"Facing the Hunchback of Notre Dame" by L. L. Samson

Review by Jill Williamson for NovelTeenBookReview

4/5 Stars

Twelve-year-old twins, Ophelia and Linus move in with their aunt and uncle and discover an old laboratory hidden in the attic. While Ophelia is reading The Hunchback of Notre Dame, she unintentionally activates one of the old scientist’s inventions that transports Quasimodo into the present! It’s then that the twins and their friend discover that the old scientist wants to capture Quasimodo, and the three kids do all they can to protect their literary friend and get him back into the book where he belongs.

What a clever premise for a series! You get a group of kids, a famous classical fictional character, and an adventure. I liked the characters a lot—all of them. They were unique and fun. The story was told from a narrator who teaches the reader the definitions of big words and about the craft of writing as he tells the story. That did become a bit distracting at times. Along with the narrator, Ophelia is the big reader in the tale. Many references to classics were mentioned throughout the story, most of which will go over middle grade reader’s heads, but they won’t mind because they’ll be caught up in the tale. For being put out by Zonderkidz, a Christian publishing house, I didn’t notice a faith element in the story, which seemed odd. I did notice that two more books are planned involving the classics Moby Dick and The Three Musketeers. Looking forward to them!

Age Range: 9 and up

Genre: fantasy

Part of a Series: Book 1 in the Enchanted Attic series

Pages: 192

Publisher: Zondervan

Released: 2012

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