Velvet Room (Hardcover)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: mysterious gift, whatnot case, adobe wing, The Velvet Room, Palmeras House, Las Palmeras (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Robin was always "wandering off" (her mother's words) to get away from the confusion she felt inside her. It was not until Robin's father found a permanent job at the McCurdy ranch, after three years as a migrant worker, that Robin had a place to wander to. As time went by the Velvet Room became more and more of a haven for her--a place to read and dream, a place to bury one's fears and doubts, a place to count on.

The Velvet Room, first published in 1965, was a Junior Library Guild selection, and part of Scholastic Books' Arrow Book Club. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

The recipient of three Newbery Honor Book awards for The Egypt Game, The Headless Cupid, and The Witches of Worm, Zilpha Keatly Snyder's first book was published in 1964. Since that time she has authored 42 books, mostly for children aged 9 to 13, but also including two books for young adults, four picture books for younger children and a book of poetry. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Hardcover
• Publisher: Peter Smith Publisher Inc (June 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0844664197
• ISBN-13: 978-0844664194
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (77 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,561,176 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars From another fan of VELVET ROOM, May 12, 2000

By	Kimn Gollnick "writermom" (Formerly of Seattle, now in Iowa, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Velvet Room (Library Binding)

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...

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One Girl's Adventure Will Carry Us, May 23, 2002

By	Barbara Bell (San Carlos, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Velvet Room (Paperback)

I read The Velvet Room years ago, and lived out the adventures in the big stone house, in the velvet room, and in Bridget's garden. Returning recently to my mother's house, I needed some reading material for the plane ride home, and took this with me. I was entranced once again. To have your own special place to hide, to read, to have an adventure...a dream come true. As the excitement built up toward the end, I found myself riveted and couldn't put the book down.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Secret Place, July 7, 2004

By	Melissa McCauley (North Little Rock, AR) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.