When twelve-year-old Adeline Perle’s transient family finally plants roots in an old, creaky house, the girl craves to build the lasting friendships she never had. She gets more than she bargained for when the house’s hidden door unveils a portal to other realms where she is confronted with magical creatures and unusual people, good and evil, and a boy who’s desperate to help her find her way home. Author Stephanie Brick masterfully creates a story of belonging, self-discovery, and survival with her new middle-grade portal fantasy, The Secret Doors of Cannondale, the debut installment in a trilogy.
In Brick’s intriguing story, Adeline’s mother’s Navy job had them moving every three years, making the girl a constant outsider and forging friendships difficult. Adeline feels promise when their final move is to a house called Cannondale, an old and creaky place with hidden rooms, invisible wall panels, and secret doors. She’s exploring when she comes upon a camouflaged door that reveals a secret room with a curious box. What she finds inside will change Adeline’s whole world.
Adeline is thrilled when she meets an affable group of friendly teens at Cannondale who take to her immediately, including a fifteen-year-old boy named Gabriel. Finally feeling close to having the type of friendships she’s always sought, she decides to share with them the unusual secret box she found. But before she gets the chance, Adeline is unknowingly thrust through a portal into extraordinary realms of magic, soaring stone islands, savage monsters, placid worlds, and warring peoples of a once tranquil place called Nouvaal—one side led through deceit by a brutal and manipulative ruler bent on expropriating all magic for her own dark power, the other led by a kind and altruistic leader whose mission is to bring back peace and prosperity.
Adeline is astonished when it appears Gabriel has followed her through the portal to guard her from the very realm she’s ended up—Nouvaal, a place the boy seems to be well-acquainted with. Adeline is trapped, in danger for having discovered the long-hidden treasure that will give unending power to the one who possesses it. She finds a loyal companion in Trixy, a clever fox-like creature who helps her and Gabriel in a race against time to get back to Cannondale while saving Nouvaal from its own destruction and from losing magic forever.
Author Stephanie Brick expertly weaves a story that is timeless, bringing together relatable elements for middle-grade readers of wanting to belong, feeling loved, and being valued. Immersed in infinite and amazing worlds, on a journey steeped in magic and friendship, The Secret Doors of Cannondale is perfect for young readers looking for the next enduring fantasy classic. It is available now wherever fine books are sold.
