Customer Reviews

The Shadows (The Books of Elsewhere, Vol. 1)

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Eleven-year-old Olive Dunwoody leads a lonely life. She is blessed to have the love of her parents, but they are very dedicated mathematicians who work at the university, so she doesn't have much in common with them. She also doesn't appear to have much luck making friends. The kids at school and in the apartment building never want to include her, even when the teachers insist. And as soon as Olive steps away, they seem to forget all about her.

With her record for making friends (or the lack thereof), Olive isn't expecting any different results when her parents buy the ancient mansion on Linden Street and they move into the new neighborhood. It will be just the three of them in this huge house, and the loneliness looms in all of the strange corners and empty rooms. It must have been similar for the previous owner; old Ms. McMartin lived there all by herself, along with her three cats. That is, until she died, right there in the mansion.

Olive does find parts of the house interesting, such as the zillions of paintings scattered on the walls, and the closets and drawers filled with old clothes and various items, including a pair of old glasses. But other locations are a bit creepy, like the gloomy basement where she feels like she's being watched, and the one painting in the hall where she could swear she sees a white shape moving through the trees. And then things really start to get weird.

Olive gets a visitor in the middle of the night. One of old Ms. McMartin's cats slips in through her bedroom window and introduces himself. His name is Horatio, and he comes with a warning: something in the house doesn't want them there. And then Olive discovers that when she puts on those old glasses, she can actually climb into the paintings. But Olive, beware. There's something evil lurking inside those paintings --- and it wants you gone.

Jacqueline West displays her writing talents beautifully in her debut novel. She has dived into her vivid imagination, dragging out an outrageous adventure filled with creepy bad guys and clever mysteries. She has a sneaky sense of humor that unexpectedly oozes out in just the right places. Olive and the three cats are full of spunk, enthusiasm and personality, and by the end of the book, they feel like good friends. West also has a gift for description that pulls the reader right into the story. Another bonus is the beautiful illustrations scattered throughout; Poly Bernatene has added a special visual treat that enhances the reading experience.

THE SHADOWS is creative, exciting, hilarious, spooky, mysterious, adventurous, and heaps of fun, all wrapped between two covers. Readers will be looking forward to the second installment in the Books of Elsewhere series.

The Dunwoody family move into a fixer upper Victorian mansion left vacant when elderly Ms. McMartin died. Eleven year old Olive finds the house odd, but her mathematical minded parents see nothing out of the ordinary starting with the inability to remove the strange drawings from the wall, but upon a closer look she sees things moving inside the paintings.

Looking around the house, Olive finds glasses that she puts on for fun. Instead of blur, she realizes she enter the pictures and travel in a realm that sort of looks like her natural one, but seems shadowy and too quiet to the stunned tweener. Horatio the cat warns her not to stay too long in their world and never lose the glasses if she is on this side of the frame. Olive also meets raging Morton who claims he is from her side of the divide, but was thrown into the picture world because he knew too much. As she learns more about the house and its contents, Olive fears something evil wants to keep her silent in order for her not to reveal what the darkness wants to do to the light.

With illustrations from Poly Bernatene enhancing the strong haunted house mystery, Jacqueline West provides an exhilarating middle school age tale. Fast-paced, young readers will want to join courageous Olive as she investigates the goings-on inside the painting world and the house, but is unsure who to trust with her growing concerns especially in light of her parents thinking logically that she is playing make believe.

Harriet Klausner

Last night I finished up THE BOOKS OF ELSEWHERE: THE SHADOWS, and ohmigosh it was good.

It's one of those books where the adult in me thinks, (cue high-pitched nasally adult voice) "Oh, I really like this story. What nice atmosphere. How unique," and the kid in me is like, (cue my real voice) "Ahhh! That's scary. Wow--cool. I want to do that! She did what? The end? Where's the next book!?!?"

I was lucky enough to interview the author, Jacqueline West, here: [...].


THE SHADOWS is a fast paced read set in Olive Dunwoody's new home--a crumbling Victorian house brimming with rooms to explore and curiosities to discover. Her slightly absent minded, but brilliantly (and hilariously) mathematical parents have no clue what kinds of secrets their home holds. Olive, however, finds herself unraveling a dark and deadly mystery, aided only by three cats and a bratty boy.

Atmosphere: Really old house with hidden rooms, paintings you can travel through, cool old spectacles, creepy basements, that prickle at the back of your neck when you know something's not right, overgrown backyards, nosey neighbors, and cats with attitude. In a word: awesome.

Language: Jacqueline West is also an award winning poet, and she has this beautiful knack for clear, concise, and completely unique description. There's also lots of witty dialogue that kept me smiling and laughing throughout the book.

If you're looking for a fun Middle Grade read, you should seriously check this book out. There's also a pretty cool website for the book that includes sample chapters and clips from the audiobook:[...].

Jacqueline West has written a superb premier novel. It is about a girl named Olivia who moves into an old Victorian house. The house is filled with secrets including three strange cats and a pair of glasses that allow Olivia to enter the paintings. As Olivia explores she discovers the house is hiding a secret and she tries to solve the mystery of her house an incredible adventure unfolds. The adventure is reminecent of Narnia with the multiple worlds formula and the author even references Narnia at one point. This is an absolutely superb book by a new author. Read alike: 100 Cupboards by N.D. Wilson.

I am 8 yrs old and I loved this book. I can't wait for the next Book of Elsewhere to come out in July. My mom and I were reading it together, but it was so good that I snuck off when my mom was watching the Super Bowl and finished reading it myself.

Even though it was the author's first book, I think that she did a wonderful job!

If you love mysteries, talking cats, magical spectacles, and the idea of traveling into the world of a painting, you'll love the Land of Elsewhere. In The Shadows, 11 year old Olive Dunwoody, moves into an old mansion filled with paintings that give her the creeps. Then she finds a pair of old spectacles that give her the power to go into the paintings. There she meets Morton a little boy trapped in a painting by "the bad man." With the help of three peculiar talking cats she works to unravel the mystery of the man and this strange house.
We loved Olive. She is an adventurous, curious and brave girl who never gives up even when things go wrong and get pretty scary.
We also loved how J. West crafted the story. She used great verbs like rummaged and rifled and she used great similies like when she compared going down into the basement to jumping into a cold pool of water.
The cats were great too. We loved how they could talk. They are funny, especially, Harvey.
Throughout the book you get lots of clues and hints and you get to help figure things out along with Olive. The book kept us on the edge of our seats. It was a page turner with lots of surprises. We felt like we were in the book ourselves.
This is why we give this book a full five stars!!

I purchased this book for my 10yr old daughter, going into 5th grade---she LOVED the 43 Old Cemetary Rd series (perfect for a bit younger--look them up) and I thought this looked similar.
She cant get enough of it, a little scary with suspense but not bad... she loves it and tells me more of the book as she continues along. She is not finished with this yet but is already looking forward to reading the sequel.

The Short of It: A fantastical new story that takes us into a creepy old house where the paintings are more than they seem. Olive finds herself in the middle of a mystery that she can't help but try to solve. Why do things move in these paintings, what is everyone so afraid of, and what exactly are those cats guarding? A slightly creepy, and definitely adventurous tale of a girl who isn't afraid to believe in the unbelievable.

An intriguing introduction book to a new series by a new writer. Jacqueline West introduces us to Olive, an 11-year-old girl who has moved into a new house with her parents. But this isn't any ordinary house; this house has secrets, secrets that could cost Oliver her life!

If you're a fan of Dahl or Gaiman, you must add this to your reading list PRONTO!

Eleven year-old Olive and her somewhat distracted, mathematically inclined parents move into old Mrs. McMartin's house after she dies. All of Ms. McMartin's things - including walls and walls of strange paintings are included in the purchase of the house. Left to her own to explore, Olive finds a pair of old spectacles which she tries on - these are not just any old reading glasses. They allow her to travel inside the odd paintings that fill the walls. This Elsewhere has a strange resemblance to her own world, but it is also full of dark secrets. Soon Olive finds herself caught up in an adventure to save herself and the house from the dark shadows.



I read this book because I was looking for something to recommend to one of my students. Turns out it is a little higher reading level than the student has, but I do think they would enjoy the book if read with a buddy or perhaps as a classroom read aloud. I enjoyed this story so much that I am anxiously awaiting the second book in the series.


This is a spine tingling tale that is also surprisingly humorous. Olive is a quirky yet very likable character - one that I look forward to learning more about. It is rather spooky and younger children might find it a tad frightening, but is an all around good read.


Recommended for 4th Grade and up (good as a silent or read aloud)



Mrs. Archer's rating: 5 of 5!