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A Castle in the Window
Staying for the summer with an unfamiliar aunt and uncle, Erin finds herself drawn into the magical world of a medieval castle, complete with knights and pages, a prince and a pageant, when she discovers an old toy box filled with lead knights on horseback - all terribly damaged. A magnificent fantasy novel with an underlying literacy theme from the author of All the King's Horses.
- GenresFantasy
Paperback
First published July 3, 2003
20 people want to read
About the author
Laura C. Stevenson
9 books8 followersLaura C. Stevenson is the award-winning author of four novels for young adults and three for adults, as well as the author of a monograph on Elizabethan literature and society, several articles on the Golden Age of Children’s Literature, and three essays on deafness. She was trained as a historian at the University of Michigan and Yale University, and she taught writing and humanities at Marlboro College from 1986 to 2013. She lives in her family’s old summer house in Vermont.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 19, 2019
This is a well-written YA book, with a touch of fantasy/science fiction and a satisfactory ending.
August 13, 2016
www.2thepointbooks.blogspot.com
According to the rating definitions, two stars means "It's OK." And that's what this book was. Just OK.
It has a good message - people with dyslexia are not stupid. They just learn differently and are usually very strong in other areas. The main character in this book is battling with self-esteem issues that accompany the challenges of dyslexia, but she is discovering that she is talented in music.
Now if this were the main focus of the book, that would be fantastic, but the author has added this whole fantasy angle - a castle that she can visit from a bedroom window. And after she is done with the castle, the scene magically morphs into a bedroom of a boy, also gifted with piano, who she connects with. It's all very confusing.
The writing is not very strong, either. When the main character goes from one fantasy world to the next and back home again, I was left going back to read when exactly the switch occurred. The transitions are very muddled.
Luckily, it was a short book and ended positively. Otherwise, I would not have finished it.
According to the rating definitions, two stars means "It's OK." And that's what this book was. Just OK.
It has a good message - people with dyslexia are not stupid. They just learn differently and are usually very strong in other areas. The main character in this book is battling with self-esteem issues that accompany the challenges of dyslexia, but she is discovering that she is talented in music.
Now if this were the main focus of the book, that would be fantastic, but the author has added this whole fantasy angle - a castle that she can visit from a bedroom window. And after she is done with the castle, the scene magically morphs into a bedroom of a boy, also gifted with piano, who she connects with. It's all very confusing.
The writing is not very strong, either. When the main character goes from one fantasy world to the next and back home again, I was left going back to read when exactly the switch occurred. The transitions are very muddled.
Luckily, it was a short book and ended positively. Otherwise, I would not have finished it.
May 16, 2015
I read this book at least twice, in 2006 and 2007 from my school library and really enjoyed it. It disappeared from the shelves not long after however, and I have been trying to find it on and off since. Today I found it! Via WorldCat. I recognised the cover instantly.
I had forgotten about her playing with a castle, but I remember that she had a learning problem, and got very muddled with directions, struggled? with playing the piano, and was able to somehow see a boy from the past playing the piano and struggling with it, but in a different way to her.
Perhaps it resonated with me so much because I had learnt the piano for about 4 1/2 years, but unlike her have a good sense of place and direction.
I had forgotten about her playing with a castle, but I remember that she had a learning problem, and got very muddled with directions, struggled? with playing the piano, and was able to somehow see a boy from the past playing the piano and struggling with it, but in a different way to her.
Perhaps it resonated with me so much because I had learnt the piano for about 4 1/2 years, but unlike her have a good sense of place and direction.
February 4, 2014
unfortunately i lost this book over the holidays and some nice person returned it to the library where they had found it! my book mark was still inside the book so it was good for me but then the librarian took it out and i gave up on the book. i was about half way through and i thought it was pretty good but had spots where it was not going along smoothly. overall i think this book is overall quite good and has a good story line overall. this book was very touching but prolonged the actual story.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews