Customer Reviews

Forgotten Door

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Long ago in public school children used to be able to order from Scholastic Book Service and than wait anxiously for the shipment to come directly to your classroom. Alexander Key's 'The Forgotten Door' was one of the gems available. Not exactly science fiction and not pure drama, The Forgotten Door transported a child to an America now seemingly gone, populated with characters humble and strong, clear-eyed in their morality. The action centers around a family thrust into a maelstrom of fear and uncertainty when they befriend a boy who has amnesia and is strange, and different. He can communicate with animals and can jump six foot fences, and read people's minds. Before long his difference is noted and attracts attention from unsavory elements in our society. The Bean Family attempts to protect the boy and the action takes off. Alexander Key has a touch for the small detail that contributes to authenticity--the elder Bean limps --a reminder of a foreign war. The surprising and heartwarming ending will have you and your children reading this book.

I read this book when I was a VERY young child, and had almost forgotten it until I saw it in a used book bin, and immediately bought it, took it home and read it.

I was astonished to discover that many ethical and moral ideas that I sort of thought were mine - ways of looking at the world and waysof understanding other people - I had actually learned from this children's book. But there it was: written in "The Forgotten Door", by Alexander Key: things I had said myself all my life and statements that I had made all my life. And I had no idea that this simple little book was where I had actually got them from in the first place. I was amazed to realize what a large, large influence this book had actually been.

What a wonderful job Mr. Key has done. If you give this book to your child, it will change them. And it's a great read, too.

I am thrilled to see this book is still available!! "The Forgotten Door" is one of my favorites! When I was in third grade, I didn't read very well. I remember crawling to the top bunk and my sister, Andrea, read this book aloud to me. Later, in sixth grade after my reading improved, I checked this book out of the school library and was thrilled once again to be transported through the forgotten door to follow the adventures on Jon. It didn't matter that I knew how the book ended. I still loved it!

My sister recently had her first baby, Allison. I knew I wanted to buy this book for her (even if she is a bit young yet). Now I can read it to my niece and the tradition will continue. I highly recommend "The Forgotten Door" to readers of all ages. It's truely a classic not to be missed!

Of all the things that I had as a child, little remains except my copy of the first edition of this book, published through the Scholastic Book Service, in 1965 for 45 cents, which I purchased in the 4rth Grade at Van Der Veer Elementary School in Somerville NJ. The story is about a boy from another world who by accident enters this one. He is like us, yet he is more like the us we ought to be. Some his special gifts, his harmony with nature, an ability to connect with deep inner sources of being for healing are concepts that are not unfamiliar to us in 2002, but this was heady, cutting edge material almost 40 years ago. In the book we encounter ourselves, our good, our bad. The book is a call to a timeless morality, a powerful little story for kids like I was in the fourth grade awakening to both the conflict and promise of the world around us, and seeking a moral star to guide us.

The Forgotten Door has to be one of the very first SF books I ever read. I still have my copy, an old paperback from the 1960s or 1970s. I used to read this book over and over again when I was a kid. It had drama, suspense, a sense of wonder, mystery. All the stuff that would keep a kid on the edge of his (or her) chair, turning the page. In fact, it was a great book to read late at night when I was supposed to be sleeping. I used up a few flashlights on this one.

Alexander Key's book should be considered one of the all-time best fantasy/science fiction novels for kids (it's not really a genre-specific story). Heck, I even recommend it for adults. That old paperback is one book I just can't bring myself to part with.

I am 46 and I vividly remember reading this book as a child. The adventure of a boy who accidently travels from his beautiful, peaceful planet to our planet was magical for me when I read it as a girl. I hadn't remembered the title or author, but when I saw the book cover at a garage sale, I gasped and pounced on this book. If you are a parent, you have to get it for your children. On an emotional level, you'll be giving them a great adventure story that will fill them with wonder. The "adult" in me can now see that it taught me something about the good and bad in people and their actions. Absolutely recommended!

Like so many others, I read this lovely book when I was much younger, and it has remained with me to this day. It's a deceptively simple story, told directly & clearly, which poses quite a few difficult ethical & moral questions about the world we take for granted. Yet it's never preachy or heavy-handed. Through the eyes of Little Jon, we not only see the flaws of our own society, with its emphasis on greed, power, and selfishness, but we also get a glimpse of another, better world. Certainly any child who is puzzled by the needless cruelties we so easily inflict on one another will welcome this book. Why *does* it have to be that way? Why *can't* we rise above our worst instincts? Well, maybe we can ... and a book like this is a reminder of that possibility. It's inspirational in the best sense of the word, and most highly recommended!

The book I read is called The Forgotten Door. It was written by Alexander Key,a fabulous author, in 1965. It is the story of Little Jon, a young child from another planet who accidentally falls through a forgotten portal, or "door", to Earth. After bumping his head and then landing on Earth, he lost most of his memory, but not his amazing powers. He was adopted by the Bean family, who understands his situation. They want to try to get him home, but will his amazing powers and mysterious background cause trouble? Read the book to find out!

The plot goes like this...

Little Jon is on his home planet, running around with his friends and watching shooting stars. Suddenly, the once firm ground gives way, and he plummits away from everything he once knew. When he awoke, he remembered very little. He was in a cave, and very frightened. He exited the cave, trying to find a person. He stumbled upon a doe, and reached out to it... with his mind! This was one of the astounding things he can do with his mind. He talked to it gently with his thoughts, then followed it to a field. All of a sudden, a shot rang out, scaring away the doe and frightening Jon. The deer ran off, leaving Little Jon to face his first human alone. A man came across the field. He was mean to Jon,and even though Jon can't yet understand the language, he used his mind powers to sense the anger in the man's thoughts. Again, using the powers that come so naturally to him, Little Jon telepathically lightened his feet and ran away, running as fast as a deer.

Eventually he met the Bean family, with whom he learned English. The Beans lived in a small country town outside of Atlanta, Georgia in the mid-1900s. They took him in and sheltered him, but rumors of this so-called "wild boy" spread quickly. The Beans tried to help him get his memory back, but little progress was ever made, even though he constantly returned to the cave he landed in to look for clues. When the Beans learned that he had never heard of "war" or "money" before, they reached the conclusion he was otherworldly. But with rumors spreading like wildfire, it was not long before he was accused of a crime he did not commit.

He was taken to court, where he revealed his amazing powers in order to stop the trouble now surrounding himself and the Beans. His powers were of interest even to the military. This revelation frightened and dismayed the criminals and ne'er do-wells in the town, and threats to get rid of Jon came to the Bean's household. One dark and dreary night, Jon was with the Beans inside, when he heard the evil thoughts of many crooks surrounding the home, lurking in the woods. Confused and terrified, the Beans had run out of options. Suddenly, Jon received confirmation, through telepathy, that his people had reopened the portal and want him to return home. But the woods between him and the cave was crawling with enemies, and should he leave, the Beans may well be killed. Finally Jon...(if you do not want the ending spoiled, DO NOT continue reading!)... had an idea. He quickly explained the situation to his people, and they agreed to the idea of Jon bringing the Beans to live on his planet. Jon made a run for it, distracting the bad people while the Beans left their home and met him at the portal. Then they were gone, whisked off to a perfect world without war, laws, or money, to live where all kind families like the Beans deserve to.

The End :)

By: Eric Stevens

`To all those who like the starlight, and wonder about other places and other people'. This is how Alexander Key opens `The Forgotten Door', and in this short novel for juveniles, he delivers on his promise of wonder and magic.

I can remember first reading this book as a child and being completely captivated by the story of Jon, a young boy from another world who is inadvertently transported to the wild and inhospitable modern day Earth. In this lovely story, Key touches upon some of the unfortunate social ills that still blight America today, prejudice, obtuseness, ostracism, hate, and most of all fear. Key handles these subjects simultaneously throughout the book in a way that is both entertaining and enlightening and his easy style of prose is understandable and poetic. I can still trace some of my early interests in science fiction and poetry back to this book.

A highly recommendable read for children, and adults, of all ages, and the illustrations by Dom Lupo are very good indeed. Think about them the next time you are out watching the shooting stars at night.

This is a book not easily forgotton. It will give you quite a wonderful feeling about this world that you could only hope for in its kindness and simplicity.