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Reviewed by:
  • Behind the Bookcase
  • Kate Quealy-Gainer, Assistant Editor
Steensland, Mark. Behind the Bookcase; illus. by Kelly Murphy. Delacorte, 2012. 263p. Library ed. ISBN 978-0-375-98963-6 $19.99 Trade ed. ISBN 978-0-385-74071-5 $16.99 E-book ed. ISBN 978-0-375-89985-0 $10.99 Ad Gr. 4–6.

While spending the summer at her late grandmother’s dilapidated house, eleven-year-old Sarah becomes convinced that the strange knocking noises and cold spots mean the old place is haunted. When she discovers a tunnel behind a bookcase that leads to the shadowy world of Scotopia, she learns that the house is actually a place that helps guide departed souls into one of the next realms. Scotopia is the darkest of those worlds, reserved for not-so-nice people; its king, the talking cat Balthazat, tricks Sarah to gain admittance to her world and continue his plan of stealing light from the cloud people of Ormaz, the sunlit realm meant for pure souls. Realizing her mistake, Sarah embarks on a journey to stop Balthazat that has her fighting one-eyed demonic sentinels, rescuing her baby brother from near death, and finally restoring balance to all of the worlds. There are some clear Biblical allusions in this traditional quest story, and the story of Balthazat’s fall from grace and Sarah’s interaction with the Cloud Court may particularly strike a chord with young Christian readers. No denomination is needed, however, to be thoroughly creeped out by the eerie figures that populate the underworld, and Murphy’s black and white spot illustrations have a touch of Edward Gorey that highlights the more macabre elements of the text. The weakness here is Sarah herself, who magically transforms from a self-described scaredy-cat to a girl who nonchalantly gallops through a land of giant walking hands and headless guards with nary a care. The abrupt ending that concludes with Sarah literally undoing her mistake with a very convenient device called the Undoer is also a bit contrived. An odd combination [End Page 220] of C. S. Lewis and Neil Gaiman, this may find an audience among kids who enjoy their contemplations of faith with a heavy helping of spookiness.

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