Kirkus
With numerous deftly sketched characters, including a sympathetic boy next door, an intriguing plot, and such dividends as a secret room used to hide escaping slaves, this should keep readers interested. Well wrought and entertaining.
KLIATT
Miranda, age 13, becomes a recluse when her family moves from their New York apartment into a large home in Garnet, Massachusetts. However, it is not the move that affects her, but, rather, an old dollhouse that she finds in the attic. This dollhouse, an exact replica of their house, has a strange and eerie quality to it. Miranda begins to spend all of her time peering through its windows, in which she sees scenes from the past lives of three families, living generations apart. Through information she finds in the library and receives from her music teacher, Miranda discovers that the people in the windows lived in her house before. As she sees more scenes from their lives, Miranda notices that the dollhouse causes strange things to happen to every woman who comes to her house, especially her mother. Miranda's mother becomes forgetful, abusive, ill with headaches—qualities that she shares with the women from the past. Miranda even becomes overpowered with extreme feelings of fear and panic that follow a strange scent of magnolia in the air. Eventually, she realizes that she is the only who can make things right again by helping a little girl from the past. The problem is figuring out what she is supposed to do. This book is a great lesson in the important of the history of families and how the past and present intertwine. Because of this, time shifts are used a great deal and could be a teaching tool for educators. Readers will enjoy this book for its mystery, magic, and suspense. Reiss combines characteristics of both SF and fantasy while keeping the characters and story line believable. Students will come away wondering whether this could really happen. A great read. KLIATTCodes: J—Recommended for junior high school students. 1991, Harcourt, 260p, 18cm, 90-22018, $6.00. Ages 13 to 15. Reviewer: Shaunna S. Silva; Teacher, St. James School, Biddeford, ME, November 2000 (Vol. 34 No. 6)
Children's Literature
Thirteen-year-old Miranda Browne moves with her parents from New York to an old house of their own in a small Massachusetts town where she finds a doll house in the attic that is an exact replica of her new house. Looking through the windows, Miranda is able to see events that took place in the past. Gradually, Miranda realizes that the house has a negative influence on the women who have lived there. Miranda unravels the house's secret and thus frees it—and its residents—from an evil spell. Her actions also change the past in the process. An ALA Best Book for Young Adults and an Iowa Teen Award winner, the suspenseful tale is well-plotted, taut, and satisfying. A subplot involves Miranda's friendship with Dan, a neighbor boy, who helps solve the mystery. An additional nugget is the book's reference to the Underground Railroad. 2000 (orig. 1991), Harcourt, and $6.00. Ages 12 up. Reviewer: Valerie O. Patterson
