A Castle of Bone

"It couldn't happen--yet it did. A pigskin wallet, placed in the old wardrobe cupboard that Hugh had just acquired secondhand for his room, turned into a large white pig that fell out, terrified, the moment the cupboard was opened. Hugh, his sister Jean, and Penn and Anna, their next-door neighbors, all gave chase to it. Then they experimented--and it was true. Anything left in the cupboard was returned to some earlier stage of its existence. But there was no telling how far back the change would take things.For Hugh, sleeping in the same room as the cupboard, the nights became a series of haunting dream-adventures all centering around a strange castle. These he kept to himself. And then, by accident when they were roughhousing, Penn fell backward into the cupboard--and came out as a very small boy. The children's panic mounted, finally becoming terror, as they strove to return Penn to his rightful self and at last went into the cupboard with him."The above is a short summary of "A Castle of Bone" by Penelope Farmer, a suspenseful fantasy novel perfect for young readers intrigued by strange worlds beyond our own and the magic that can happen in ordinary life. It bears some comparison to "The Chronicles of Narnia" and "The Indian in the Cupboard" but is a wonderful original novel in its own right. This inventive and imaginative book would appeal to readers who enjoy fantastic adventures with a good dose of suspense!