Quick Review: The Sixty-Eight Rooms by Marianne Malone

I read about this on the Pop Candy blog on the USA Today website.  It sounded fun and similar to books I liked when I was a kid.   Here is the synopsis from the author’s website:

Almost everybody who has grown up in Chicago knows about the Thorne Rooms. Housed deep within the Art Institute of Chicago, they are a collection of sixty-eight exquisite – almost eerily realistic miniature rooms. Each of the rooms is designed in the style of a different time and place, and every detail is perfect, from the knobs on the doors to the candles in the candlesticks. Some might even say the rooms are magical.

Imagine… what if, on a field trip, you discovered a key that allowed you to shrink so that you were small enough to sneak inside and explore the rooms’ secrets? What if you discovered that others had done so before you? And that someone had left something important behind?

Ruthie Stewart and Jack Tucker are best friends in sixth grade. Ruthie has the feeling that nothing exciting ever happens in her life, while Jack experiences every day as an adventure. The Sixty-Eight Rooms is the story of an adventure they have together. It starts with a field trip and ends with…well, Ruthie will never say “nothing exciting ever happens” again!

If you love fantasy and adventure and magic, with a little mystery-solving thrown in, The Sixty-Eight Rooms will be a book you can’t put down.

 Overall, I thought this was a cute book.  From the Pop Candy blog post I thought it would be a YA story, but it’s a kid book (Ruthie and Jack are in 6th grade).  Some of the writing was a bit awkward (especially some of the dialogue between Ruthie and Jack).  It took awhile for the story to get to the part where they shrink and go into the rooms.  It would have been nice to explore more than 4 or 5 rooms with Ruthie and Jack.  Prior to this book I hadn’t heard of the Thorne Rooms. Now, I can’t wait to research more about them.  If I ever get to Chicago I’ll have to check them out.

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