Customer Reviews

The Door to Time (Ulysses Moore, Book 1)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you're by chance a Snicket fan
And love that series' style
I recommend you get this one
Out of the new book pile

If breaking codes, like Artemis
Gives you a certain thrill
And solving riddles is your thing
You'll like this one - you will!

Three children find a secret door
(You may recall this plot)
They solve the clues to open it
But Narnia, it's not

The mystery lies way down below
Inside a hidden grotto
You really should try this one out
You'd be a dummy not to

Ships and treasure, ghosts and clues
With more suspense in store
The good thing is, this is book one
And now they're up to four.

Rated: 4.5 stars


Amanda Richards

Tired of or used up the Magic Treehouse and the Secrets of Droon series? Is the Time Warp Trio getting a little repetitive? Well, this book is an excellent next step.

It's not Riordan, Nix, or Funke, but it touches all of the bases in an engaging and accessible fashion. It seems that this would be a great way to introduce a young reader to fantasy adventure, and a great way to experiment with your reader's readiness. The author's "Century: Ring of Fire" is getting all of the marketing push, but I actually like this series, and its protagonists, more.

My son read this book for a book report at school in the 3rd grade. He loved it. It's the next step for readers who enjoyed the Magic Treehouse series, but need more description and action. His book report was a map report. It was amazing how much he remembered and in the order it happened. We originally found the 3rd book in the series and started to read it....but realized we really needed to start at the beginning. It was hard to find...we had to get a major bookstore to order the 4 book series for us......it's an interesting book written by an Italian author about three children in England.

I came to this book after reading the first book in Mr. Baccalario's newest series"Century: Ring of Fire"Century #1: Ring of Fire. I thought "Ring of Fire" was absolutely excellent and so I was curious about his earlier works. "The Door To Time" is not as good. But I should make it clear that it is better than most of the children's literature that I read in the Tweener age range.

The story is about two twins --boy and girl-- who move from London to a small seaside community. The boy, Jason, has a predilection to sensing the 'other world', and is perfectly content with the move to their rambling, castle-like home. His sister, Julia, is not. She likes the hustle and bustle of the city. They are still finding their way around when they find a new friend, Rick, who seems a perfect foil for them.

The story proceeds along some pretty classic lines. Their parents are called out of town. They are left in the care of a mysterious caretaker of the estate, and soon bits of pieces of a puzzle are falling in their laps.

The author does a good job of keeping the story moving forwards. There is always some sort of action either occurring or looming in the future. And really, my only complaints from an adult point-of-view would be that the characters could have been developed more fully; the ending more rewarding. Instead, in the latter case, we have the usual semi-ending that you commonly find in series.

Overall, I think this is a series kids who like adventure should try. It has likable characters and promises to carry through in the future with lots of action in unusual settings.

Above Average : **3.5 Stars**

Pam T~
mom and reviewer at BooksForKids-reviews

I am a literacy coach and used this book for my summer class. My students really enjoyed the clues and were energized by the travels of the 3 main characters who were young tweens. Excellent book to teach students to focus on details and to form discussion groups to examine the novel.