The Door in the Wall
I finished reading this yesterday.
Door in the Wall
By Marguerite De Angeli
I started reading the book to my son, but he protested, so I finishing reading it to myself. It was written for younger readers - I'd say about age ten. My son is thirteen and didn't get interested. I too had a hard time reading it until the end when things got exciting. I don't know why but the early chapters just didn't reach out and grab me. My interest lagged, but this is an award-winning book so I'm sure many people who've read it were much more attracted to it than I was.
Its about a boy living in England in the middle ages during the time of the plague. He's sadly afflicted with some other unspecified illness that leaves him crippled, unable to walk. It bothered me that I never was told what illness caused his problem, but probably that's because the character himself had no way of knowing.
The author did a lot of research to make this book realistic, so it contains a lot of cultural references and the characters talk just as you'd expect the people of that time to express themselves. She's also a talented artist who did all the many illustrations in the book. Her careful efforts were rewarded with the 1950 Newbery Medal!
There's a great website with some of her notes, photographs, excerpts from her Newbery acceptance speech, and even a few of her other children's stories online! The Marguerite De Angeli Collection
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