The Red Door by Rachel Lulich
In a community where dreams are rare, dreamers are dangerous and exiled through the mysterious red door, and Aster Temple is dreaming.
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LJR’s Thoughts
An original tale that focuses on telling a wonderful story for middle-graders. Even kiddos who generally don’t enjoy fantasy may find themselves engrossed in Aster’s story. I found Aster to be likeable and though the relationship with her father is complicated by her dreaming, their relationship is sweet. The villain is on par with Maleficent or Ursula, truly evil. A great, clean read and story that will grip you from the beginning.
Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Christian Morals/Values: 4.5 out of 5
Story: 4.5 out of 5
Read-Aloud Quality: 4.5 out of 5
Recommended Book: Jack Zulu & the Waylander’s Key by S.D. Smith and J.C. Smith
Considerations for The Red Door
In our usual LJR fashion, we try to find anything that Christian families may want to know about ahead of time to address, skip, or dig deeper into. Take a look at what we found below. Our take on Discipleship Opportunities is at the bottom of the review.
- Positive Behavior: A character realizes she could’ve trusted an adult and avoided problems of doing it on her own. Two characters reconcile a friendship.
- Negative Behavior: Aster hides her secret from her dad out of fear of the consequences.
- Language: None.
- Violence/Intense Scenes: Some intense scenes with the villain. She’s a mean one!
- Religion/Spirituality: None.
- Racism/Discrimination: Dreamers are discriminated against because people are afraid of their ability to dream.
- Romance/Sexuality/Nudity: None.
Discipleship Opportunities
- The main theme throughout the book deals with discrimination of one group of people. Acts 10:34; James 2:2-4; Proverbs 28:21; Revelation 7:9; Leviticus 19:15
- Several relationships in the book provide an example opportunity for discussion about forgiveness and reconciliation, including one that show repercussions of not working through the process of forgiving. Matthew 5: 23-24, 6:14-15, 18:15-17; Mark 11:25; Colossians 3:13; Hebrews 12:14
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