Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Watcher in the Woods by Robert Liparulo - ADVISABLE

Watcher in the Woods by Robert Liparulo, 290 pages. Thomas Nelson, 2008.

EL, MS – ADVISABLE

The King family is desperate to find their missing mother, but every time they go through one on the mysterious doors in their house, their lives end up in danger. A dangerous stranger from within the worlds and another strange man from their own world make every move impossible. Will they never be able to rescue their mother?

Book #2 is a bit weirder and while it is packed with action and danger, it is very short on plot development. All of the action takes place within only three days – not much time to tell us about our characters, but plenty of time to almost get them killed several times, I guess. From what I have read on the web, the following books are more of the same – great for kids who love dangerous books – perfect for the young and others with short attention spans. They should do well in upper elementary and middle schools.

Cindy, Library-Teacher

1 comment:

Jeffery said...

These books are really great. All my kids love them, from 12 to 18, and I do too. They are a lot of fun, and I have to say that I think the characters are developed well (we all love the King family and even talk about how they would respond in the situation WE run into--we wouldn't do that if we didn't connect, and it's through the writing that we do) and the plot works well for us. maybe it's just that we're aware that the story is told over six books. We don't mind that, and we think the plotting in each book is enough. I've spoke to a lot of teachers who've read them (they are part of the Scholastic book club) and really like them, as well.