The Sixty-Eight Rooms by Marianne Malone

Rating: 3/5

The Sixty-Eight Rooms is an interesting book about a real-life art exhibit, the Thorne Rooms, and the not-so-real magical key that two children stumble across that cause them to shrink down and able to explore the rooms—and the worlds that lie beyond them. It’s part fantasy, part time-travel, and it’s fairly charming, though a little too simplistic for me.

This is a series, and I can see why—there’s lot of opportunity here for Malone to explore various time periods and places. I wish there was just a trifle more detail and accuracy added to the historical places—the encounter in Salem was jarring in its complete lack of believability for anyone familiar with the time period. For kids it would probably be just different enough to be interesting, but I thought the interaction of the kids with the other children and adults was implausible at best (not to mention horrendously stereotypical).

I probably would have liked this book just a little bit more if there was a little bit more charm and zing to it. However, the whole book fell flat overall despite the fairly interesting premise. Good, but not interesting enough for me to continue with the series.

Info: Marianne Malone; published 2010 by Random House

Genre: Children’s, Realistic, Fantasy

Warnings: None

Recommended Age Range: 8+