Common Sense Media Review
By Mary Eisenhart
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Intriguing start to fantasy series best for dark-side fans.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 11+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
What's the Story?
Twelve-year-old Alice's orderly world in 1920s New York disintegrates after the night she sees an extremely ugly fairy talking to her father. The conversation distresses her father so much he rushes off to Buenos Aires -- on a ship that immediately sinks with all hands. The orphaned Alice soon finds herself in the scary mansion of an "uncle" she's never heard of, where strange people, sinister events, mysterious powers, and moral quandaries enter her life -- along with orders not to set foot in THE FORBIDDEN LIBRARY.
Is It Any Good?
Fans of creepy fantasy will find a lot to like here, from Uncle Geryon and his unpleasant minions and scary home to Alice's snarky wit and plucky determination. In this series debut, Django Wexler spends a good deal of time laying the groundwork, building the world, and populating it with a lot of ambiguity, moral and otherwise. Today's friend is tomorrow's foe, cute helpless creatures turn into deadly monsters, and the rules you've followed all your life make no sense at all in your current environment -- all issues that probably require a certain maturity in the reader.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about a world in which the person who saves your life today might try to kill you tomorrow -- or vice versa. How would living in such an environment change the way you felt and the way you did things?
Why do you think stories about kids in spooky mansions are so popular? How does The Forbidden Library compare with other creepy-house stories you know?
One of the characters says the only thing you can do if you have an evil master who makes you do evil work is survive and then be a better master when it's your turn. Do you agree? What might go wrong with this scenario?
Book Details
- Author :
- Illustrator : Alexander Jansson
- Genre : Fantasy
- Topics : Fantasy ( Magic ) , Adventures
- Book type : Fiction
- Publisher : Kathy Dawson Books
- Publication date : April 15, 2014
- Number of pages : 373
- Available on : Nook, Hardback, Apple Books, Kindle
- Last updated : October 1, 2025
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