42 of 42 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
From another fan of VELVET ROOM, May 12, 2000
I recently tracked down a copy at the public library and re-read it. The VELVET ROOM is still magical, in spite of passive verbs 'was' and 'have been' commonly found in books from the 1960's, and it remains one of my favorites.
Author Zilpha Snyder writes about a girl named Robin, insecure after her father's struggle to remain employed and the family's subsequent traveling from place to place to find food and shelter. They end up at a new location near an abandoned old mansion, the Palmeras House, where Robin escapes for some quiet time away from her four noisy siblings. She discovers a tunnel that leads into the mansion, and inside she finds no furnishings except in one small room--a circular alcove in a tower. Here's an excerpt:
"From that first glimpse, from the first minute, it was more than a room--more even than the most beautiful room Robin had ever seen. Her hands shook on the doorknob, and the shaking didn't come from fear or cold. Her trembling hands were only an echo of something deeper that had been strangely shaken by that first sight of the Velvet Room....
"A thick pale rug cushioned her bare feet as she moved forward and turned very slowly in a circle. The walls of the room were paneled in dark wood. All along one wall the bright bindings of books contrasted with the wood. The books went on and on.... On the opposite side of the room were four tall narrow windows. Above the windows were arches of colored glass. Sunlight, streaming in through the arches made rainbows on the rug.
"...It was there in the alcove that she first began to call it the Velvet Room. There were heavy drapes of dark red velvet at the windows...when all the drapes were closed, there was a full circle of velvet. Robin pulled all the drapes shut, and then sat down and looked around.
"It was a wonderful, cozy place. A lot of people must have sat there to read in all the years since Palmeras House had been built. There must have been other children who had liked the wide window seats with their deep soft pillows. They probably took their books there and pulled the drapes shut, just as Robin had, and felt safe and comfortable and hidden. If they were a little younger, they probably pretended they were birds high in a nest, or maybe princesses in a magic tower.
"It wasn't until then that [Robin] began to wonder about the Velvet Room...she suddenly wanted an explanation very badly. Why would a room be left like this, beautifully furnished and full of valuable things? There must be a reason.... Why was it there at all--a Velvet Room in a silent empty old house?" (p.79-83)
Later there's a life-threatening scene, and the suspense and magic are all there. I read VELVET ROOM when I was a child, and the memory of it has lingered with me almost 30 years later. It's one of my all-time favorites. Track down this book if you can, and read it. And if the publisher is listening, please re-issue the VELVET ROOM.
~Kimn Swenson Gollnick...
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25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Secret Place, July 7, 2004
This review is from: The Velvet Room (Paperback)
I think all introverted, bookish youngsters like myself long for a secret place to get away from their family and others who do not understand them. In this book Robin, middle daughter in a large, poor family during the Depression, finds just such a place in the Velvet Room. This is Robin's name for the library in the old McCurdy mansion on Las Palmeras, the California rancho where her family is working picking apricots. Robin loves the library with its precious historical artifacts and wide window seats hidden behind thick velvet curtains. Robin hides from reality in the Velvet Room until she reaches a crossroads and realizes what is most important to her. This book was, and still is a favorite. Can't recommend it highly enough.
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20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
My husband curses this book!, March 24, 2004
I read this book for the first time when I was in 5th grade. It made me want my own round tower library with window seats and velvet drapes! I am now married to an architect, and he wishes I had never read this book, because in planning our own house, my biggest requirement is a round library, with deep window seats, and (maybe) green velvet drapes to shut out the world. A totally awesome book about escaping into imaginary worlds with reading (something I am still prone to do)a wonderful book.
Beverly
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