House of Dark Shadows - Dreamhouse Kings Book 1 by Robert Liparulo

I was travelling this past week, so I depended on my Kindle for my reading fix. (Really, it is amazing just how fast you hit the airline weight limit when you pack a few books!) I had picked up the first three books in Robert Liparulo’s Dreamhouse Kings series at a Scholastic warehouse sale, but hadn’t dug far enough into the pile to retrieve them. Then I just happened to download one on my Kindle, and here I go! Another awesome YA series for me to introduce my students (and readers) to!


Summary: If I had to describe House of Dark Shadows in a few words, it would be these: creepy, tense, surprising. Xander is less than thrilled with his family’s move from Los Angeles to Pinedale, a small town in the middle of nowhere. Then the family finds their dream house – a Victorian that needs some fixing up, but has lots of possibilities. The house and the area around it give Xander and his siblings, David & Toria, plenty of room to explore.

The children soon discover that there is something about the house that simply isn’t normal. Odd footprints appear in the dust, sounds seem to travel from the wrong direction, and a linen closet transports David to a locker in a local school. Xander & David soon discover that the linen closet isn’t the only magical door in the house and they begin their adventures in earnest, traveling to exotic and dangerous destinations. But the house has even more secrets, and some of them will change the lives of Xander, David, & Toria much like it once did the life of someone they love.

This book kept me turning the pages. It is an excellent horror/adventure book for young adult readers, and even tweens. I admit to reading it in well-lit rooms, as there were parts that creeped me out. I am ready to dig into the next two books in this series!

Themes:
Family
Secrets & Honesty

Age Appropriateness:
Grades 5 & up

Areas of concern (content):
Foul Language: none
Nudity/Adult Content: none
Violence: moderate – scenes of death in the Coliseum, etc.