cover image The Tower Room

The Tower Room

Ellen Howard. Atheneum Books, $13.95 (137pp) ISBN 978-0-689-31856-6

After 10-year-old Mary Brooke's feckless mother dies, sometime in the 1950s, Aunt Olive, a sensible schoolteacher, brings her to live in the family home--which looks surprisingly like a castle. Mary Brooke is sure that her father will come for her, even though she has never met him. In the meantime, there are new clothes, a new teacher and even a mysterious tower room. Aunt Olive explains that the room has been blocked off, but Mary Brooke finds an entrance and takes secret refuge there. One day a classmate spitefully informs Mary Brooke that an illegal abortion was the cause of her mother's death, and Mary Brooke is so upset that she runs away to her hideout--until she learns that Aunt Olive really does care about her. All the secrets are revealed: Mary Brooke's father is unknown, Mary Brooke's handsome teacher has loved Aunt Olive all along, and the tower room was sealed because Aunt Olive's father had a fatal accident while descending its stairs. Aside from a few fresh and honest moments, such as the discussion of abortion, this small story reads like a faded version of better-told orphan tales, especially The Secret Garden , to which a few references are inevitably made. Ages 8-12. (Sept.)