Good Reading

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Over the years one of my favorite family pastimes has been reading aloud to our children. We’ve read some really good books by some really good authors—some well known (e.g., Tolkien, Lewis), others…not so much. Last night we finished 100 Cupboards by the not so well known (yet) Nathan Wilson, which left us eagerly awaiting the release of book two in the trilogy Dandelion Fire, which I just learned has been delayed until February of 2009.

100 Cupboards is the story of 12 year old Henry York, whose parents were kidnapped while bicycling across South America. But that’s not where the action is. The action is in little Henry, Kansas. (Hey, whatyaknow, another great story takes place in Kansas! Think, Wizard of Oz and Little House on the Prairie, and don’t forget that Marianne on "Gilligan’s Island" was a Kansas farm girl!)

Henry York is actually from Boston, but after his parents turn up missing, he’s shipped off to Kansas to live with his aunt and uncle. He’s given a bedroom in the attic and begins to hear things that go “bump” in the night. He tries to ignore it, but the next night he is awakened by bits of plaster falling on his bed and he sees two knobs broken through the wall…and one of them is slowly turning.

Henry scrapes the remaining plaster off the wall and discovers 99 cupboards with different shapes and sizes. He soon realizes the cupboards are portals to other worlds. That’s when the action begins.

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