[.ca] 100 Cupboards: Book 1 (ISBN 0375838813)

Courtesy of Teens Read Too:
Twelve-year-old Henry York's world-traveling parents have been kidnapped, so he has moved in with his aunt, uncle, and three cousins at their old farm home in Henry, Kansas. Even though he's stuck in a tiny converted closet up in the attic, Henry almost doesn't mind living with his relatives. In fact, he's kind of excited about it, because for the first time in his life, he can play baseball without a helmet, sit in the back of a truck, and own a knife of his very own (which his Uncle Frank bought for him). One night, while Henry's lying on his bed in the little attic closet, a piece of plaster falls off of the wall behind him and hits him in the head. With his cousin Henrietta's help, he rips down all of the plaster on that one side to discover an entire wall of mysterious cupboards. In one, they can see a glowing yellow room and a man's leg. From another, wind howls and rain pours into the room when the door is opened. Most of the cupboards are locked, but there is another mystery waiting in Grandfather's bedroom, which hasn't been opened since he passed away two years ago. Are all of these locked doors somehow connected? More importantly, what wonderful (or terrifying) things lie beyond them...? Despite a slow start and a rather convoluted ending, this story certainly delivers for those itching for the blood-curdling and creepy. Reviewed by: Allison Fraclose