QUESTION
BELIEVE
CHOOSE TO LIVE, CHOOSE TO LOVE
KNOW WHAT YOU COME FROM
SEEK TO LEARN
UNDERSTAND THOSE YOU LOVE
TREASURE YOUR LIFE
Elise is eleven and has moved up to middle school. Middle school is a whole different world. Elise does have a very special friend - Franklin - but now some of the things they do together somehow seem childish. On the first day of the new school Elise is given her locker buddy. She is a wretched, mean, bully girl named Amanda.
Who can Elise turn to? The homework from school is out of control. The teachers seem disinterested and even unkind. Franklin seems slightly embarrassing yet he was once her very best friend.
When she was just born Elise's mum died and only a few years later, her father died too - from cancer. Elise lives with her beautiful Aunt Bessie and Uncle Hugh. Bessie is a wonderful cook and Hugh has so much patience and wisdom but really Elise needs time and trust in her friends and family to work out all her life problems. The delicious food in this book reminded me of the food from the previous book
Love, Aubrey.
Adding to all of this Elise finds a key with her name on the tag. In their barn, on the top floor, there are eight doors. Over time Elise finds eight keys and discovers so much about herself, her father, her mother and life in general. The rooms are rather like a puzzle and have been set up long ago by her father for when the time was just right. The different things revealed in each room is a useful story device and one which I think readers aged 10+ will really enjoy. And yes there are only seven words in the list at the start of this post - you need to read this book to discover the eighth key.
This book was published in 2011 but it is still available however here in Australia the paperback is quite expensive so perhaps you will find this book in a library. Here are three other cover designs. I am not sure I especially like any of them but, as I said with Suzanne's first book (Love, Aubrey) I would be very happy to put this book (Eight Keys) into the hands of a sensitive reader especially one of the cusp of moving to high school.
Just over two years ago I read Love, Aubrey by Suzanne LaFleur. I ordered it because I absolutely adored two other books by Susanne LaFleur - Beautiful Blue World and Threads of Blue. At a recent charity book sale I spied this book - Eight Keys - another book by Suzanne LaFleur and this morning I picked it up to read. After an outing later in the morning I came home and finished the whole book of 214 pages. This was just what I needed - to read a whole book in a day. Lately I have laboured over several 'heavier' books which I am struggling to complete. It is so satisfying when a book just sweeps you along and you want to read and read and read until you reach the end. Oh and I also love books that make me cry (just a little).
Here is an interview with Suzanne LaFleur.
In this one, small, sweet book, everything in the world that's important is revealed. It's a book about relationships: losing them, finding them, and fixing them. Dickens library
I would pair Eight Keys with these:
If you want to book talk Eight Keys I suggest using the scene where Elise visits her parents graves. It is sad, yes, but also uplifting and healing from the end of chapter 9 and beginning of chapter 10.
"Is it my fault you're here?' Cold stone never answered anyone. 'Well, it probably wasn't worth it. I'm bad at everything and nobody but our family likes me. I can't even keep one friend.' I wiped my nose on my sleeve. 'I'm really sorry.' I lay down on the grass, a little closer to them. ... (That night) I didn't dream at all. That was nice. When I woke up I felt rested ... I was thinking about Franklin. I felt so much better today, and maybe what happened really wasn't his fault. We could try again."
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