Book Thoughts: The Castle in the Attic (Winthrop)

• 10-year-old boy receives an heirloom gift that leads him into a fantasy world
• wrestling with the looming departure of his lifelong nanny, he makes a couple naughty decisions but is remorseful and makes things right in the end
• castles, a dragon and knights–oh my!
• convo points: ancient god “Janus” mentioned, ale mentioned, blessing a sword, lying, magic*
• clean language

Type: chapter book
Ages: 6-10
Author: Elizabeth Winthrop

*There is a bad wizard who turns people to lead. It’s all fantasy and kept quite mellow compared to most modern-day “magic” books.

If any of your children are into gymnastics, the main character is a gymnast himself and his skills pop into the story every now and then.

The only thing I didn’t love was how little time the parents had for the boy, but it wasn’t a big part of the story.

This would be a fun read-aloud book for your family, since the language was so clean!