first line: "Henry, Kansas, is a hot town."

A boy named discovers portals to other worlds as well as truths about his own heritage while visiting relatives in an otherwise sleepy-seeming small Kansas town. This well-imagined book is the first in a fantasy series for children. ( )

I love books that don't have any predictable turn of events and are strong on characters. Henry has been sent to the town of Henry, Kansas to stay with his uncle Frank and his aunt Dotty. He has three girl cousins to also contend with - Anastasia (who never shuts up and is an annoying 9 year old) Henrietta ( same age as Henry and also called Henry for short) and Penny, the oldest ( who is inlove with a boy called Zeke). Henry's parents are travel writers and he has been a token child - looked after by a series of nannies and boarding schools until now as his parents have been captured. In the room where Henry sleeps, he hears scratching behind the plaster and after scratching away himself; discovers nearly 100 small doors set into the wall. Henry also soon discovers that his Uncle Frank seems to be a very lost soul who doesn't quite fit in in this world and that his grandfather (who died 12 months ago) has a bedroom in the house that has never been opened because the door is stuck.
Henrietta and Henry soon discover that behind the door lie other worlds but it is the one near his bed that causes them the most grief as there is a creature inside trying to get out. I can't say anymore as it will give away the plot of a very quirky book which takes the Narnia idea and gives it a sinister reverse twist.

This was a curious and fun fantasy - I'm definitely intrigued, after listening to this first adventure with the cupboards. Now I want to know more about what lies behind the cupboards. One thing I enjoyed was watching Henry as he begins to explore the world that his parents have kept him safely away from with their booster seats and helmets and carefully structured classes. For a kid with little practical world experience, Henry was surprisingly resourceful and brave. ( )

Superb! The intrigue never ends, but is balanced by the calm underflow of ordinary summer days and baseball. The audio version is excellent. ( )

This is a fun, spooky 'Through the looking glass' type book where a boy living in an attic hits his bed into his wall and a chunk of plaster comes off, revealing something shiny underneath. Curious, he starts chipping away more and more plaster to see what he's found and before he knows it he's chipped off the entire wall and discovered 100 cupboards! Now the only question is how to get them all open, and once they're open, what will he find? ( )