100 Cupboards: Book 1 (The 100 Cupboards) (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Well crafted and gratifying.”—School Library Journal

“A highly imaginative tale.”—Kirkus Reviews


From the Hardcover edition. --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Review

“Well crafted and gratifying.”—School Library Journal

“A highly imaginative tale.”—Kirkus Reviews


From the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Yearling; Reprint edition (December 23, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375838821
• ISBN-13: 978-0375838828
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #304,064 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

56 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Through the Cupboards . . . , December 26, 2007

By	Taylor Adams (Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 100 Cupboards: Book 1 of the 100 Cupboards (Hardcover)

100 Cupboards is the second novel by N.D. Wilson (his first being Leepike Ridge) and I must say that it is many, many things: deliciously dark, insightful, suspensful, and filled with magic.

Henry York's parents have been kidnapped biking in South America, and so he is sent off to live with his aunt, uncle, and three girl cousins on their farm in Kansas. Henry is not a farm child; he's never had soda, thrown a baseball (or owned a ballglove), and he's never used a knife, not even a pocket one.

All the characters are delightfully odd, as any good Wilson character should be, from his Aunt Dotty (overprotective, the opposite of classy, and frugal) to his Uncle Frank, who I was never sure we were supposed to fully like. On the one hand, Frank is described as being "thin, and not just physically. They meant thin everywhere and in every way," and sells tumbleweeds for 700 dollars a pop on the internet, and on the other, he shows Henry a better way to live, to love soda, baseball, and knives. The three cousins, Anastasia, Henrietta, and Pennylope, reminded me very strongly of the interactions between the girls in Little Women, which was a very fun connection to make. I think an exploration of the three Henrys in the book would be interesting as well; Henry the town, Henry the main character, and Henrietta the cousin.

100 Cupboards I think is much, much better than Leepike Ridge, and I am an unabashed *fan* of Leepike. Leepike is a very good book, but I think 100 Cupboards surpasses it on a number of levels. There is an added complexity to the world of 100 Cupboards, a sense of Lewisian profundity here. 100 Cupboards too, I think, is more subtle than Leepike. The humor in the book, while still providing laugh-out-loud moments, is not nearly as pronounced is specific scenes. Rather, in 100 Cupboards, it seems the whole novel is written with a sly smirk (in a good way). Also, while both Leepike and 100 Cupboards begin with the narrator speaking to the reader, this tack feels much more British, with an almost C.S. Lewis-esque mastery behind it.

The novel takes its time setting up the situation and slowly but surely revealing the mystery of the cupboards, all of which is charmingly fun. The mystery builds for close to a hundred pages before Henry really starts working with the cupboards, but there is never a boring moment. The writing takes you by the scruff of your neck and makes you read on. The suspense is really quite good as well, which will provide younger readers with a bit of a bedtime chill.

Needless to say, 100 Cupboards has earned its place on my "Favorite books" shelf. A well-done indeed to Nathan, and as an aspiring writer, I think if I get myself to a place of being half as good as Mr. Wilson, I will be well-pleased indeed.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not Baby Pool Fantasy, April 2, 2008

By	Noel (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 100 Cupboards: Book 1 of the 100 Cupboards (Hardcover)

I may have plunked down the money for "100 Cupboards," but my brother won the first-dibs tug of war. I had to work. In my absence, he devoured Nate Wilson's newest contribution to the literary world, and could barely refrain from inundating me with spoilers the moment I got home. However, I finished my review first. Ha.

So many fantasy books are like baby pools--they get your feet wet, but that's about all. "Cupboards" promises depth, dives below the surface, and delivers.

Twelve-year-old Henry York enters a world of tumbleweed, baseball and caffeine when his parents are kidnapped and he is sent to stay with relatives in Kansas. There, he meets Uncle Frank, Aunt Dotty, his three cousins, Penelope, Henrietta and Anastasia, and discovers something mysterious about the wall behind his bed: it contains portals to other worlds.

Random example of why I keep reading Wilson: "There were only two people alive who would recognize the wood in that door. One was a man living in a run-down apartment in a bad part of Orlando. He would have recognized it and then tried to find something strong to drink, because he wanted very much to believe that his childhood had not actually happened."

Life in Kansas is ordinary, and some readers might feel that Wilson takes too long introducing elements of fantasy. They forget--we all do--just how magical ordinary life really is when you come to think of it. We've trained ourselves to believe that excitement = haunted ballrooms, evil queens, bloody daggers, and missing damsels. While the story eventually delivers all the above, "100 Cupboards" spends quite a bit of time unfurling its petals, reminding readers that every moment of life is miraculous, not just full bloom.

And there's plenty to keep looking forward to. Unlike Shakespeare's Women, who "die, even when they to perfection grow," "100 Cupboards" is the first of a projected trilogy. 2008 will bring the next installment, "Dandelion Fire," and with it, N.D. Wilson promises to dive even deeper.

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Courtesy of Teens Read Too, January 3, 2008

By	TeensReadToo.com "Eat. Drink. Read. Be Merrier." (All Over the US & Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 100 Cupboards: Book 1 of the 100 Cupboards (Hardcover)

Twelve-year-old Henry York's world-traveling parents have been kidnapped, so he has moved in with his aunt, uncle, and three cousins at their old farm home in Henry, Kansas. Even though he's stuck in a tiny converted closet up in the attic, Henry almost doesn't mind living with his relatives. In fact, he's kind of excited about it, because for the first time in his life, he can play baseball without a helmet, sit in the back of a truck, and own a knife of his very own (which his Uncle Frank bought for him).

One night, while Henry's lying on his bed in the little attic closet, a piece of plaster falls off of the wall behind him and hits him in the head. With his cousin Henrietta's help, he rips down all of the plaster on that one side to discover an entire wall of mysterious cupboards. In one, they can see a glowing yellow room and a man's leg. From another, wind howls and rain pours into the room when the door is opened.

Most of the cupboards are locked, but there is another mystery waiting in Grandfather's bedroom, which hasn't been opened since he passed away two years ago. Are all of these locked doors somehow connected? More importantly, what wonderful (or terrifying) things lie beyond them...?

Despite a slow start and a rather convoluted ending, this story certainly delivers for those itching for the blood-curdling and creepy.

Reviewed by: Allison Fraclose