Sixty-Eight Rooms

Sixty-Eight Rooms

Marianne Malone

Sixty-Eight Rooms, by Marianne Malone, takes place in the Throne Rooms in Chicago. Housed in the Children's Galleries of the Chicago Art Institute, they are a collection of 68 exquisitely crafted miniature rooms made in the 1930s by Mrs. James Ward Thorne. Each of the 68 rooms is designed in the style of a different historic period, and every detail is perfect, from the knobs on the doors to the candles in the candlesticks. Some might even say, the rooms are magic. Ruthie and Jack, the main characters, find themselves able to shrink down to fit all 68 rooms. And to make things, even more, cooler, they visit the era the room was based on. Meeting new people, and seeing parts of history with their own eyes, the 68 rooms are crazy and magical at the same time.

I enjoyed this book. The historical aspects were fun, although I think that there should have been more. The fantasy was fun and I could really relate to the characters wanting to “shrink down” to go into the tiny rooms. I do think that the book should have focused more on the rooms and less in the journey of “how to get to the rooms” because a lot of the fun plot was chunked up to make room for boring “how do we get from there to there” exploration. But overall the book was a fun read and would be great for any quick reads.

Grade Level:

- Suggested: 5th-8th

- Advanced: 5th

- Genre: Fantasy. historical-fiction

- Key Elements: Throne Rooms, Chicago

- Possible Themes: Explore

Overall Rating:3.5/5

Happy Reading!

-The Book Lover-

If you like more details about the book or would like to request something for me to read, you can contact me at thebooklovercontact@gmail.com