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Gr 4–8—Twelve-year-old Maya Davidson; her five-year-old brother, James; and their parents have moved to Paris from California while her father works on a research fellowship. Maya's mother, who is recovering from cancer treatment, has always dreamed of living there, so Maya tries to be positive in spite of feeling extremely out of place. As the siblings begin to explore the city, Maya sees a salamander-shaped doorknob that seems to move, meets a strange man with dark glasses, and is introdu...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

"Well! It is better to read fairy tales than to find yourself caught in them," Nesbet's narrator declares, a predictor of what is to be found in the subsequent pages -- for Nesbet's story is a-shimmer with magic, in plot, characters, and literary style. In Paris with her family for a year, Maya is bemused by many things: her cousin Louise ("too vague to be properly ordinary" and "less notable than people usually are, somehow"); th...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

In Paris with her family for a year, Maya finds herself in a life-or-death struggle after becoming keeper of the mysterious Cabinet...Log In or Sign Up to Read More