Author: John Connolly
Title: The Book of Lost Things
Publisher: Atria Books
Publication Location: New York
Publication Date: 2006
Number of Pages: 339
Recommended Age Group: 13-18
Review: 3Q, 3P, M, J, S
Cover: The cover of The Book of Lost Things is basically the title in large white lettering with a thick vine of gold framing the letters. Within the vines are small hidden items such as keys, hearts, a sword, and lanterns. On the vine is a silhouette of a boy laying down reading and farther away a man hunched over with a sword. The book cover eludes a sense of mystery and suspense- perhaps it’s the style of the lettering, or the fact that the reader only sees the silhouette’s of people and not their actual faces.
Annotation:
In The Book of Lost Things readers meet David, a twelve year old boy who struggles to accept the changes in his new life. The story is set during World War II in England. David toils to keep his very sick mother alive, but to no avail and of course is distraught when she passes away. His father too, is upset but seems to move on faster than David cares for. David’s father meets another woman and eventually marries her. David is very upset by these turn of events and even more upset when he learns that his new step-mother is pregnant. After the baby arrives, the baby that David resents very much, the family moves to the step-mothers house which is about fifty miles from London. David is assigned Uncle Jonathan’s old room which is filled with books, some of which Jonathan wrote himself. Very displeased with the way his real life is unfolding, David plunges in to the stories he finds surrounding him in his bedroom. One day while out in the garden a German plane is shot down and crashes with a fiery blaze into the garden. David escapes the flames by slipping through an opening, but on the other side is not the old world he was in before but a brand new one. In the new land David meets a kindly woodsman who explains that they must get to the king in order for David to make it back home. David also befriends a knight named Roland. On the journey to the king many adventures and strange things take place and David begins to grow from a boy to an adult. The kindly woodsman is killed on the journey by strange half-human wolves, but David continues. David is plagued on his journey by the strange wolves and the Crooked Man. Eventually, David reaches the castle, learns what became of Jonathan and his sister Anna, defeats the Crooked Man and returns back home to England. David returns a changed young man with a grown up view of his family situation instead of the views of a jealous little boy.
Reaction:
The book was slightly slow until the seventh chapter when David is transported to the other world. I enjoyed the varying characters and the make-believe elements of the new land that David enters. I enjoyed the play on well known fairy tales and the general writing style that John Connolly presented. I think the action and violence included in the story would greatly appeal to boy teen readers if they can get through the background story included in the first six chapters.
