\s mYevtew KALEIDOSCOPE - University of British Columbia

BOOKS IN REVIEWchildren in hard hats, looking alarmed;a bow-tied mayorish gentleman flyingbehind a purple machine; a photographersnapping pictures; a house amiddestruction. The round-faced childrenare a brother and sister who live in Skeletown(the streets are named after thebones in the skeleton so the people canlearn anatomy). Skeletown is a citywhose Mayor has proclaimed that innovation(i.e., crazy ideas) is its most importantresource; to graduate from highschool, students must invent a schemenever before imagined. Jon has inventeda comic book (the fourth most popularin Canada). Christine finally comes upwith the best idea yet: a "do-it-yourselfdemolition company" in which peoplecan, for three dollars, take out their frustrationsby smashing windows, takingsledge hammers to walls, and kicking inplaster. All would go well, but naturally,there is one sinister element in town andChristine's demolition plans are demolished.Ken Roberts is a children's librarianwho has no illusions about what Canadianchildren want to read. This isGordon Korman for the younger set. Butdo not scorn — when it is National BookFestival time, Canadian public andschool librarians will thank Roberts forhis crazy and highly readable idea.Beyond the Door moves about as farfrom bright, primary colours and innovativeideas as possible. The cover illustration,in muted beige, blue/grey, andyellows, shows a huge expanse of sand, adorway, two children, a boat, and thesun. Illustrator Deborah Drew-Brookehas captured perfectly the static greynessof the novel. The story begins like a newversion of William Sleator's House ofStairs. Two children suddenly find themselvespropelled from a burning movietheatre into a world of sand. Eventuallythey are taken to a "loonie bin" fromwhich no one has ever escaped. Up tothat point, the novel has a bit of Sleator'ssurrealistic tension, but it soon slackensinto a lulling journey reminiscent of TheWizard of Oz. The two children andtheir three new-found Ozish friends manage,with a very simple plan and littleeffort, to escape from the asylum. Theirescape sets the pace for the rest of theirquest; the fivesome never seem to be inany real danger. Reading the book is likewatching a television series and knowingwith absolute certainty that the star willalways be safe because she must returnthe following week. By the time the novelis finished, two of the characters havepredictably fallen in love, one has died,and the two children return to find thattheir guardians have met and married.The future is guaranteed to be pure (iftedious) bliss.The cover illustration for In the Cityof the King matches perfectly the gentlefantasy it depicts and protects. The art,by Ian Wallace, shows the fresh strengthof young Elena dancing before the confusedKing and the sinister Priests. In theCity of the King is a black versus white,good versus evil fantasy. Young Elenaand her older partner Ariel are minstrels.Both entertainers are special: Ariel becausehe is a member of "the brotherhood"which subtly protects the Kingfrom Evil; Elena because she is a memberof a secret society called the Daughtersof Ismay. The two become embroiledin a mission to save the King from thecontrol of a group of evil Priests. Thestory, like the cover illustration, movesgently and believably from the youngwoman's simple role as entertainer to herhuge responsibility for keeping the Kingfrom the Priests. It isn't Susan Cooper(though the cover blurb does compare itto The Arabian Nights and The Horseand His Boy), but in Canada, wherethere is a paucity of good children's fantasy,this one is at the top with Ruth187