Book Review – The Secret Door by Jenny Phillips

Out of all the early primer readers for the older elementary school kids books from The Good and The Beautiful, my 9-year-old and I enjoyed Timothy of the 10th Floor the most. It provided some kind characters who grew and learned and were inspired to do good through their story. The Badger Hill Farms series takes place after that story with the same characters and a promise of mystery.

The story appears to be a bit longer and the vocabulary is more for the older elementary school reader age range. There’s a little more focus on character growth here, but not as much as in the prequel. Here, the adventures take center stage in that the kids, in the company of an adult caretaker, are exploring their new property as the promise of the titled, secret door. The story isn’t as strong here, with a lot more jumping around in the focus. Mapping the property, rescuing a dog, trying to find the secret room, not being scared of a new place, and figuring out the kids’ place in a new, blended family occur through this story. By no means does this feel too squished into the pages; only the focus of the characters seems to be not what’s expected of their age range. Zoey, for example, finally has a moment where she doesn’t do something perfectly and winds up with consequence,s but it does seem to happen just out of the blue. Another weak point is on the secret door aspect. When the revelation of that happened, what both my daughter and I did was groan that it wasn’t much of a revelation and only there to push us onto the second book. It was a bit disappointing not to have a revelation of something more than what was there (or not there).

Overall, we did enjoy the story, and we had fun trading off the chapter readings with some familiar and well-liked characters. We will be continuing the series and hope the next secret will offer up a more satisfying revelation arc.