This was my Book Forcening choice from Lara. It was a fun read, I didn't know much about it going in so I didn't have any expectations. It turns out it's boarding school (boys), with a lot of what would now be considered bullying behavior, and then the discovery of a secret, mysterious cave.

Especially if I had read this as a kid, I would have LOVED that it includes sketches by the protagonist of the stuff they found in the cave. I always felt that was lacking from a lot of YA mysteries.

This was published in the 80s, and few things jumped out at me, especially the "okay-ness" of the bullying culture, and the jaw-dropping tidbit that the father of the bullied boy sends him back to school with a gun, and this is presented as a responsible way to support your kid through adversity.

This is one of those books where the cave itself is not the point, so at the end, a lot about the cave is left very ambiguous, which I can see is an effective choice (as well as maddening). ( )

I really like this book, but its a bit of an odd bird. I keep forgetting the name and then having to go searching for it on whats the name of that book forums. I think that's because the name doesn't really fit the book. There aren't any hidden doors, but instead a hidden cave. Also, the cover of the edition I has a tagline that reads "You can go in, but you might never come out" making it seem very ominous. This isn't a scary book.

Wells starts off the book with a very sad and uncomfortable to read scene that I somehow blocked out of my mind. At first I was confused about why this book had stuck in my head for 25 years. However, as I read I liked Barney more and more. He was just a kid that wanted to be accepted and did really dumb things to make that happen. Barney grows up a lot during the story.

Even when I read Through the Hidden Door as a child I wondered why there wasn't a sequel to this book. I know that Barney moves on, but Snowy keeps going and I would love to know what happens next.

This is a super quick read. I started it on the train home from work and finished it off before going to bed. But then again this is a book for an older child. ( )