Thursday 26 April 2012

Book Review


My Book Review

Ulysses Moore: The Door to Time

The book that I choose to read was The Door to Time. It is about two young 11 year old twins named Julia and Jason. They had recently moved from London to a place called Kilmore Cove. Their family moved into an old mansion called Argo Manor which sits on a giant cliff on the edge of the sea. The previous owner of the mansion Ulysses Moore had secrets of his own that he hid in Argo Manor, extraordinary secrets waiting to be uncovered. Young Jason immediately wanted to explore the house, he believes it is haunted by Ulysses Moore himself. However Julia the city girl type thinks exploring isn’t such a good idea. She would rather go shopping or be with her friends. The mansions caretaker Nestor tells the children that the former owner was a mysterious man with a wild imagination who they soon discover made him as legendary as Argo Manor itself. While the twin’s parents go back to London they let Jason and Julia invite their new friend from school, Rick to stay over under the care of Nestor. Rick Banner has lived in Kilmore Cove all his life and has only dreamed of discovering the amazing wonders Argo Manor holds since he was small. The children soon discover Rick isn’t the only one who is interested in Argo Manor. The children over hear an argument with Nestor and a demanding lady named Oblivia Newton. Jason suggests that the kids make a map of the house, Rick agrees while Julia just tags along. As the explore the house they come across an unusual diary and dictionary that had belonged to Ulysses Moore and a secret door that is locked tightly shut and has no keys. The kids decided to go abseiling down the cliff that Argo Manor is on when suddenly Jason’s rope breaks with Julia below him he lands on her with only a few seconds before her rope breaks Jason grabs onto a hidden ledge in the cliff. He unexpectedly found a piece of paper which has an approval letter saying they have permission to pick up a package from a post office. With the help of Nestor the kids are rescued and are safe and sound. Jason curiously pulls out the note he found and shows it to Nestor, with an odd look on his face he receives the note from the kids and allows them to go to the post office only if Nestor supervises them. The kids agree and off they go. They then arrive home with a package. Then they open it to find four keys, each key with a certain animal as the handle. On the first key it has an image of a newt, second key an owl, third key an elephant and the forth key a porcupine. Julia recognises each animal. She remembers seeing them on the locked door. She informs Jason and Rick. They immediately go to the door and place each key in the slot in the door they turn them but the door doesn’t open. The kids start to become impatient. But Rick sees a pattern the beginning of each animal spells the word ‘NOPE’ so they try the keys in that order, no luck. Jason tries to rearrange the letters. He brilliantly comes up with ‘OPEN’. The door unlocks and beyond the door is a long, dark tunnel. Jason runs to the kitchen and grabs a lighter, rope and the map of Argo Manor. The kids nervously start walking down the tunnel ‘BANG’ the door shuts behind them. The kids came to a three way inter-section each one held deadly traps which the children were unaware of. The lighter had gone out there was too much wind. Julia wondered where the wind was coming from but like the others she was clueless. Middle, left or right the kids wonder. Jason decided to go with his gut and goes right. With not a glimpse of light the kids circum-navigate there way by feeling the walls and taking little steps at a time. Jason in the front feels a sudden gust of cold air beneath him. ‘It’s a trap’ he says then cautiously grabs hold of Rick and Julia. They soon figure out that they have to jump with no light just plain darkness. One after the other they victoriously made it through Ulysses Moore’s trap. The kids see a shimmering light in the distance. They soon discover a magical boat type sea-serpent. They climb aboard the boat. They see the letters ‘U.M’. They know it stands for Ulysses Moore but they don’t know why he would keep something so magnificent a secret. ‘BOOM’ rocks collide they find themselves sailing into the sea. They look back and see Argo Manor standing tall and proud. Suddenly the kids start to feel a little dizzy. The boat started to spin. In a horrific few seconds they find themselves in an unknown place. The children then start to realize there not in Kilmore Cove anymore. That is the end of my book #1 Ulysses Moore: The Door to Time. #2 Ulysses Moore: The Long Lost Map is the next book in this series. I can’t wait to read it!           


3 comments:

  1. I read it a lot of time ago. it's weird. I mean, I'm spanish, and in spanish the keys of the door are: alligator (aligátor), bisbita (bisbita), frog (rana) and hedgehog (erizo). So that the word they form is "abre" (open). What I wanted to tell yo is that in the book there is a drawing of that keys. In the english version is there any drawing?? I supose not

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  2. yes there are pictures in the background in the english version but maybe the spanish version is slightly different to the english one

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    1. could you send me the english version of the keys to my e-mail acount? (It's gorzil@hotmail.com) If you don't mind? please, I'd like to compare them

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