100 Cupboards (100 Cupboards, #1)

by N. D. Wilson

Readers who love Percy Jackson, the Unwanteds, and Beyonders will discover that 100 cupboards mean 100 opportunities for adventure! The bestselling and highly acclaimed 100 Cupboards series starts here.
 
What dangers are locked behind the cupboard doors? Henry isn’t brave, but when he hears a thumping and scratching on the other side of his bedroom wall, he can’t ignore it. He scrapes off the plaster and discovers mysterious doors—cupboards of all different shapes and sizes. Through one he sees a glowing room and a man strolling back and forth. Through another he sees only darkness and feels the cold sense that something isn’t right. When his cousin Henrietta boldly travels into the worlds beyond the cupboards, it’s up to Henry to follow her. Now that he’s opened the doors, can he keep the evil inside from coming through?
 
“A must-read series.” —The Washington Post

• ISBN10: 0375838821
• ISBN13: 9780375838828
• Publish Date: 23 December 2008 (first published 26 December 2007)
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 11 October 2023
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Penguin Random House Children's UK
• Imprint: Yearling (imprint of Random House Children's Books)
• Format: Paperback (US Digest)
• Pages: 320
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780375838828

Reviews

[limabean74]

First off I was annoyed the childs name was the same as the town. I don't know why it bothered me so much but it did. The story had great potential but fell flat. Everything seemed so nonchalant and vague at times. This first book should have been the set up to the worlds in the cupboards and gave you the who, what, where, when and how but it just didn't. I will eventually read the second book but as of right now im not sure if the second book will give me anything more and im not sure im willing find out.

If i think you would like it you might, I did but i just felt like it was missing something.

[nannah]

First off: ages 9-12? The writing is way to complicated and the book is too gory for this age group . . .



I'm usually a sucker for beautiful, lyrical writing. But sometimes, I feel like authors try too hard to attain this. N.D. Wilson writes as though he's trying to make every sentence a masterpiece and, although I can understand why he'd attempt for it, it doesn't end well (at least in my opinion). His sentences are clunky and really take away from any immediacy in the story.



And for the story itself, I felt the idea BEHIND the story was more interesting than the book's execution of it. Henry York goes to Henry, Kansas to stay after his parents were kidnapped. In Henry, Henry finds 100 cupboards in his house that lead to different worlds.



However, the book took maybe 100 pages to get to any point of action (the opening of the cupboards). And after that, everything seemed suddenly rushed and without point. Henrietta (Henry's cousin) gets lost in a cupboard suddenly because she's curious and he has to find her. Suddenly he finds a random boy that follows him back for no reason. Suddenly a villain is introduced: a witch with no real backstory, no motives, and no personality traits other than PURE EVILNESS. She's one of the most cliched evil characters I've ever read about, complete with a cat to stroke and all.



Worse than this, is the characters. They don't really have personalities. Dialogue seems to bounce off of them with no real thought behind it. Henry, for example, was a character I could not identify with at all, and it's beyond me how any young adult could identify with him. The apathy he has for his parents' plight is almost inhuman. At one point he says himself how he wished he'd be more worried about them, but really doesn't care. When he finds out secrets about his parents or even himself, he brushes them off. There's no shock or anything!



"Oh, your parents weren't actually your parents."



Henry: "Oh, okay." And that's that. The matter ends.



I'm being really mean and sharp-tongued; I apologize, but this book just didn't do it for me. It's a series and I can find it in almost every book store, so I guess it's doing well. I guess it does have a good audience somewhere, which is good for N.D. Wilson . . .

[Terri M. LeBlanc]

This book was recommended to me by the young daughter of a co-worker of mine. When she described it to me, I immediately thought about the Chronicles of Narnia which I read in about 6th or 7th grade and adore to this day. I've been in a bit of a reading lull lately (nothing seems to really capture my attention for long) so I was game for something simple and easy to read that would also capture my attention.

100 Cupboards definitely captured my attention. Henry and his family, who live in the middle of Kansas near the town of Henry, came alive in this novel. The cupboards in the attic are linked to different worlds/times/places and are huge family secret. Some questions are answered in this novel, but even more are raised by the time the book wraps up. I have the next 2 books on hold at the library along with Wilson's first book, [b:Leepike Ridge|1007870|Leepike Ridge|N.D. Wilson|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1180189146s/1007870.jpg|2285721].