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4.03 AVERAGE
4.03 AVERAGE
The first book I ever read that I considered scifi.
It's a cool shorter story about a kid who falls through a door and lands on Earth. The planet he is from is not given a name but I think it'd be cool to have a sequel about him at his home planet.
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
A book I remember reading and being fascinated by in the 5th grade. I remember it being kinda spooky and suspenseful, and have been keeping my eyes open for it for a long time. Of course it wasn't as spooky and suspenseful when I read it now as an adult. Over time I had forgotten pretty much all of the story-line, so it was a joy to rediscover this book.
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
By the author of 'Escape to Witch Mountain', 'The Forgotten Door' is something I stumbled across when looking for something I'd actually read when I was younger.
Jon has lost his memory. After a fall of some kind, he's woken up in unfamiliar woods and needs to find help to recover and make his way back home. But the people he's coming across are unusual, can't do the things that he can do, and find everything about him, from his appearance, and clothes, to the way that he talks, unusual, perhaps dangerous. The strange place he finds himself is called EARTH! Is he from another planet? The future?
Key raises many of the important issues of social science fiction - namely the need for compassion in confrontation of the unknown - in a way that young readers will comprehend. It's a simple story, some larger-than-life touches of government paranoia, with the villains being mostly unpleasant, greedy neighbors and the heroes a family. Everything is on an understandable scale.
If the book had any failings, it was the rushed ending and the inability of the author to come up with any other satisfactory conclusion than having the family trip off to wonderland with Jon as opposed to, I don't know, trying to make the world a better place?
Jon has lost his memory. After a fall of some kind, he's woken up in unfamiliar woods and needs to find help to recover and make his way back home. But the people he's coming across are unusual, can't do the things that he can do, and find everything about him, from his appearance, and clothes, to the way that he talks, unusual, perhaps dangerous. The strange place he finds himself is called EARTH! Is he from another planet? The future?
Key raises many of the important issues of social science fiction - namely the need for compassion in confrontation of the unknown - in a way that young readers will comprehend. It's a simple story, some larger-than-life touches of government paranoia, with the villains being mostly unpleasant, greedy neighbors and the heroes a family. Everything is on an understandable scale.
If the book had any failings, it was the rushed ending and the inability of the author to come up with any other satisfactory conclusion than having the family trip off to wonderland with Jon as opposed to, I don't know, trying to make the world a better place?
I found the writing to be stilted and awkward, the characters lacking in depth, and the ending abruptly convenient.
I bought this book when I was in third grade at our school's Scholastic Book club sale. I loved it then and still love it 42 years later. This warm, charming story started me on a lifelong love of SF. While it's a children's book, the story should not be assumed to be simple, as it speaks to all ages.
Jon has lost his memory. He remembers watching the stars with his parents and then falling through a door. A door that leads to Earth. Injured in his fall he finds himself in need of help. He meets a kindly family who help him and are amazed by his strange powers. Now he is hunted by fortune seekers and government agents who want to use him for their own ends. Will he be able to protect his friends and still get home? A cute book.
Alexander Key, The Forgotten Door (Apple, 1965)
Somehow, I never got around to reading this when I was actually in elementary school, so I figured it was time to do so now. And now I know why I never got around to reading it in elementary school.
Little Jon is an alien. Of what sort we're never exactly told. All we know is that one night, he falls through a door in his world and winds up in a cave in ours, giving him the perfect outsider perspective to be critical about all those horrible things humans do like, you know, eating meat. He finds a sympathetic family, and once they believe his story, they have to find a way to get him back to his place before he's locked up by some more of those evil human entities like the corrupt justice system.
This had the chance to be a bang-up story, but Key's incessant moralizing hamstrings it at every turn. All of his points have the subtlety of a steamroller, and after you encounter one, you're likely to feel the same as you had had you encountered said construction equipment. Key is a pretty good writer when he just tells the story, but he has to stop at least once a chapter and moralize, and it gets really old really fast. **
Somehow, I never got around to reading this when I was actually in elementary school, so I figured it was time to do so now. And now I know why I never got around to reading it in elementary school.
Little Jon is an alien. Of what sort we're never exactly told. All we know is that one night, he falls through a door in his world and winds up in a cave in ours, giving him the perfect outsider perspective to be critical about all those horrible things humans do like, you know, eating meat. He finds a sympathetic family, and once they believe his story, they have to find a way to get him back to his place before he's locked up by some more of those evil human entities like the corrupt justice system.
This had the chance to be a bang-up story, but Key's incessant moralizing hamstrings it at every turn. All of his points have the subtlety of a steamroller, and after you encounter one, you're likely to feel the same as you had had you encountered said construction equipment. Key is a pretty good writer when he just tells the story, but he has to stop at least once a chapter and moralize, and it gets really old really fast. **
I read this one in my childhood before escape/return to witch mountain, which might be why I think it's better than those.It was the first instance of being a vegetarian I was ever exposed to. Coming from a family of meat eaters, they would have been horrified that it came at a young and impressionable age. This would have been in the late 70's, early 80's or so. I need to dig it out of a box and reread and see what else I can glean out of it now.