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The Forgotten Door
Alternative cover edition for ISBN13: 0590431307
Far from home.
Jon has lost his memory. He can't remember who he is or where he came from. He only knows he fell through the forgotten door to the strange planet, Earth, and he is in great danger. Injured from his fall, he has to find someone who will help him.
Through his extraordinary power to read people's minds, Jon makes friends with a local family. But then rumors of his existence get back to the army and Jon realizes that the family is in danger, too. Time is running out. He must find the secret passage quickly or he may never get home again.
Far from home.
Jon has lost his memory. He can't remember who he is or where he came from. He only knows he fell through the forgotten door to the strange planet, Earth, and he is in great danger. Injured from his fall, he has to find someone who will help him.
Through his extraordinary power to read people's minds, Jon makes friends with a local family. But then rumors of his existence get back to the army and Jon realizes that the family is in danger, too. Time is running out. He must find the secret passage quickly or he may never get home again.
144 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1965
136 people are currently reading
2385 people want to read
About the author
Alexander Key
73 books99 followersLibrarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
An American science fiction writer, most of whose books were aimed at a juvenile audience. He became a nationally known illustrator before he became an author. After he began writing novels for young people, he moved his family to the North Carolina mountains, and most of his books include that wild and rugged landscape.
His novel Escape to Witch Mountain was made into a popular film in 1975 and again in 1995. His novel The Incredible Tide became a popular anime series, Future Boy Conan.
He is known for his portrayals of alien but human-like people who have psychic powers and a close communion with nature, and who can speak with animals. In The Strange White Doves, he professed his belief that animals are conscious and aware, and have subtle ways of communicating, perhaps via telepathy.
The protagonists of Key's books are often ostracized, feared, or persecuted due to their abilities or alien origin, and Key uses this as a clear metaphor for racism and other prejudice. In several of the books (most notably The Case of the Vanishing Boy,) Key portrays some sort of communal withdrawing from society with a group of like-minded individuals. - Wikipedia -
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
An American science fiction writer, most of whose books were aimed at a juvenile audience. He became a nationally known illustrator before he became an author. After he began writing novels for young people, he moved his family to the North Carolina mountains, and most of his books include that wild and rugged landscape.
His novel Escape to Witch Mountain was made into a popular film in 1975 and again in 1995. His novel The Incredible Tide became a popular anime series, Future Boy Conan.
He is known for his portrayals of alien but human-like people who have psychic powers and a close communion with nature, and who can speak with animals. In The Strange White Doves, he professed his belief that animals are conscious and aware, and have subtle ways of communicating, perhaps via telepathy.
The protagonists of Key's books are often ostracized, feared, or persecuted due to their abilities or alien origin, and Key uses this as a clear metaphor for racism and other prejudice. In several of the books (most notably The Case of the Vanishing Boy,) Key portrays some sort of communal withdrawing from society with a group of like-minded individuals. - Wikipedia -
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 365 reviews
July 6, 2011
This is absolutely my favorite book from childhood! I still have my copy from 4th grade. As my children grew, they read it and loved it, too. It is somewhat of a family treasure and must be returned to the shelf each time it is put down for a break.
The Forgotten Door is Science Fiction for children as it should be written. Key doesn't dismiss the struggle between good and evil and he openly addresses the problems that attend forming opinions without knowledge and judging someone negatively because they are different. I remember the emotions I experienced when reading this book as a little 9 year-old. I wanted Little Jon and the family that took him in to be safe. I wanted the townspeople to stop their fear-fueled hate and see Jon's goodness. I loved how he could communicate with animals and how his heart was filled with love and innocence.(I probably didn't know the words for what I was feeling back then, but I do remember the feelings.)
I read this book so many times as a child, I read it when I was a school teacher and assigned it to some of my students, then I read it again each time one of my children read it, and soon I will be reading it again as the little one I take care of is ready for it. It just never grows old.
The Forgotten Door is Science Fiction for children as it should be written. Key doesn't dismiss the struggle between good and evil and he openly addresses the problems that attend forming opinions without knowledge and judging someone negatively because they are different. I remember the emotions I experienced when reading this book as a little 9 year-old. I wanted Little Jon and the family that took him in to be safe. I wanted the townspeople to stop their fear-fueled hate and see Jon's goodness. I loved how he could communicate with animals and how his heart was filled with love and innocence.(I probably didn't know the words for what I was feeling back then, but I do remember the feelings.)
I read this book so many times as a child, I read it when I was a school teacher and assigned it to some of my students, then I read it again each time one of my children read it, and soon I will be reading it again as the little one I take care of is ready for it. It just never grows old.
September 15, 2016
Year after year, my students and I would read this book aloud (5th, 6th, and 7th grade). At the end of each year they would vote on their favorite book of the year and The Forgotten Door won every time. We would read it at the beginning of the year as a springboard for looking at how society treats those who are different. I highly recommend this book to teachers and students. This is one book that never will be outdated!
July 7, 2022
Little Jon tried to think. Everything was so unbelievably tangled in this world, with their laws and their money and their hates and their fighting for power. He could see only one solution that might help . . .
While gazing at the night-time sky with his people, a boy falls through a hole in the hillside, ending up in another world. What surprises the reader is that the world “Little John” falls into is the human one. Impaired by amnesia from the impact of crashing down among the rocks in a cave, Jon tries to navigate the mountainous new landscape he finds himself in. Initially he relies on the guidance of animals with whom he can communicate telepathically. However, even they cannot save him from a nasty first encounter with a gun-toting malevolent human, Gilby Pitts (and his equally repugnant wife, Emma), after he unwittingly walks onto their land.
Shortly after this, Jon, who has the ability to sense the emotions and thoughts of others, makes contact with benevolent humans. The Beans—Mary, Thomas, and their children, Brooks and Sally—stop their pick-up truck on a nearby country road and take the boy home with them. However, Jon’s unfortunate confrontation with the unsavoury Mr. and Mrs. Pitts has already set him on the wrong track. The couple quickly spread the rumour that a “wild boy” is on the loose, a foreign-looking, “unnatural,” and strangely dressed being. Soon the hateful pair will report him for breaking, entering, and robbing a summer home that Mr. Pitts is responsible for minding when its owner is away. Gilby, it turns out, is intimately acquainted with stealing, having done so much of it himself. Lying and blaming come just as easily to him. He’s a classic vindictive and ignorant local yokel.
The Beans quickly figure out that Jon is not of this world. While some objects (books and radios) and concepts (kindness) are familiar to him, others (like automobiles) are not. That laws (and a government to make them) should really be necessary to keep people in line and that humans should actually use animals for food and clothing are ideas both foreign and troubling to Jon. The Beans marvel at the boy’s ability to read minds, know others’ intentions, and effortlessly learn an entirely new language, English.
Thomas and his family willingly take on the job of protecting Jon from wrongful criminal charges. They recognize that they must help the boy recover his memory and get him back to the world he came from. Their mission becomes urgent when Jon’s ability to read minds is widely publicized by the media, ultimately coming to the attention of government agencies which recognize just how useful the boy could be for intelligence purposes.
Although it was originally published in 1965, only recently did I became aware of this novel for children. When I was a kid, readers’ advisory was not a service commonly offered by children’s and school librarians. They mainly ordered and shelved books and reminded you to keep quiet. If any adults knew of this novel back then, they unfortunately didn’t share that information with me. I’m glad to report that the novel has withstood the test of time. Yes, there are a few mentions of Jon’s “Indian” or “gypsy” appearance, which might get some present-day, zealous, politically correct library-book-purgers worked up—I’m well aware of Ontario teacher-librarians weeding excellent children’s literature, even classics, for even slighter reasons—but I see nothing in the book to warrant its removal from shelves. Considering a book within its historical context strikes me as a better approach than the removal or outright banning of it. Why throw a lovely baby (with a birthmark or two) out with the bath water?
This is a delightful and insightful book that illuminates and critiques some of the very big problems with human beings. Some might argue that the good characters are too thoroughly good and the bad, too entirely bad, but that’s the case with fairytales, which have also endured over time. This is an enjoyable, fast-paced, accessible little novel for kids and, in my opinion, it’s well worth reading.
While gazing at the night-time sky with his people, a boy falls through a hole in the hillside, ending up in another world. What surprises the reader is that the world “Little John” falls into is the human one. Impaired by amnesia from the impact of crashing down among the rocks in a cave, Jon tries to navigate the mountainous new landscape he finds himself in. Initially he relies on the guidance of animals with whom he can communicate telepathically. However, even they cannot save him from a nasty first encounter with a gun-toting malevolent human, Gilby Pitts (and his equally repugnant wife, Emma), after he unwittingly walks onto their land.
Shortly after this, Jon, who has the ability to sense the emotions and thoughts of others, makes contact with benevolent humans. The Beans—Mary, Thomas, and their children, Brooks and Sally—stop their pick-up truck on a nearby country road and take the boy home with them. However, Jon’s unfortunate confrontation with the unsavoury Mr. and Mrs. Pitts has already set him on the wrong track. The couple quickly spread the rumour that a “wild boy” is on the loose, a foreign-looking, “unnatural,” and strangely dressed being. Soon the hateful pair will report him for breaking, entering, and robbing a summer home that Mr. Pitts is responsible for minding when its owner is away. Gilby, it turns out, is intimately acquainted with stealing, having done so much of it himself. Lying and blaming come just as easily to him. He’s a classic vindictive and ignorant local yokel.
The Beans quickly figure out that Jon is not of this world. While some objects (books and radios) and concepts (kindness) are familiar to him, others (like automobiles) are not. That laws (and a government to make them) should really be necessary to keep people in line and that humans should actually use animals for food and clothing are ideas both foreign and troubling to Jon. The Beans marvel at the boy’s ability to read minds, know others’ intentions, and effortlessly learn an entirely new language, English.
Thomas and his family willingly take on the job of protecting Jon from wrongful criminal charges. They recognize that they must help the boy recover his memory and get him back to the world he came from. Their mission becomes urgent when Jon’s ability to read minds is widely publicized by the media, ultimately coming to the attention of government agencies which recognize just how useful the boy could be for intelligence purposes.
Although it was originally published in 1965, only recently did I became aware of this novel for children. When I was a kid, readers’ advisory was not a service commonly offered by children’s and school librarians. They mainly ordered and shelved books and reminded you to keep quiet. If any adults knew of this novel back then, they unfortunately didn’t share that information with me. I’m glad to report that the novel has withstood the test of time. Yes, there are a few mentions of Jon’s “Indian” or “gypsy” appearance, which might get some present-day, zealous, politically correct library-book-purgers worked up—I’m well aware of Ontario teacher-librarians weeding excellent children’s literature, even classics, for even slighter reasons—but I see nothing in the book to warrant its removal from shelves. Considering a book within its historical context strikes me as a better approach than the removal or outright banning of it. Why throw a lovely baby (with a birthmark or two) out with the bath water?
This is a delightful and insightful book that illuminates and critiques some of the very big problems with human beings. Some might argue that the good characters are too thoroughly good and the bad, too entirely bad, but that’s the case with fairytales, which have also endured over time. This is an enjoyable, fast-paced, accessible little novel for kids and, in my opinion, it’s well worth reading.
February 20, 2016
I hated the cover of this book as a kid. I remember seeing it in the school library, and thinking that it was some Twilight Zone type story, and way too scary. But there was an excerpt from it in our reading textbook, and I was hooked. I think I read it twice in a row. Love this book. Such a fun and different story! I need to get this for my kids. It would actually make a very good episode of something like Twilight Zone or Amazing Stories, heck, it would still be a great movie!
July 1, 2020
Such a great book, and one that probably couldn't be written today. What's the door? How does it work? What's Jon's world called?
Doesn't matter.
What matters is that he's there. He's different. And the Beans want to help him get home.
It reminds me of Escape to Witch Mountain, and I was thinking that it's a shame there's no movie of this!
My kids loved it, too!
Doesn't matter.
What matters is that he's there. He's different. And the Beans want to help him get home.
It reminds me of Escape to Witch Mountain, and I was thinking that it's a shame there's no movie of this!
My kids loved it, too!
May 30, 2024
Wow!!!! This is an extraordinarily valuable tableau of what is wrong with human mentality, exemplifying a much better way we should and can live. Alexander Key starts with valuing all life equally, as my heart has taught me to do. This book is far more profound than the science fiction cover indicates. Enriching lessons are complemented by a fun, original, adventure that is memorable. I did not know he wrote “Escape To Witch Mountain”! I felt exultant after watching it as a child and remembered it with haunting eeriness and delight. He also wrote its sequel, “Return From Witch Mountain”.
No doubt the second novel must be superior to its film. It pales from the famous first one but the great Christopher Lee, whom we just lost last year at age 93, co-starred. It isn’t mentioned among his many credits but he has a clear role in it. “The Forgotten Door” came out in 1965, three years before the famous novel, which I solely knew as a film: “Escape To Witch Mountain”, 1968. You see from whence its marooned alien premise germinated. This unforgettable adventure of 1965 can’t help but have us groaning over the small-mindedness of our species’ worst. It lifts our hearts to a glowing hum: that many of us have it right and must not allow anyone to bring us down!
Gosh, this is worth reading! If you have children: who better, to show it is possible to think well outside of the way things are? I am so encouraged to know that years before my birth, an author like Alexander Key so simply conveyed this message for children. Youngsters reading it grow up with simple values to weigh, about what is right and wrong. It leaves us with the emboldened feeling that habits can be overturned.
No doubt the second novel must be superior to its film. It pales from the famous first one but the great Christopher Lee, whom we just lost last year at age 93, co-starred. It isn’t mentioned among his many credits but he has a clear role in it. “The Forgotten Door” came out in 1965, three years before the famous novel, which I solely knew as a film: “Escape To Witch Mountain”, 1968. You see from whence its marooned alien premise germinated. This unforgettable adventure of 1965 can’t help but have us groaning over the small-mindedness of our species’ worst. It lifts our hearts to a glowing hum: that many of us have it right and must not allow anyone to bring us down!
Gosh, this is worth reading! If you have children: who better, to show it is possible to think well outside of the way things are? I am so encouraged to know that years before my birth, an author like Alexander Key so simply conveyed this message for children. Youngsters reading it grow up with simple values to weigh, about what is right and wrong. It leaves us with the emboldened feeling that habits can be overturned.
January 28, 2019
Does anybody remember the old reading books they used to pass out in elementary school? It was a big, fat, textbook sized chunk of awesomeness that the teachers handed out every year, along with math and language books. The reading books were stuffed full of poems — mostly boring — and stories and snippets of books that were intended to broaden our horizons.
Mostly they probably did. I don’t remember much of them. I was that nerdy kid who took the book home and read it cover to cover in the first few weeks of school and then thought it was boring the rest of the year when the teacher assigned us to read things from it.
Except for two things. I remember clearly two distinct pieces of literature that I found in reading books. Neither of them were being used, probably because they had something good in them. Our school was giving away old reading books to anybody who wanted them. I’m pretty sure I was the only one who took some home.
These were old books. Ones that hadn’t been used in years. I took two of the same book home to share with my brothers. We found in those books the poem by A. A. Milne about the Knight Whose Armor Didn’t Squeak and I love that poem still.
The fascinating things was that, printed in the pages or one of those reading books (though not the other, even though they were identical in every other way), was the entire text of Alexander Key’s The Forgotten Door.
It was nearly a hundred pages long with illustrations and everything.
Alexander Key also created the source from which Disney made their movie Return to Witch Mountain — which, despite it’s name, is not a sequel. The movie is awesome and deals with many of the same themes that The Forgotten Door does.
I didn’t know any of that at the time. I didn’t know who Alexander Key was. I had not seen Return to Witch Mountain. I just read the first page of the story, expecting to skip it. After all, who wants to read a story that’s a hundred pages? (I read plenty of longer books, when I’m reading a story I like it short.)
I was completely entranced in the first paragraph.
I read breathless as Little Jon stumbled through the woods, his memory gone and his world far away.
The preaching about people being kind of monstrous is a little heavy handed now. The overt references to nasty people comes across as a little cynical and there is definitely a message in this book. However, all of that doesn’t matter because this book is one of the greatest.
It’s not a book of action. It’s not a book of confrontation. Little Jon wants to avoid those things and Alexander Key seems to be arguing that he is better off for it. This is a book that favors learning and growth over fighting and arguing.
Little Jon has fallen through a portal into our world. He lost his memory when he fell so he doesn’t know how to get home. Using his ability to read minds he befriends a family that will be kind to him and help him. In the process he runs afoul of racist and bigoted country folk that see his presence as an opportunity for nastiness.
The family that Little Jon adopts — Thomas and Mary Bean and their two children — are the only nice people in the book. As a child this made perfect sense. Of course all the people are mean. As an adult I realized that there are actually reasons for that. Little Jon picks up little bits about them that drop hints as to why they hate him, or hate Thomas Bean. It’s not much and it’s hardly a whole back story — which would have turned this into a Tom Clancy novel — but it’s enough to let the reader know that these aren’t just an angry mob of backwoods country folk that are intolerant of different people. Some of them are that. Some of them have traumatic or personal issues in their past that keep them from seeing how bad their decisions are.
Little Jon comes from a world where much of our technology isn’t needed. He knows nothing of automobiles and weapons but he is familiar with television and radio (this was written in the 1950’s so excuse the lack of computers and internet). The reason for that is his people’s ability to read minds. When Thomas and Mary Bean discover his ability they jump immediately to the conclusion that of course, if people could read minds they would stop having wars because there would be nothing to fight over.
I found that to be such a non-cynical view that it kind of shocked me momentarily. In most stories about reading minds it is terrible. It is better to not know the little things that people sensor from their own speech each day. I suppose Key is showing us the end result. If all of us could read minds then perhaps we would learn to only think the kind thoughts as well as say them. I imagine the beginning of that kind of world would be pretty awful for a while, though.
I find it completely engrossing to this day. I love it like I love few other books. If you haven’t read The Forgotten Door you need to. It really is that good.
Mostly they probably did. I don’t remember much of them. I was that nerdy kid who took the book home and read it cover to cover in the first few weeks of school and then thought it was boring the rest of the year when the teacher assigned us to read things from it.
Except for two things. I remember clearly two distinct pieces of literature that I found in reading books. Neither of them were being used, probably because they had something good in them. Our school was giving away old reading books to anybody who wanted them. I’m pretty sure I was the only one who took some home.
These were old books. Ones that hadn’t been used in years. I took two of the same book home to share with my brothers. We found in those books the poem by A. A. Milne about the Knight Whose Armor Didn’t Squeak and I love that poem still.
The fascinating things was that, printed in the pages or one of those reading books (though not the other, even though they were identical in every other way), was the entire text of Alexander Key’s The Forgotten Door.
It was nearly a hundred pages long with illustrations and everything.
Alexander Key also created the source from which Disney made their movie Return to Witch Mountain — which, despite it’s name, is not a sequel. The movie is awesome and deals with many of the same themes that The Forgotten Door does.
I didn’t know any of that at the time. I didn’t know who Alexander Key was. I had not seen Return to Witch Mountain. I just read the first page of the story, expecting to skip it. After all, who wants to read a story that’s a hundred pages? (I read plenty of longer books, when I’m reading a story I like it short.)
I was completely entranced in the first paragraph.
I read breathless as Little Jon stumbled through the woods, his memory gone and his world far away.
The preaching about people being kind of monstrous is a little heavy handed now. The overt references to nasty people comes across as a little cynical and there is definitely a message in this book. However, all of that doesn’t matter because this book is one of the greatest.
It’s not a book of action. It’s not a book of confrontation. Little Jon wants to avoid those things and Alexander Key seems to be arguing that he is better off for it. This is a book that favors learning and growth over fighting and arguing.
Little Jon has fallen through a portal into our world. He lost his memory when he fell so he doesn’t know how to get home. Using his ability to read minds he befriends a family that will be kind to him and help him. In the process he runs afoul of racist and bigoted country folk that see his presence as an opportunity for nastiness.
The family that Little Jon adopts — Thomas and Mary Bean and their two children — are the only nice people in the book. As a child this made perfect sense. Of course all the people are mean. As an adult I realized that there are actually reasons for that. Little Jon picks up little bits about them that drop hints as to why they hate him, or hate Thomas Bean. It’s not much and it’s hardly a whole back story — which would have turned this into a Tom Clancy novel — but it’s enough to let the reader know that these aren’t just an angry mob of backwoods country folk that are intolerant of different people. Some of them are that. Some of them have traumatic or personal issues in their past that keep them from seeing how bad their decisions are.
Little Jon comes from a world where much of our technology isn’t needed. He knows nothing of automobiles and weapons but he is familiar with television and radio (this was written in the 1950’s so excuse the lack of computers and internet). The reason for that is his people’s ability to read minds. When Thomas and Mary Bean discover his ability they jump immediately to the conclusion that of course, if people could read minds they would stop having wars because there would be nothing to fight over.
I found that to be such a non-cynical view that it kind of shocked me momentarily. In most stories about reading minds it is terrible. It is better to not know the little things that people sensor from their own speech each day. I suppose Key is showing us the end result. If all of us could read minds then perhaps we would learn to only think the kind thoughts as well as say them. I imagine the beginning of that kind of world would be pretty awful for a while, though.
I find it completely engrossing to this day. I love it like I love few other books. If you haven’t read The Forgotten Door you need to. It really is that good.
November 7, 2025
Loved this when I was a kid. The edition I read is currently the default so I'll leave it. This time, in Rolla, I found a cheap Scholastic. But hey, much better than not finding... definitely worth keeping! Still smart, still thrilling, and, yes, I still want to go to Jon's world. Or at least be related to Miss Josie. A tiny bit melodramatic maybe, and maybe not for the more sophisticated reader... probably just about right for fans of The Iron Giant.
ETA: forgot to add the quote I marked, one of several that reveals how smart this book is for a young reader. The father explains:
"Actually, there are some pretty nice people in the world--only there aren't enough of them. It's the troublemaking kind that keeps all the rest of us on the jump, and makes things the way they are. Maybe nature intended it that way--to keep prodding us so we'll learn faster."
---
I'm so glad that I kept that beat-up old paperback so I could enjoy this yet again. I wonder if one of the reasons that I liked it so much was that there were almost as many females as males, and all had a variety of strengths and talents to contribute... and that was not common for books back then....
It's a fast-paced adventure, a quick read. I do recommend you make time for it if you have any interest in classic or juvenile science fiction, or in juvenile social commentary.
(Hmm.... in that sense it reminds me of another old favorite of mine, not SF, The Pushcart War.)
ETA: forgot to add the quote I marked, one of several that reveals how smart this book is for a young reader. The father explains:
"Actually, there are some pretty nice people in the world--only there aren't enough of them. It's the troublemaking kind that keeps all the rest of us on the jump, and makes things the way they are. Maybe nature intended it that way--to keep prodding us so we'll learn faster."
---
I'm so glad that I kept that beat-up old paperback so I could enjoy this yet again. I wonder if one of the reasons that I liked it so much was that there were almost as many females as males, and all had a variety of strengths and talents to contribute... and that was not common for books back then....
It's a fast-paced adventure, a quick read. I do recommend you make time for it if you have any interest in classic or juvenile science fiction, or in juvenile social commentary.
(Hmm.... in that sense it reminds me of another old favorite of mine, not SF, The Pushcart War.)
October 24, 2009
Sometimes when I'm reading or watching a great movie, I get sucked into the story and when it's over and I come up for air, it's as if the world had stopped those hours spent enjoying myself. This is how I felt the first time I read the Forgotten Door. I was drawn into the story. It felt as if I had been surrounded by silk, as if in a web, but I was comfortable. It was quiet. The Forgotten Door had an impact on me as far as justice and family loyalty is concerned. It was almost surreal. I even loved the ending. I read that portion of the book several times, feeling peace and acceptance. I also felt sadness and great loss because I couldn't become a part of this new world.
September 15, 2009
Alexander Key, The Forgotten Door (Apple, 1965)
Somehow, I never got around to reading this when I was actually in elementary school, so I figured it was time to do so now. And now I know why I never got around to reading it in elementary school.
Little Jon is an alien. Of what sort we're never exactly told. All we know is that one night, he falls through a door in his world and winds up in a cave in ours, giving him the perfect outsider perspective to be critical about all those horrible things humans do like, you know, eating meat. He finds a sympathetic family, and once they believe his story, they have to find a way to get him back to his place before he's locked up by some more of those evil human entities like the corrupt justice system.
This had the chance to be a bang-up story, but Key's incessant moralizing hamstrings it at every turn. All of his points have the subtlety of a steamroller, and after you encounter one, you're likely to feel the same as you had had you encountered said construction equipment. Key is a pretty good writer when he just tells the story, but he has to stop at least once a chapter and moralize, and it gets really old really fast. **
Somehow, I never got around to reading this when I was actually in elementary school, so I figured it was time to do so now. And now I know why I never got around to reading it in elementary school.
Little Jon is an alien. Of what sort we're never exactly told. All we know is that one night, he falls through a door in his world and winds up in a cave in ours, giving him the perfect outsider perspective to be critical about all those horrible things humans do like, you know, eating meat. He finds a sympathetic family, and once they believe his story, they have to find a way to get him back to his place before he's locked up by some more of those evil human entities like the corrupt justice system.
This had the chance to be a bang-up story, but Key's incessant moralizing hamstrings it at every turn. All of his points have the subtlety of a steamroller, and after you encounter one, you're likely to feel the same as you had had you encountered said construction equipment. Key is a pretty good writer when he just tells the story, but he has to stop at least once a chapter and moralize, and it gets really old really fast. **
February 25, 2023
To all those who like the starlight, and wonder about other places and other people.
This is a reread, I think. Based on the age and type of book it is, a scholastic book as sold in school book fairs, it has been about 55 or 56 years since I might have read it. Inside the cover I found my name written and below that the name of my oldest son. Both names look to written by boys about 8-10 years old. Finding my sons name indicates he might have read this when close to the same age as I was on my first read. I hope so, it is the type of book young people should read.
This is a story well written and well put together. It illustrates both good and bad human traits, in a way young people can understand without being preached to. Of course, in this case good over comes evil and that is okay. Let kids be a little older to learn that many times in life good loses to evil.
This copy while still intact, does show its age and I’ll be passing it on to my grandson. I hope he reads it and likes as much as I do.
This is a reread, I think. Based on the age and type of book it is, a scholastic book as sold in school book fairs, it has been about 55 or 56 years since I might have read it. Inside the cover I found my name written and below that the name of my oldest son. Both names look to written by boys about 8-10 years old. Finding my sons name indicates he might have read this when close to the same age as I was on my first read. I hope so, it is the type of book young people should read.
This is a story well written and well put together. It illustrates both good and bad human traits, in a way young people can understand without being preached to. Of course, in this case good over comes evil and that is okay. Let kids be a little older to learn that many times in life good loses to evil.
This copy while still intact, does show its age and I’ll be passing it on to my grandson. I hope he reads it and likes as much as I do.
February 16, 2016
I really enjoyed this when I was young, but some time between when I was ten and sixteen, a robber snuck into my house and substituted it with a very similar book - same cover and everything - but now with an insufferable plotline, ham-handed moralizing, and eye-rollingly stock characters.
3/5. Ten year old me gives this 4 stars; wizened, elderly me gives 2.
3/5. Ten year old me gives this 4 stars; wizened, elderly me gives 2.
July 2, 2020
I have just re-re-re-re-read this one and I think it deserves a bit more than I said about it last time. This book is one I loved as a child and I will never forget it so I didn't write that much about it because I will never need a review to jog my memory about the story.
Little Jon is with his people on the side of a hill at night, watching the falling stars, then he falls into an old mechanism that he remembers briefly before he is knocked out. When he awakens he is somewhere in American bushland and has no memory of himself or how he got there.
As Jon learns about himself and try to remember things, so do the family who take him in learn about him and it is an interesting dynamic in which the story grows, since the readers know he is from another world, he suspects it early on and as the Beans come to accept it the story gets tense and quite grim.
This book tries - in it's own, 1960's way - the question what is good in society and what some of our underlying values are compared to what, perhaps, they should be. It has a fine message for a child really, that decency and honesty are more important that wealth and fame and it delivers this message with a really exciting, if short story. Not quite suited for all ages, it is short and designed for children. However any adult like me who does not mind children's books should like it. It is well written (better written than a lot of modern award winners in my estimation), has a very tight, well designed plot, likable characters and a story line with an decent proportion of tension thrown in. The ending is excellent.
Very glad I own this book and can keep re-reading it as desired.
2014. Just re-read one of the books of my childhood. The Forgotten Door is one of the first books that got me into Sci-fi I think.
There is relatively little 'science' in the story concept, at least by today's standards. There is a whole heap of social commentary however. The social commentary is suited to a child's reading level and comprehension and the vistas of imagination that are put forward by the forgotten door are, I think, suitable to all ages.
Little Jon is with his people on the side of a hill at night, watching the falling stars, then he falls into an old mechanism that he remembers briefly before he is knocked out. When he awakens he is somewhere in American bushland and has no memory of himself or how he got there.
As Jon learns about himself and try to remember things, so do the family who take him in learn about him and it is an interesting dynamic in which the story grows, since the readers know he is from another world, he suspects it early on and as the Beans come to accept it the story gets tense and quite grim.
This book tries - in it's own, 1960's way - the question what is good in society and what some of our underlying values are compared to what, perhaps, they should be. It has a fine message for a child really, that decency and honesty are more important that wealth and fame and it delivers this message with a really exciting, if short story. Not quite suited for all ages, it is short and designed for children. However any adult like me who does not mind children's books should like it. It is well written (better written than a lot of modern award winners in my estimation), has a very tight, well designed plot, likable characters and a story line with an decent proportion of tension thrown in. The ending is excellent.
Very glad I own this book and can keep re-reading it as desired.
2014. Just re-read one of the books of my childhood. The Forgotten Door is one of the first books that got me into Sci-fi I think.
There is relatively little 'science' in the story concept, at least by today's standards. There is a whole heap of social commentary however. The social commentary is suited to a child's reading level and comprehension and the vistas of imagination that are put forward by the forgotten door are, I think, suitable to all ages.
March 6, 2010
This is a wonderful story about a boy from an Earth-like planet who has fallen through a door into our own world. Little Jon is able to communicate with animals and can read people's minds. He has no concept of money, war, theft, automobiles, and many other things we take for granted (but he is very familiar with books!).
Jon is taken in by a good, sympathetic family who shelter and protect him and want to help him find his way home, while he is threatened by others who are afraid of him because he is different and "unnatural."
It's an exciting, magical tale of adventure that has a strong moral and ethical basis without being preachy. Highly recommended for kids and young-at-heart adults.
Jon is taken in by a good, sympathetic family who shelter and protect him and want to help him find his way home, while he is threatened by others who are afraid of him because he is different and "unnatural."
It's an exciting, magical tale of adventure that has a strong moral and ethical basis without being preachy. Highly recommended for kids and young-at-heart adults.
Read
July 23, 2010If I recall correctly, I read this in a period in my early twenties when I realized that I'd missed a lot by not reading children's books as a child. At the time I didn't connect the author with Escape to Witch Mountain, which latter I connected, quite properly, with Zenna Henderson's People stories.
I realize now that Key never really dealt with an issue which weighed heavily on Zenna Henderson's mind: what moral responsibility do those lucky enough to be born in privileged societies have? Henderson tended to think in terms of 'of those to whom much is given, much is expected', though she struggled with the question of how this accords with the dignity and independence of the less fortunate. Key tended to argue that the door was forgotten for a reason, and the kindest thing the wealthy peoples could do for humans was to leave them to suffer without scarifying contrasts.
I'm not saying that Henderson was right, and there's no doubt she tended to be quite cruel in her attempts at therapy. But I seriously doubt the whole 'gated community' idea of civilization, which Key seems to have accepted without concern.
I realize now that Key never really dealt with an issue which weighed heavily on Zenna Henderson's mind: what moral responsibility do those lucky enough to be born in privileged societies have? Henderson tended to think in terms of 'of those to whom much is given, much is expected', though she struggled with the question of how this accords with the dignity and independence of the less fortunate. Key tended to argue that the door was forgotten for a reason, and the kindest thing the wealthy peoples could do for humans was to leave them to suffer without scarifying contrasts.
I'm not saying that Henderson was right, and there's no doubt she tended to be quite cruel in her attempts at therapy. But I seriously doubt the whole 'gated community' idea of civilization, which Key seems to have accepted without concern.
January 31, 2015
I remember buying this book from the ARROW Book Club flyer when I was in elementary school. I think it cost 35-cents for the paperback back then. When this became available for 99-cents for my Kindle, I could not resist. How fun to revisit this story so many years later. I remember all the feelings of intrigue and foreboding that this book evoked. It was a great feeling of nostalgia to read it again.
to-read-own
January 17, 20162/18/15 Kindle Daily Deal $1.99.
April 28, 2021
To all those who like the starlight, and wonder about other places and other people.
Published in 1965 and written by the author of Escape to Witch Mountain, The Forgotten Door shines in brilliance that is not lost to the decades. Within these mysterious pages is the yonder hope for a better, more civilized society. From courtroom proceedings and neighborly dishonesty to shooting stars and the human/animal relationship, the lost simplicity of childhood is found by opening The Forgotten Door.
Favorite Passages:
He is Lost and Found
At the moment it happened, the first shooting stars were crossing the sky - they were beginning to stream across like strings of jewels flung from another planet - and everyone was watching them. The smaller children were exclaiming in delight, while the older ones stood silent and enthralled. Here on the hill, where the valley people often came to watch the glittering night unfold, you could see the whole magic sweep around you, and you felt close to everything in the heavens. Other people, you knew, were standing on other hills on other worlds, watching even as you watched.
He Learns a New Language
"Things must be - very wrong if - if truth can cause trouble," he replied simply.
________
". . . you're a strange boy from nowhere, who has curious clothes that won't tear, and curious ideas that don't fit . . ."
He Makes a Discovery
"Anyway, a thing shouldn't have two values."
"Two values?" said Thomas, raising his eyebrows.
"Yes, sir," he said seriously. "You're judging the value of my knife by the amount of money you could sell it for. But that has nothing to do with its real value."
________
Suddenly he turned, peering out of the back window as heard Rascal barking. Rascal was lost too, chained in a world where everything seemed wrong.
He Remembers Something
Lying awake in the night beside Brooks, he searched again for the hidden thought. It seemed important, the most important of all the hidden thoughts; but the harder he searched for it, the farther it seemed to retreat from him.
________
For the first time since his arrival he saw the wonder of the stars. Here in the open pasture, above the black bowl of the surrounding mountains, they blazed in uncounted millions. Even as he stared at them, one streaked like a flaming jewel across the sky.
A shooting star! There had been shooting stars when - something happened. Shooting stars - and a door.
________
"I suddenly fell into something - and when I woke up I was here on a mountain, and it was morning."
________
"Why shore, podner, we'll jest go prospectin' together."
He Is Recognized
It was such a simple thing. A way of thinking. But it was like so many other things that should be simple - like agreeing on something that was right, instead of trying to make it right some other way.
________
"The road's much closer from here. We just turn left - north. Oh - I know this place! Yonder's where I first saw the doe."
________
"You say you crawled - from where?"
"It was from a sort of dark place."
"You mean a cave?"
. . .
There was a ledge. And there was a break in the strata, marking what seemed to be a shallow cave behind the tangle. Near the mouth of it water trickled into a small pool.
"This is the place!" Little Jon cried. "I drank from the spring - see the marks of my hands?"
He Is Accused
How strange, he thought, . . . that people here would want to make life such an ugly sort of game. Somewhere, wherever he had come from, there couldn't be this ugliness, or any of these secret hates and desires that darkened everything . . .
________
There were old hates in Anderson Bush, ugly things of the past that made the man the way he was now.
________
"That's 'im! You cut his hair an' changed his clothes, Tom Bean, but you ain't hidin' what he is! He's that same wild boy, an' there's something might queer . . . "
"He ain't natural!" muttered Gilby Pitts.
"He sure ain't," said Angus Macklin, backing away. "I can see it in his face! Anything that runs with wild critters - an' jumps like 'em . . . "
Thomas burst out in angry disgust. "For Pete's sake, Jon's not going to bite any of you - but it would serve you right if he did!"
________
"Let me have the light a minute," said Thomas. "I thought I saw something gleam way over in yonder."
He Is Summoned
"You're crazy as a hoot owl!"
________
Shadows of thoughts seemed to be crowding into the background of his mind. While he waited for them to take form, he drew out his knife and idly began to carve a twisted piece of root that lay near the cave entrance.
The thought shadows refused to take form that morning, but the piece of root did.
________
"Thomas, did you know we've been hiding a wild boy that spits fire, jumps a hundred feet, and eats live rattlesnakes? That's how the tale has grown. I'd like to choke Gilby - and stuff Anderson Bush down his throat!"
He Is Threatened
"Some of those people are moonshiners. They could be dangerous."
________
Strange how his fingers seemed to remember things that his mind couldn't. But the thought shadows were always there. Soon they would take form. He was sure of that.
He Is in Danger
Everything was so unbelievably tangled on this world, with their laws and their money and their hates and their fighting for power.
He Escapes
________
"I don't remember what it's like where I came from," he told them. "But I know it isn't like this. "
________
Published in 1965 and written by the author of Escape to Witch Mountain, The Forgotten Door shines in brilliance that is not lost to the decades. Within these mysterious pages is the yonder hope for a better, more civilized society. From courtroom proceedings and neighborly dishonesty to shooting stars and the human/animal relationship, the lost simplicity of childhood is found by opening The Forgotten Door.
Favorite Passages:
He is Lost and Found
At the moment it happened, the first shooting stars were crossing the sky - they were beginning to stream across like strings of jewels flung from another planet - and everyone was watching them. The smaller children were exclaiming in delight, while the older ones stood silent and enthralled. Here on the hill, where the valley people often came to watch the glittering night unfold, you could see the whole magic sweep around you, and you felt close to everything in the heavens. Other people, you knew, were standing on other hills on other worlds, watching even as you watched.
He Learns a New Language
"Things must be - very wrong if - if truth can cause trouble," he replied simply.
________
". . . you're a strange boy from nowhere, who has curious clothes that won't tear, and curious ideas that don't fit . . ."
He Makes a Discovery
"Anyway, a thing shouldn't have two values."
"Two values?" said Thomas, raising his eyebrows.
"Yes, sir," he said seriously. "You're judging the value of my knife by the amount of money you could sell it for. But that has nothing to do with its real value."
________
Suddenly he turned, peering out of the back window as heard Rascal barking. Rascal was lost too, chained in a world where everything seemed wrong.
He Remembers Something
Lying awake in the night beside Brooks, he searched again for the hidden thought. It seemed important, the most important of all the hidden thoughts; but the harder he searched for it, the farther it seemed to retreat from him.
________
For the first time since his arrival he saw the wonder of the stars. Here in the open pasture, above the black bowl of the surrounding mountains, they blazed in uncounted millions. Even as he stared at them, one streaked like a flaming jewel across the sky.
A shooting star! There had been shooting stars when - something happened. Shooting stars - and a door.
________
"I suddenly fell into something - and when I woke up I was here on a mountain, and it was morning."
________
"Why shore, podner, we'll jest go prospectin' together."
He Is Recognized
It was such a simple thing. A way of thinking. But it was like so many other things that should be simple - like agreeing on something that was right, instead of trying to make it right some other way.
________
"The road's much closer from here. We just turn left - north. Oh - I know this place! Yonder's where I first saw the doe."
________
"You say you crawled - from where?"
"It was from a sort of dark place."
"You mean a cave?"
. . .
There was a ledge. And there was a break in the strata, marking what seemed to be a shallow cave behind the tangle. Near the mouth of it water trickled into a small pool.
"This is the place!" Little Jon cried. "I drank from the spring - see the marks of my hands?"
He Is Accused
How strange, he thought, . . . that people here would want to make life such an ugly sort of game. Somewhere, wherever he had come from, there couldn't be this ugliness, or any of these secret hates and desires that darkened everything . . .
________
There were old hates in Anderson Bush, ugly things of the past that made the man the way he was now.
________
"That's 'im! You cut his hair an' changed his clothes, Tom Bean, but you ain't hidin' what he is! He's that same wild boy, an' there's something might queer . . . "
"He ain't natural!" muttered Gilby Pitts.
"He sure ain't," said Angus Macklin, backing away. "I can see it in his face! Anything that runs with wild critters - an' jumps like 'em . . . "
Thomas burst out in angry disgust. "For Pete's sake, Jon's not going to bite any of you - but it would serve you right if he did!"
________
"Let me have the light a minute," said Thomas. "I thought I saw something gleam way over in yonder."
He Is Summoned
"You're crazy as a hoot owl!"
________
Shadows of thoughts seemed to be crowding into the background of his mind. While he waited for them to take form, he drew out his knife and idly began to carve a twisted piece of root that lay near the cave entrance.
The thought shadows refused to take form that morning, but the piece of root did.
________
"Thomas, did you know we've been hiding a wild boy that spits fire, jumps a hundred feet, and eats live rattlesnakes? That's how the tale has grown. I'd like to choke Gilby - and stuff Anderson Bush down his throat!"
He Is Threatened
"Some of those people are moonshiners. They could be dangerous."
________
Strange how his fingers seemed to remember things that his mind couldn't. But the thought shadows were always there. Soon they would take form. He was sure of that.
He Is in Danger
Everything was so unbelievably tangled on this world, with their laws and their money and their hates and their fighting for power.
He Escapes
________
"I don't remember what it's like where I came from," he told them. "But I know it isn't like this. "
________
March 28, 2008
It had been quite a while since I read this, and I pulled it out as something quick to read outloud. While it didn't hold up as well as I would have imagined it would, it was still enjoyable and suspenseful. Re-reading it again after all this time, I wanted to learn more about Little John's home world and get a sense of the characters of the family that took him in.
April 21, 2008
Alexander Key is a fantastic author. I've never read a book of his that I haven't liked.
His books are often out of print. I buy them on amazon used. Sometimes public libraries have them.
His books are often out of print. I buy them on amazon used. Sometimes public libraries have them.
Want to read
October 26, 2025** In looking for another book, I found this one that I 1. do not remember buying, 2. was not on ANY list I own, and 3. I do not know why I was even drawn to it, but here we are. ::SHRUG:: **
RWYO: 2.18.2015
RWYO: 2.18.2015
September 28, 2025
And I cynically pulled an '80s Scholastic paperback with a terrible cover out of a Little Free Library and ended up with this masterpiece in my hands because the Scholastic era was a land of many contrasts.
What a beautiful book. All the rage and cynicism, the machinations to pull Little Jon away from the Beans, especially at the end when the woman representing the foster system is absolutely sure that that's what's best for him, that was all a bit hard to take when I just wanted to be in Little Jon's uncomplicated world of kindness, respect, gratitude, nature, talking to animals, leaping through fields, spaceships. That's the world I want to read about, but the glimmer that Little Jon brought with him was enough for me, and the Beans, who prove that good people can still be interesting. I liked that Little Jon's family was looking for him and eventually opened the door. It made me realize that characters falling through wormholes and trying to find their own way home is an isolating trope; of course this kid has people who love him on the other side who are also doing the work. Everyone should. This was an absolutely beautiful book and I'm so glad I grabbed it.
What a beautiful book. All the rage and cynicism, the machinations to pull Little Jon away from the Beans, especially at the end when the woman representing the foster system is absolutely sure that that's what's best for him, that was all a bit hard to take when I just wanted to be in Little Jon's uncomplicated world of kindness, respect, gratitude, nature, talking to animals, leaping through fields, spaceships. That's the world I want to read about, but the glimmer that Little Jon brought with him was enough for me, and the Beans, who prove that good people can still be interesting. I liked that Little Jon's family was looking for him and eventually opened the door. It made me realize that characters falling through wormholes and trying to find their own way home is an isolating trope; of course this kid has people who love him on the other side who are also doing the work. Everyone should. This was an absolutely beautiful book and I'm so glad I grabbed it.
August 16, 2011
Jon doesn't remember what happened, or who he is, or much of anything for that matter. But he knows he is somewhere strange. When Jon comes upon the Bean family who takes him in, he realize just how strange of a place this is, and that he is not from here. He's from another world, but has no idea how he got here or how to get back.
Trouble starts when Mr. Pitts says he is the boy he caught one night and soon the whole town is full of stories of the 'wild boy'. Things become worse when people start coming after Jon to take him away from the Beans. What will Jon and the Bean family do? Will Jon make it back to his world?
When I first started reading this, I couldn't get into it. But after the first chapter it gets really interesting. You want to know more about Jon, where he's from and what it's like there. It is apparently a lot different than our world and honestly sounds like a wonderful place. I wish I lived there!
Jon is confused by the many things the people in our world do; the need for money, killing and the feelings of hate and anger that others so often show. These feelings plus those of fear Jon learns a lot about because he is different and people - except for the Bean family - do not like him and it is because he is different.
I think the book shows a lot of what really goes on in our world. People are often afraid of what's different, and without really getting to know it - or a person - they start to hate and attack. Although this book is from the 1960s, it still shows a lot of how our world is today.
I thought the book was really good - and characters such as Jon, the Bean family, Miss Josie are very likeable. The story is suspenseful, you don't want anything bad happening to Jon or the Bean family, but yet they are going through so much and you aren't sure what exactly is going to happen.
I enjoyed this book much more than I thought I would. It's definitely something I'd read again.
Trouble starts when Mr. Pitts says he is the boy he caught one night and soon the whole town is full of stories of the 'wild boy'. Things become worse when people start coming after Jon to take him away from the Beans. What will Jon and the Bean family do? Will Jon make it back to his world?
When I first started reading this, I couldn't get into it. But after the first chapter it gets really interesting. You want to know more about Jon, where he's from and what it's like there. It is apparently a lot different than our world and honestly sounds like a wonderful place. I wish I lived there!
Jon is confused by the many things the people in our world do; the need for money, killing and the feelings of hate and anger that others so often show. These feelings plus those of fear Jon learns a lot about because he is different and people - except for the Bean family - do not like him and it is because he is different.
I think the book shows a lot of what really goes on in our world. People are often afraid of what's different, and without really getting to know it - or a person - they start to hate and attack. Although this book is from the 1960s, it still shows a lot of how our world is today.
I thought the book was really good - and characters such as Jon, the Bean family, Miss Josie are very likeable. The story is suspenseful, you don't want anything bad happening to Jon or the Bean family, but yet they are going through so much and you aren't sure what exactly is going to happen.
I enjoyed this book much more than I thought I would. It's definitely something I'd read again.
Read
January 8, 2011"[Thomas Bean] drew forth the knife and clip [belonging to Jon, the strange boy]... As he studied them again, he began to whistle softly through his teeth.
"'Out with it,' said Mary [his wife]. 'Are the gems [set in the handle and clip] real?'
"'They're real. I can't quite believe it. Jon, have you any idea what these things are worth?'
"Little Jon looked at him intently. 'They are not worth what you think they are, Mr. Bean. You're thinking they're worth more than your house, and everything in the shop - but that's all wrong. Anyway, a thing shouldn't have two values.'
"'TWO values?' said Thomas, raising his eyebrows.
"'Yes, sir,' he said seriously. 'You're judging the value of my knife by the amount of money you could sell it for. But that has nothing to do with its real value.'
"Thomas whistled softly. 'I can't figure you out, Jon. It's a good thing we're not in business together, or we'd never make a profit.'
"'But - doesn't the idea of a profit seem wrong?'
"'I'll try to explain, Jon,' Thomas said very patiently. 'If Mary and I couldn't make a little profit on the things we sell, we'd soon go broke and wouldn't have enough to eat.'
"Little Jon looked at them helplessly. Again the dreadful feeling of lostness poured over him." pg. 49
"'Out with it,' said Mary [his wife]. 'Are the gems [set in the handle and clip] real?'
"'They're real. I can't quite believe it. Jon, have you any idea what these things are worth?'
"Little Jon looked at him intently. 'They are not worth what you think they are, Mr. Bean. You're thinking they're worth more than your house, and everything in the shop - but that's all wrong. Anyway, a thing shouldn't have two values.'
"'TWO values?' said Thomas, raising his eyebrows.
"'Yes, sir,' he said seriously. 'You're judging the value of my knife by the amount of money you could sell it for. But that has nothing to do with its real value.'
"Thomas whistled softly. 'I can't figure you out, Jon. It's a good thing we're not in business together, or we'd never make a profit.'
"'But - doesn't the idea of a profit seem wrong?'
"'I'll try to explain, Jon,' Thomas said very patiently. 'If Mary and I couldn't make a little profit on the things we sell, we'd soon go broke and wouldn't have enough to eat.'
"Little Jon looked at them helplessly. Again the dreadful feeling of lostness poured over him." pg. 49
May 7, 2018
I finally read this! Seeing the 1965 copyright, this is clearly one of the early versions of a science fiction trope that's become almost a cliche -- not just the prejudiced rural folk (that goes back to AT LEAST 1951's 'Superman versus the Mole Men' and is inherent in the 1930s's Frankenstein movies) but the Cold War exhaustion and the idea that intelligence aspects of the government are essentially evil. (This is four years after Eisenhower's "military industrial complex" speech.) It reminded me of another book I haven't read - "Escape to Witch Mountain" -- and now I see that Key wrote that, too. Also a very clear influence on "ET."
I really like the cover -- but the downside is, the cover and interior art portray Jon as tall with short blonde hair, although the book makes it quite clear that he's short and dark, reminding some of the townsfolk of a Cherokee boy.
I really like the cover -- but the downside is, the cover and interior art portray Jon as tall with short blonde hair, although the book makes it quite clear that he's short and dark, reminding some of the townsfolk of a Cherokee boy.
November 1, 2022
I read this book when I was in the 6th grade. It was the only novel included in our school's 6th grade reader, so we were more or less forced to read it because our teacher didn't have another book she could assign. This was long before the age of Amazon, when parents might be asked to buy a $5 paperback for their child.
By the time I read it, my teacher had been forced to work with that book for about 20 years. You could tell she wanted to cry tears of blood every day we worked on it in class. I remember enjoying the book, but I truly enjoyed reading, and this was a new book to me. As a teacher myself, I have some real sympathy for my former teacher. No matter how decent a book may be, most don't stand up when you have to reread them every year for 20 years.
By the time I read it, my teacher had been forced to work with that book for about 20 years. You could tell she wanted to cry tears of blood every day we worked on it in class. I remember enjoying the book, but I truly enjoyed reading, and this was a new book to me. As a teacher myself, I have some real sympathy for my former teacher. No matter how decent a book may be, most don't stand up when you have to reread them every year for 20 years.
August 15, 2009
I remembered reading this book as a kid and it really stuck with me for quite a while. So when I saw a copy in a thrift store, I picked it up and read it to my daughter, Hannah (age 7). Unlike many of the books I fondly remember, this one lived up to my memory of it and Hannah really enjoyed it too. It's short, engaging, and thought provoking - generally one of the best short young adult novels I've read.
September 29, 2019
I remember reading this book in 6th grade and writing a book report in the form of making a mini book. I loved it then, and I loved it now. Of course, as an adult, I kind of wish it was more fleshed out. But it's a perfect read for a 6th grader! It's quick, it's very interesting, and it's suspenseful.
May 2, 2017
I read this when I was a kid and loved it. When I got older (in my 30s) I read the rest of his books, but never liked any of them as well as this one. I should dig it out and re-read it...
December 31, 2008
Wonderful science fiction children's book. Moral message still holds true today. I read it again a couple of years ago ( after 25 years )...was still good.
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