Go to the Room of the Eyes

by Betty K. Erwin, Irene Burns (Illustrator)

A family moves into a big Victorian house and discovers clues to a treasure hunt.

Genres: Mystery, Childrens, Young Adult

180 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1969

About the author

Betty Erwin successfully combined the careers of author, physician and housewife. A graduate of the medical school of the University of Wisconsin, she practiced anesthesiology, first in Wisconsin and then in Seattle when her husband got a job as a mathemetician at the Boeing Company. The Erwins and their six children lived in a large house in an older section of Seattle.

Reviews

[Melody · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book made me late to ALA Midwinter. Where they give away lots and lots of free books.

I loved the Capitol Hill setting, especially because I was in Capitol Hill while I was reading it. I didn't find the house which is perhaps lucky because I would have felt compelled to ring the doorbell and demand that the current residents read this. I would possibly have demanded a tour as well.

The plot follows a satisfying arc as a large family of interesting kids moves into an old house and finds a trail of clues to something fabulous left by the last large family of interesting kids, a generation ago. It's also pretty funny- I was laughing aloud before I got to the second page. I liked the parents very much, and had no trouble telling all the kids apart. There's some odd stuff about integration and prejudice that felt entirely tacked-on, like a poster stuck over a hole in the wall. There's also some strange but compelling stuff about PTSD that feels less grafted on to me.

Recommended, unless you live in Seattle, in which case there's no excuse for not reading it.

[Susann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Laurie lent this to me, in preparation for my trip to Seattle. The book is good and odd. It's told in the first person plural, to represent the six kids in the family. There's a mystery to be solved, but the story is really about heterogenous city-living. These 1969 suburban kids move to Seattle and almost casually encounter school integration, stolen bikes, gangs in the Park, a home intruder and a somewhat shell-shocked Vietnam vet. The undercover cop disguised as a female nurse was a favorite character of mine.

[Bhan13 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book as a child, even more since I knew the area. Reading it aloud as an adult so many bits seemed true to real life, especially at that time. Some things are discussed in a way that they would not be if written about now, but the story is just as strong as ever, a real-life adventure that kids still love.
We wished the author had written more books like this, but apparently she was busy with her six children and big old house (just like in the book) and her job as a physician (!).

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

In the 1960s, the Evans family moves into the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle, into a big old house very different than the tame suburbian bungalows they’re used to. Nothing is what they’re used to; the diversity in the schools, the market, and everywhere else tells them that. They struggle to adjust to school and making friends. Then Susan finds an old treasure hunt clue reading “Go to the Room of the Eyes,” that sets them on a hunt set up by the kids who used to live in the house. What’s the treasure? And does it have anything to do with the gingerbread man doll they found, that some strange man keeps trying to steal from the youngest member of the clan?

I stumbled across this some years ago and was interested because I knew the neighborhood—I used to go to school right next to the cathedral that figures in one of the episodes, and my mother’s relatives lived there so she was familiar with it as well. On re-reading, I like it a lot less. The odd use of semi-first person with “we” is jarring; why not just use standard third person? The didactic attempts at incorporating diversity were probably important at the time, but are just offensive now, and the inclusion of the N word is just appalling. Then, there’s no real rhyme or reason to what goes on. There are too many characters with too many stories that have no throughline, and some of the episodes are just plain ridiculous. I would have loved a treasure hunt story, I guess more old-fashioned like an Enright book, but all the excess plot stuff kind of just made this a mess.

[Laurie]

Elizabeth Kuzina mentioned this book on maud-l, and when I looked into it further I discovered the setting was right down my street. Wendy and I found the house where the book takes place (former home of the author) and I was able to meet the author's daughter, who still lives in Seattle (Dinky in the book).
Oh, it's a good book, too.

[Wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spooky, clever, funny, and surreal. Contains some interesting views of politics of the late 1960s (discusses desegregation, gentrification, Vietnam PTSD). Intriguingly different, yet comfortably familiar.

[Jane Irish Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't think I ever read this as a child, which is somewhat surprising since it is set in Seattle. The Evens family moves into a large old house on Capital Hill, and the six children — ranging in age from four to about thirteen — discover a mystery. But the story is more than that, it is about making friends, despite differing backgrounds, I also found it rather sad, knowing just how much the Capital Hill neighborhood has changed over the years.

[Ms. Yingling · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loaned to me by a fellow collector of vintage books

[Christiane · Rating 2 out of 5]

A mystery/adventure story set in Seattle. Written in 1969 some of it is pretty dated (the parts about the African-American girl bused into the kids school are cringe-worthy today) and parts of it are pretty unbelievable, but I really liked the Seattle location and it was a nice slice-of-life book from 40 years ago.

[Beth Kaminske · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rereading this book as an adult, I realized it deserved a five start rating! The Setting is Seattle in 1969. The same time I was living and going to school there. I loved this book!

[Melissa Costa · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my first mysteries as a child and one I still adore! So wonderful.