Book of Elsewhere: The Shadows by Jacqueline West

The Hook: 

Olive and her parents move into an old Victorian house, complete with furniture and paintings on the walls.  Olive thinks this place is CREEPY—and that’s before she finds 3 talking cats still lingering around the old place.  Olive realizes there is something magical about this place—but is it a good magic or is it something evil and dark?  Then, she finds a pair of old glasses called spectacles in a dusty drawer.  These glasses allow her to travel INSIDE the house’s spooky paintings, to a place she calls “Elsewhere.”  At first, it’s kinda fun traveling back and forth but when she meets a sad, unusual kid in Elsewhere she starts to realize this mystery might be darker and more dangerous than she thought.  You see, there seems to be an evil power that wants to be rid of Olive—by any means necessary.  And Olive only has the cats and the unusual kid to help her.  Can she trust them?  You’ll have to read the book to find out.  This book is in our library but not in Sora or Axis 360.  It is 7 AR points. 

My Thoughts and Recommendations (Careful! There May Be Spoilers): 

Olive’s parents seem very remote. They are mathematicians and so smart and consumed with their careers and projects that they take little interest in Olive. She is mainly left on her own. Olive is pictured as rather lonely because of this. She is left to explore on her own. I love the 3 talking cats she meets. They are pompous and judgmental just like you think most cats are. Morton, the boy she meets trapped in the picture world (Elsewhere) is rather creepy and mysterious. You just know there is more to his story. That is evident in that this book is the first one in a series of 5. A good, creepy, fantasy book I think most 4th-7th graders will like. 4.1 stars.