Children's Literature – Shirley Nelson
Eleven-year-old Olive Dunwoody is often left to her own devices as her math professor parents spend time on their equations. She spends her time exploring their new home which this time is an old house full of antiques instead of the usual bland apartment. Olive realizes something strange is going on when she sees movement in the paintings that cover the walls. After finding a pair of old spectacles, she discovers that she can actually enter the paintings, explore the worlds she finds, and speak with the inhabitants. One of these dwellers, a young boy named Morton, swears that he really belongs on the outside in Olive's world. A beautiful lady in a portrait invites Olive to tea and befriends her. Horatio, Leopold, and Harvey, the magical speaking cats, seem to be protecting old secrets and she does not trust them. After she helps the beautiful lady escape her portrait, Olive realizes her mistake and during one terrifying night learns the secrets of the old house and its former inhabitant, Aldous McMartin. Black and white illustrations enhance the story. Fans of the seriously creepy will love this first volume in "The Books of Elsewhere." Reviewer: Shirley Nelson