kitty_arcade's review against another edition
5.0
Another book I read multiple times when I was in elementary school. I still talk about his book!
kdtoverbooked's review against another edition
3.0
I think kids who are fantasy fans would enjoy this book. It’s about a boy who doesn’t want his nanny to quit and the lengths that he would go to keep her from going away. It shows the power of understanding and love.
booksandteaanddogsohmy's review against another edition
3.0
This was a family read-aloud book choice. The plot was solid, and the story kept my son's interest over time. I appreciate the author's excellent use of descriptive language. She does plot and scene well enough, so there's that. Why only 3 stars?
My son found the main character, William, to be extremely unlikeable and unsympathetic, which added to the time it took us to slog through this one. It took us darn near half a year to finish this book!
Even when the action was in high gear and we wanted to find out what happened next, there was only so much William we could stomach.
None of the other characters were developed enough to make them interesting, either (though none were quite so deeply unlikeable as poor William.) We found the Apple Tree Man, the Dragon, and Brian the guard to be the most interesting characters, though they each played a minor role in the story. Even William's "growth" towards the end of the book felt surface-level.
The final chapter felt like Winthrop herself was over the book and just wanted to wrap things up quickly. As long as it took us to finish this thing... man, I felt like she owed us a little more OOMPH.
Still, it was a fun book. Needless to say, we won't be reading the sequel next.
My son found the main character, William, to be extremely unlikeable and unsympathetic, which added to the time it took us to slog through this one. It took us darn near half a year to finish this book!
Even when the action was in high gear and we wanted to find out what happened next, there was only so much William we could stomach.
None of the other characters were developed enough to make them interesting, either (though none were quite so deeply unlikeable as poor William.) We found the Apple Tree Man, the Dragon, and Brian the guard to be the most interesting characters, though they each played a minor role in the story. Even William's "growth" towards the end of the book felt surface-level.
The final chapter felt like Winthrop herself was over the book and just wanted to wrap things up quickly. As long as it took us to finish this thing... man, I felt like she owed us a little more OOMPH.
Still, it was a fun book. Needless to say, we won't be reading the sequel next.
aotora's review against another edition
5.0
I didn't know that these books existed. I only ended up picking them up because book depository recommended them since I enjoyed The Indian in the cupboard and they were similar -
I enjoyed this first one more than I enjoyed the first book from that series- yes the story is still fairly simple and you know that the protagonist is pretty much flawless- and you know that everything will wrap up pretty nice and neat and there are no real stakes - but the story was still good.
The story is good, there are some really neat action scenes that make you root for the protagonists and the characters were all right too -
It's a nice short story with a nice moral at the end I guess. And good characters and interesting magic.
I enjoyed this first one more than I enjoyed the first book from that series- yes the story is still fairly simple and you know that the protagonist is pretty much flawless- and you know that everything will wrap up pretty nice and neat and there are no real stakes - but the story was still good.
The story is good, there are some really neat action scenes that make you root for the protagonists and the characters were all right too -
It's a nice short story with a nice moral at the end I guess. And good characters and interesting magic.
kristinaray717's review against another edition
3.0
This was the first required reading novel I ever had. It was decent. It wasn't my favorite, but it wasn't boring. I remember we had to keep a journal as we read and pretend like we were a character from the book. A nice little introduction to fantasy.
stephs_bookshelf's review against another edition
4.0
I remember loving this book when I was in elementary school. I've only just rediscovered it because it popped up in my recommendations just now, I had completely forgotten the title of this book and only remembered the main plot!
kcspivey's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
One of my absolute favorites as a kid!
sarakomo's review against another edition
5.0
2019: Wow, what a throwback! I remember listening to this book as a book-on-tape (no, actually, on a cassette) in my parents' minivan as we drove to my grandmother's house in Massachusetts. It was a trip to swing back in time to revisit William and Mrs. Phillips and Sir Simon. It was lovely to be reintroduced to their world (I had not remembered a lot from 19 years ago) but I will probably not be heading back to the Castle in the Attic until I have my own children. It's good, not great, and it only receives 5 stars for the intense nostalgia listening to it bestowed upon me.
stephanie_garrott's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0