Bonus Content
The Sixty Eight Rooms
Getting up in the morning was always a challenge for Ruthie. It wasn’t waking up that was difficult it was getting out of bed. She had to scrunch down to the end of her bed and climb out through the narrow opening between her desk and her sister’s dresser. Then she had to be careful where she placed her feet on the ßoor because the under the bed storage bin for her summer clothes didn’t quite fit under her twin bed. It stuck out just enough to trip her or stub a toe. The other difficult part was to avoid waking up her sister so Ruthie could claim the bathroom first. Claire was older and seemed to need much more time in the bathroom before school or before going anywhere than Ruthie did. Ruthie didn’t understand why that was but it was an observation she had made many, many times.
Claire was nice enough not horrible like some siblings
Ruthie had heard of. But she took up so much time and space. Mostly space. In their little room, Claire’s stuff domianated by far. She had a computer and a big printer on her already larger desk, all her sports equipment, lots of clothes piled everywhere and a growing mountain of college brochures, SAT study guides and application information. Claire was a junior in high school and starting the process of applying to college. Ruthie counted the days till her sister went away to school. Then she would have her own room.
This morning Ruthie woke up Þrst and made her way through the small path in their bedroom to the doorway without waking Claire. She looked down the hallÑgreat luck! The bathroom was empty and all hers. Among the kids at her school she was the only one whose family shared one bathroom.
Ruthie turned on the showerfirst to let the water warm up, took her one bottle of shampoo off the wire rack and tried to find a space for it on the shower ledge next to Claire’s and their mom’s gazillion hair care products. It wasn’t easy.
As the warm water ran over her back she stood there for a moment, mulling the fact that the shower was just about the only place in her apartment where she could be alone and think privately. She envisioned the day ahead of her, the field trip and what the chances were of something cool happening today. Why not today? After a really exciting or unusual thing happens, do people look back and say, “I thought something would happen today”? Probably not.
But why not? Ruthie wondered. Don’t people ever have a feeling, a sign that something great will happen?
Random House Children’s Books
Text copyright © Marianne Malone
Jacket illustration © Greg Couch
The Sixty-Eight Rooms
Housed deep within the Art Institute of Chicago, the Thorne Rooms are a collection of sixty-eight miniature rooms. Each of the rooms is designed in the style of a different time and place, every detail is perfect, from the knobs on the doors to the candles in the candlesticks. Some even say the rooms are magical. It is here that sixth-grader Ruthie and her best friend, Jack, discover a key that actually allows them to shrink small enough to explore the rooms—and discover the secrets those who came before them left behind!
With The Sixty -Eight Rooms Marianne Malone creates a fantastical world full of characters both real and imaginary from which readers won’t want to escape even after the very last turn of the page! (Ages 9-12)
Hardcover: 288 pages
Publisher: Random House Children's Bk. ( February 23, 2010 )
Item #: 63-3323
ISBN: 9780375857102
Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 8.25 x 0.0 inches
Product Weight: 12.0 ounces
Loved it!
May 12, 2010
I bought this book for my summer reading book club. I read all the books beforehand so I can discuss it with the children. Just from the description I had to read this book. I bought it and couldn't wait to read it. This book was a real feel good book. I love books that keep me turning the pages. This book did exactly that. Usually my children and my book club members agree with my opinion of a book. I know they will agree that this book is a magical, feel good book.
I agree with the other reviewer about wanting to see the rooms explored in more depth, but you can't have everything now, can you? I would like a sequel though.
Overall, I was very pleased with this book. I would definitely give it as a present.
Reviewer: The r
68 Rooms....
March 23, 2010
The only thing I would have loved more about this book would have been more rooms being explored in depth. I am hoping the author finds someway to keep the adventure alive as she spins tales of other Thorne Rooms with such accuracy. Wonderful characters and a fairly wholesome book.
Reviewer: peggy
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