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The Door in the Wall

The Door in the Wall

List Price: $4.99
Your Price: $4.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: profound
Review: Read 3/4 of this book back in 7th grade during homeroom. Then, it was intriguing. Now, 12 years later, its fictional portrayal of very real issues are still thought-provoking. Brilliant, challenging, entertaining, and perhaps prescient. A must for the developing inquisitive mind.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A door unlocked
Review: Robin is the son of a noble who has always been told what is expected of him as a future knight. But he one day falls ill and loses the use of his legs. As the story begins, he had given up all hope of being worthy of anything. With the plague claiming his servants one by one, Robin is abandoned, until a kindly monk named Brother Luke comes to the manor and takes Robin to the Hospice of St. Mark. There, Robin is fed, cared for, and educated. He learns to swim, whittle, read and write, and attends holy ceremonies. While doing this, he gains strength, self-confidence, and friends.

This book is a good read because the characters and plot are well developed. The story takes place in Medieval Europe and you can tell that the author has researched these times carefully. She provides full detail about the sights and sounds of medieval life. In doing so, she uses difficult vocabulary based on the words that were used then. This makes the book a bit harder to read, and therefore appropriate for the older middle school student and above, especially those who like a detailed setting.

I felt the book lacked any good action. The story is told only through Robin's point of view, which limits your knowledge of what's going on. You can't see what Brother Luke or other characters are thinking. When the battle begins, Robin is in the church belfry and not on the field fighting, so you don't really know what's happening where the action is. There seemed to be no real climax even as the conflict is resolved. However, the story does carry an inspirational message, as Robin learns that he doesn't need the use of his legs to be a hero.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Not that Great of a Book
Review: The Door in the Wall wasn't that great of a book. The way the the characters talk is very confusing to the reader and can become annoying after a while. The story plot is hard to follow, even if you're a teenager. Overall, I think this book is so over-rated.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Door In The Wall at a glance
Review: The Door In The Wall
By Marguerite De Angeli

Robin the son of a noble family had always been told what was expected of him since his father was a prominent knight and his mother the midwife to Queen Maud. At the age of ten he was expected to be taken from his family to be a page to Sir Peter de Lindsay to learn the ways of knighthood. His father leaves for the wars and his mother is called away. The whole town is infected with the plague and his servants either have died or fled till he is left alone. He himself is sick but not with plague he no longer can move his legs and is weak so he can't go to the castle as intended. Brother Luke a friar at St. Marks finds him bringing him back to the monastery in his care. "Thou hast only to follow the wall far enough and there will be a door in it." His first change is to get used to humble life and to appreciate it. There he is taught patience, how to read and write astronomy, carpentry as well as heavenly devotion. With the plague passed, Brother Luke has more time; Robin is taken to the river where he swims splashing in the water and strengthening his legs. Soon he is able to run on crutches racing the other boys. He sends a letter to his father who arranges him to make the journey to Sir Peter. The monks are busy preparing for the journey getting food and clothing packed it is hard for him to say goodbye he had grown accustomed to their footsteps and hearing the church bells ring. Brother Luke goes along with him as well as a minstrel friend John-go-in-the-Wynd. They have an adventure getting to the castle where Robin begins to wonder why a knight would have need for a cripple. Upon arriving, he makes friends with Adam the guard and the dog D'Ath. "Each of us has his place in the world, if we cannot serve in one way, there is always another. If we do what we are able, a door always opens to something else." While under his lord's service the castle is besieged by Welsh it becomes evident their food supply is low and the well near dry if they have a chance to survive without surrendering someone had to go for help. Robin though a boy takes this mission upon himself dressing as a poor shepherd's lad he swims the river doges the sentry and heads for the cottage of his friend John-go-in-the-Wynd. It was a daring and tiring feat for a boy on crutches but they depended on him and he aimed to do his armored father proud. Yes, if he could reach John-go-in-the-Wynd he could help he was wise for a minstrel. The man protected Robin endearing him as his "young master". A boy on crutches couldn't easily alarm a town or go to a nearby castle for men of arms to help, but John could.

This book is truly worthy of the Newberry Award medal unlike so many it is uplifting instead of depressing. The message of hard work, perseverance, friendship and acceptance is written artfully throughout the book. All the characters have distinct personalities and are developed completely. This book left nothing to be wondered or subjects still open. The story of Robin's life was realistic and as a book had a powerfully beginning, interesting middle and a strong end I believe all who read this book will be happy with the end result. For these reasons I rate it a perfect 10 it was inspiring and the secret message of finding the door in the wall took some time to discover. Angeli's style of writing beautifully intertwined life of that the period from all classes through Robin's youthful eyes. He is a character one roots for and keeps hoping he'll find his way. I can't wait to read it again I recommend this to everyone wanting a good book for I won't understand if one tells me they disliked it.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The Door in the Wall
Review: The Door in the Wall

In the novel The Door in the Wall many problems arise for Robin de Bureford, the main character, on his journey to knighthood. Marguerite de Angeli, the author, uses symbols to represent doors and walls. The walls are problems Robin faces in the book, and the doors are the ways he overcomes them. Robin goes on a journey to Sir Peter de Lindsay's castle to become a knight. First he has to become a page, then a squire, then a knight.While being a page you have to learn to ride a horse, shoot bow and arrows and throw spears (these skills are useful for hunting). Pages also learns to dance and learns manners. After about three years of being a page, a page becomes a squire. A squire goes to a knight's tournament a wacthes closley. A squire also pratices the things he learned while he was a page. The night he becomes a knight, the squire confesses all his sins to a priest, then he prays all night long, then he's a knight! There are different problems (or walls) Robin faces in this novel, the first one was the plague, when he lost the use of his legs. Then Robin earned the crutches that solved his problem of his legs. When Robin was at the monastary, he got a letter from his father telling him to go to Sir Peter de Lindsay's castle with Brother Luke and John-Go-In-The-Wynd. That was a door because he would see his father and train to become a knight. At the castle Sir Peter de Linsay put a limit to what Robin should learn because he couldn't use his legs. During the Welsh attack Robin was chosen to get help. Robin was chosen because he could fit through small doors and if the Welsh caught him they would mistake him for a poor, stupid, shepherd boy. Robin becomes a page at the end of this novel, and has accomplished his dream. Robin is bewildered by the fact that he is a page, and has found his place in life, and like the author said "Thou hast found the door in thy wall."

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: semi-good book
Review: This book has a very good lesson to be learned, but I found the book very hard to follow and stay intrested. I found my mind wandering because of the lack of action and diffult foriegn words. I wouldn't have picked to have read this book myself (school assignment) but after i suffered through the boredom of reading it, I found that the moral of the story is a good one to learn, be thankful for what you have and work with it!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: I HATED THIS BOOK
Review: This book is so boring. There is no climax in it and it is just a bad book. I would never recommend it to anyone and I could never go through it.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: BORING!!!!zZzZzZ
Review: This is a pitifully BORING piece of Literature. I usually read books that skinny in an hour or two, but this book took me practically a month because I was sooo bored. I fell asleep every time I started reading it. The only good thing about this book was that it helped me catch up with my sleep. I recommend this book for anyone who has to catch up with their sleep.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A challenge for Chaucer
Review: This is a terrific book. I think it has a terrific plot and is very educational about the middle ages. I enjoy some of the adventure and adore the iluistrations.I especially like how Robin overcomes his handicap.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: a wonderful book!!
Review: This is an excelent book, not only is it a magnificent story, but it tells how life really was in the middle ages, and how a young boy comes to conqer his handicapped abilities.


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