
This was an awesome fantasy book! It was great! Keys are just so magical to me!
—Sophia
So charming! and a wonderful way to explore history with kids.
—srn
The writing has a tin ear. I lasted three pages.
—vardah23
