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100 Cupboards #1
100 Cupboards
Twelve-year-old Henry York is going to sleep one night when he hears a bump on the attic wall above his head. It's an unfamiliar house—Henry is staying with his aunt, uncle, and three cousins—so he tries to ignore it. But the next night he wakes up with bits of plaster in his hair. Two knobs have broken through the wall, and one of them is slowly turning...
Henry scrapes the plaster off the wall and discovers doors—ninety-nine cupboards of all different sizes and shapes. Through one he can hear the sound of falling rain. Through another he sees a glowing room—with a man strolling back and forth! Henry and his cousin Henrietta soon understand that these are not just cupboards. They are, in fact, portals to other worlds.
100 Cupboards is the first book of a new fantasy adventure, written in the best world-hopping tradition and reinvented in N.D Wilson's own inimitable style.
Henry scrapes the plaster off the wall and discovers doors—ninety-nine cupboards of all different sizes and shapes. Through one he can hear the sound of falling rain. Through another he sees a glowing room—with a man strolling back and forth! Henry and his cousin Henrietta soon understand that these are not just cupboards. They are, in fact, portals to other worlds.
100 Cupboards is the first book of a new fantasy adventure, written in the best world-hopping tradition and reinvented in N.D Wilson's own inimitable style.
289 pages, Hardcover
First published December 26, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,610 reviews
April 8, 2017
Nonbiased reviews under such circumstances are hard to come by. Great book. Listened to it again on Audible in March of 2017. Still great.
June 9, 2013
I'm quite conflicted about this book. On the one hand, the premise is fantastic-- a wall full of doorways into other worlds-- some benign, some not so much. But the names of the female characters were confusing-- they're all allusions to famous females (incl Dorothy from Kansas!)-- but i also kept forgetting how old the little girls were supposed to be, because they speak and act like different ages all the time. The town's name is Henry, and the two main kids are named Henry and Henrietta? Huh? My real complaint, however, is that so many issues were brought up and then just dropped that the book really doesn't stand on its own. I have yet to read book number 2, but perhaps they should have been bundled into one. We'll see. Finally, there's just something odd about the tone of this book. It reminded me of that film "Big Fish," which I desperately wanted to like... But it just left me kind of cold. PS the violence mentioned by other readers didn't bother me at all. The witch is appropriately disgusting, and is one of the cooler parts of the book (plus, she's Arthurian--what's not to like?).
January 17, 2018
After his parents disappear, 12-year old Henry York is sent to live with an aunt and uncle he hasn't seen since he was 4. He doesn't wish his parents any harm....but he doesn't really want them to come back either. They are....odd. Henry has learned over the years that his upbringing has been strange and markedly different from other kids around him. He's learned to roll with it and through observation has found ways to fit in and make friends. But just as he arrives and starts to settle in at his relatives' house, he finds more strangeness. First there is the door to his grandfather's room. It's been locked up tight ever since he died two years before. And nothing seems to be able to open the door. Then there are the cupboards. Not the normal, sitting out in the open type cupboards. These have been plastered over in the attic where Henry sleeps. One night, he wakes up with plaster dust all over his bed....the cupboards are no longer covered. And Henry's life will never be the same.
One word sums up this delightful middle grade story: Magical. Just like the wardrobe in Narnia, the cupboards have the poiwer to connect to other worlds. Henry and his cousin Henrietta work together to discover the secrets behind their grandfather's door, and what lies beyond the cupboard doors. Just a lovely story! 100 Cupboards is the first book in a trilogy. Great introduction to a series! I can't wait to read the other books!
I listened to the audiobook version of 100 Cupboards. Narrated by Russell Horton, the audiobook is just under 6.5 hours long. Horton reads at a nice, even pace and has a clear understandable voice. I have hearing loss, but was able to clearly hear and understand him.
N.D. Wilson is the author of several other middle grade books including the Ashtown Burials series. 100 cupboards is the first book I read by Wilson. I will definitely be reading the rest of the series, and reading more of his other books!
One word sums up this delightful middle grade story: Magical. Just like the wardrobe in Narnia, the cupboards have the poiwer to connect to other worlds. Henry and his cousin Henrietta work together to discover the secrets behind their grandfather's door, and what lies beyond the cupboard doors. Just a lovely story! 100 Cupboards is the first book in a trilogy. Great introduction to a series! I can't wait to read the other books!
I listened to the audiobook version of 100 Cupboards. Narrated by Russell Horton, the audiobook is just under 6.5 hours long. Horton reads at a nice, even pace and has a clear understandable voice. I have hearing loss, but was able to clearly hear and understand him.
N.D. Wilson is the author of several other middle grade books including the Ashtown Burials series. 100 cupboards is the first book I read by Wilson. I will definitely be reading the rest of the series, and reading more of his other books!
June 27, 2010
After a pretty slow start, this book got weird fast. One minute I'm waiting for some action and answers, the next I'm wondering how I fell into Tim Burton's brain. It got so weird that it was a little hard to understand at times. I'm fairly fantasy versed and even I had trouble interpreting some of the stuff towards the end of the book. Wilson really tried hard to start cramming in characters with speaking styles that were unique to their situation. Unfortunately, this will probably leave many intermediate readers scratching their heads in confusion. The story really dragged for the first half of the book. There really was a lot more exposition than necessary. And then Henrietta fell down the rabbit hole and all heck broke loose. It was dark and creepy and at times, hard to understand. In the end, we didn't really get a ton of answers and I'm not sure that I have much desire to continue the series. I don't know that I will find out who Henry's parents are, or where all the 100 cupboards lead to because, quite frankly, Wilson didn't make me care enough about the characters. I cared enough to finish the book, but was left pretty confused and not having much hope for the next book.
August 9, 2015
I can't believe I made it all the way through to the end of this book. Maybe because I just kept waiting for something to happen and really it didn't. I have to give the author credit anyone that can literally write over 50 pages describing cupboards and one main setting of maybe a room. This book started out great but really I felt like I was in sand and going no where fast, and it just kept feeling to the end.
I think it was the writing style, the style was more of telling the reader then actually bringing it to life and having it happen for me. There wasn't much dialogue so it was all told. Very time consuming.
Great idea but not such great delievery of the story idea.
I think it was the writing style, the style was more of telling the reader then actually bringing it to life and having it happen for me. There wasn't much dialogue so it was all told. Very time consuming.
Great idea but not such great delievery of the story idea.
February 13, 2008
Scrub the bones. Great line, and one of the most memorable. This book felt like what C.S. Lewis would have been if he wasn't British, didn't drink tea and crumpets every day and enjoyed college basketball.
May 5, 2017
My kids are grown, adults. That said I still often read YA books. They of course like books of any genre and reader level run the gamut from excellent to unreadable. They also have a range of maturity level.
I have mentioned before that books on the "YA shelf" can be YA,Ya or yA. This one I'd say is Ya...much more "young" than "adult".
We open here with a young man who comes to live with...well we'll not go into the relationship as that's part of the story. Let's say a distant uncle and aunt type couple.....
Anyway our parent-less child gets a bedroom in the attic. It's a fairly nice and even interesting place, except for that odd noise that seems to be coming from behind the plaster on the wall????
So being a well behaved and normal young man, he begins to chip the plaster off his wall. Humm... Underneath he finds the wall covered with small cupboards and an old fashioned mailbox.
And there is evidence that these cabinets may have backs that open into different worlds....you know the kind of thing that happens every day.
Well, from here things get, unusual.
I was a little uncertain as to what to rate this one. I was leaning toward 3 stars because the story wanders around a bit and gets very slow at times. Still a lot of that is because this is aimed at younger readers and I think the story telling style will appeal more to younger readers.
This is well constructed fun magical story and I think most will like it. 3.5 to 4 stars. Enjoy.
I have mentioned before that books on the "YA shelf" can be YA,Ya or yA. This one I'd say is Ya...much more "young" than "adult".
We open here with a young man who comes to live with...well we'll not go into the relationship as that's part of the story. Let's say a distant uncle and aunt type couple.....
Anyway our parent-less child gets a bedroom in the attic. It's a fairly nice and even interesting place, except for that odd noise that seems to be coming from behind the plaster on the wall????
So being a well behaved and normal young man, he begins to chip the plaster off his wall. Humm... Underneath he finds the wall covered with small cupboards and an old fashioned mailbox.
And there is evidence that these cabinets may have backs that open into different worlds....you know the kind of thing that happens every day.
Well, from here things get, unusual.
I was a little uncertain as to what to rate this one. I was leaning toward 3 stars because the story wanders around a bit and gets very slow at times. Still a lot of that is because this is aimed at younger readers and I think the story telling style will appeal more to younger readers.
This is well constructed fun magical story and I think most will like it. 3.5 to 4 stars. Enjoy.
April 14, 2008
Let me make one thing clear--the only reason I'm deducting the 5th star is because this book does not stand on it's own. It's very clearly the start of a series and I'm greatly annoyed that now I have to wait for the next installment. That being said, the scene with the chainsaw in the carpet is almost worth adding the 5th star back...
This is a creepy little children's fantasy. Give to fans of Charlie Bone, Coraline, Gregor the Overlander, the Narnia books, Chrestomanci, and yes that HP fellow.
There are some standard fantasy elements here--"orphaned" child (well, not really) discovers magic items (cupboards, lots and lots of cupboards that lead to alternate universes), uses said magical items (well, actually it's his cousin that takes the first header through the cupboard) and bad (yet truly fantastical) things result.
I wish I had a better literary background the better to describe the writing. It's somewhat surreal, Henry is deposited in the town of Henry, encounters locked rooms, ghosts(?) in the bathroom, magical cupboards, all the while attending barbecues, playing baseball, and discovering unsuspected secrets about his origins. The whole thing flows, rolling along like one of the tumbleweeds Henry's Uncle tries to sell to Japanese businessmen on e-bay. I love how Henry's Aunt and Uncle are obviously in on some secrets but are very accepting, loving and supportive of Henry, all without coming clean.
Can't wait for the sequel.
This is a creepy little children's fantasy. Give to fans of Charlie Bone, Coraline, Gregor the Overlander, the Narnia books, Chrestomanci, and yes that HP fellow.
There are some standard fantasy elements here--"orphaned" child (well, not really) discovers magic items (cupboards, lots and lots of cupboards that lead to alternate universes), uses said magical items (well, actually it's his cousin that takes the first header through the cupboard) and bad (yet truly fantastical) things result.
I wish I had a better literary background the better to describe the writing. It's somewhat surreal, Henry is deposited in the town of Henry, encounters locked rooms, ghosts(?) in the bathroom, magical cupboards, all the while attending barbecues, playing baseball, and discovering unsuspected secrets about his origins. The whole thing flows, rolling along like one of the tumbleweeds Henry's Uncle tries to sell to Japanese businessmen on e-bay. I love how Henry's Aunt and Uncle are obviously in on some secrets but are very accepting, loving and supportive of Henry, all without coming clean.
Can't wait for the sequel.
June 8, 2025
I love N.D. Wilson’s work.
Every time I read one of his stories, I’m inspired to let my imagination run wild and see what tales it can cook up. To live life to the fullest in all its wild beauty. To love home with all its blessings and laughter and to walk through pain with the reminder that the one truly noble Man walked the path before me.
There is magic in these tales, yes. The fantastical type of magic one can see through cupboard portals, hear in the whisper of the Badon Hill breeze, and feel in the rough rhino-like skin of a raggant. But there is also the everyday magic of a dusty barn, a bowl of milky cereal, cousins’ camaraderie, and baseball.
Somehow N.D. Wilson blends grit and beauty into his narratives to make achingly real stories, and I am in awe of his writing mastery. His characters are lively and dynamic in every way, from Uncle Frank’s blunt, careworn wisdom to Richard’s pompous yet innocent demeanor. His prose is simple yet simultaneously laced with thematic grace and down-to-earth Americana. His creativity is zany beyond measure. And his tales are dark and dangerous, but the light is never out of reach.
100 Cupboards is a work of art, and the rest of the series only gets better.
Content: violence and creepiness
Every time I read one of his stories, I’m inspired to let my imagination run wild and see what tales it can cook up. To live life to the fullest in all its wild beauty. To love home with all its blessings and laughter and to walk through pain with the reminder that the one truly noble Man walked the path before me.
There is magic in these tales, yes. The fantastical type of magic one can see through cupboard portals, hear in the whisper of the Badon Hill breeze, and feel in the rough rhino-like skin of a raggant. But there is also the everyday magic of a dusty barn, a bowl of milky cereal, cousins’ camaraderie, and baseball.
Somehow N.D. Wilson blends grit and beauty into his narratives to make achingly real stories, and I am in awe of his writing mastery. His characters are lively and dynamic in every way, from Uncle Frank’s blunt, careworn wisdom to Richard’s pompous yet innocent demeanor. His prose is simple yet simultaneously laced with thematic grace and down-to-earth Americana. His creativity is zany beyond measure. And his tales are dark and dangerous, but the light is never out of reach.
100 Cupboards is a work of art, and the rest of the series only gets better.
Content: violence and creepiness
April 11, 2009
How can it get better--100 small cupboards hidden under plaster in an ordinary-looking Kansas house where Henry has come to await word on his parents, travel writers being held by Columbian kidnappers. His aunt, uncle, and three girl cousins seem perfectly ordinary, but there's a ghost who comes and goes from dead Grandpa's locked room, and there are those cupboards hidden behind Henry's bedroom wall. Henry is a cautious, careful hero, somewhat adrift in the world, sucked into dangerous situations by his more intrepid cousin Henrietta. In between baseball games and family dinners, their strange experiments with the cupboards lead to all kinds of revelations with regard to their family, and letters that arrive through the cupboards warn of danger yet to come.
This is a great middle-grade contemporary fantasy for boys and girls, and for adults who still thrill at the idea of finding a closed, locked, HIDDEN cupboard!
This is a great middle-grade contemporary fantasy for boys and girls, and for adults who still thrill at the idea of finding a closed, locked, HIDDEN cupboard!
March 27, 2009
Wow! I really loved this book. Deliciously creepy elements blend with terrific characterization, poetic prose and exciting plot. Will update more in a bit!
{Edit}Now to add a bit more. I like how the author has taken classic fantasy tropes, "the lost Special One" "the Hidden World" "the Wise Fool" and blended them in new ways. I particularly like how Henry finds the world away from the smothering overprotective one his parents have created for him just as magical as the actual magical worlds he discovers exist behind the plaster in his bedroom at his Uncle's house. What kind of world is it for a child who has never tasted a soda? Never played baseball? Never climbed a ladder? A nice poke at the growing overprotectiveness that parents tend to display in our culture.
And the cupboards! 99 worlds behind your head as you lay in bed, some brilliant and beautiful, some mundane, and some so frightening that they will make you faint. There are scenes of such tension that my heart was pounding in excitement and fear for the characters. There are scenes that made me laugh out loud with delight. I loved the skillful use of language, the luminous descriptions that were never tedious. There were elements that reminded me strongly of Narnia, with the witch in this book just as chilling as the White Witch of Narnia.
I'm hopeful that the next in the series lives up to this first book.
{Edit}Now to add a bit more. I like how the author has taken classic fantasy tropes, "the lost Special One" "the Hidden World" "the Wise Fool" and blended them in new ways. I particularly like how Henry finds the world away from the smothering overprotective one his parents have created for him just as magical as the actual magical worlds he discovers exist behind the plaster in his bedroom at his Uncle's house. What kind of world is it for a child who has never tasted a soda? Never played baseball? Never climbed a ladder? A nice poke at the growing overprotectiveness that parents tend to display in our culture.
And the cupboards! 99 worlds behind your head as you lay in bed, some brilliant and beautiful, some mundane, and some so frightening that they will make you faint. There are scenes of such tension that my heart was pounding in excitement and fear for the characters. There are scenes that made me laugh out loud with delight. I loved the skillful use of language, the luminous descriptions that were never tedious. There were elements that reminded me strongly of Narnia, with the witch in this book just as chilling as the White Witch of Narnia.
I'm hopeful that the next in the series lives up to this first book.
May 17, 2021
The first of a trilogy. Set in Kansas, this is a story of a young boy who discovers numerous worlds behind cupboard doors in an attic. (This and other plot elements are reminiscent of Narnia, The Wizard of Oz, and The Indian in the Cupboards books.) No one goes through the cupboards until about halfway through the book. Gets creepy with the witch, around whom the final conflict (in this book) revolves.
Hear the author talk about details here.
Kansas might be home to Etzanoa (see here too).
Here is a deleted scene, as it were, originally appearing in Chapter 1.
Also listened to the audio version (9780739362785) in October 2016.
Redeemed Reader review here.
Hear the author talk about details here.
Kansas might be home to Etzanoa (see here too).
Here is a deleted scene, as it were, originally appearing in Chapter 1.
Also listened to the audio version (9780739362785) in October 2016.
Redeemed Reader review here.
July 23, 2018
Sat down to read this as my favorite book... with that horrid voice of doubt whispering in my mind. Is it as good as I remember? Yes. It is. It's beautiful and creepy and honest and whimsical and childish and grown up. It's about bravery and humanity and friendship and (scarier) siblingship. It's about evil and darkness and illusions and little shafts of yellow light, about strange letters and very shut doors, the heroism of a chainsaw and the heartbreak of $750 tumbleweeds. Henry York is a dear. Henrietta is a curious little thing with wide eyes and a big loveable heartless innocent soul.
Yeah, no, this is still the best book ever, even after I've read it.
Yeah, no, this is still the best book ever, even after I've read it.
April 10, 2021
This book was hard to understand, so it was hard for me to get through.
January 17, 2025
1/17/25: SIX TIMES IT'S TAKEN ME SIX READS TO REALIZE THAT DOTTY AND FRANK WENT INTO ENDOR ALL THOSE YEARS AGO!!! < so good at textual information
grabbing henrietta and shaking her girl you are so dumb. maybe DONT open the black cupboard and maybe the witch wouldnt be out in the wild now who could have guessed (i am a henrietta apologist except for that entire saga)
my favorite part of this book is just how zeke shows up and is like ok guess i go here now ?
(EVERYBODY LIKES ZEKE AND I WOULDNT WANT A WITCH TO GAS HIM)
blake is my g still
baseball is magic brb writing an essay about little magics in fantasy books
the letters are SO funny actually. whimpering child, reprehensible and a shame to all who pursue wisdom. enemy, hazard, and human mishap. going to start calling people that
anastasia and richard are both insane characters
i love you so much cupboards to other worlds (that are really all the same world connected by trees :))
frank and dotty <3
penny my unbothered eldest sister queen (she should've let anastasia kill nimiane)
erm yea i will always love this book. kind of funny to me most of this series is just henry desperately having to come into his heritage because of HENRIETTA and then zeke getting dragged into it and simply not leaving
Westmores!! Sons of Amram!!!
hi darius hi monmouth hi eli fitzfaeren hi carnassus hi byzanthemum hi badon hill
--
10/24/22: bros what am i doing reading this Again. it's the FIFTH TIME! i literally have been reading this instead of doing the million and two homework assignments i have to do. i am literally exhausted don't run barn chores in 70 degree weather :D . anyway like - cupboards. Henry. Henrietta and Penny and Anastasia. Frank and Dotty. Raggants. Zeke. everyone likes Zeke!!! Nimiane and Bast. mildly excited for everything go insane in dandelion fire now if i ever get time to read it I love mondays which is not something I thought I'd ever say. but mondays are OFF and FREE and of course i spent it rereading a random middle grade book i've read four times already. cupboards are cool I'm going to go stare at the list of cupboards again. I want to have cupboards. Henrietta is SUPER annoying and stupid in this one but so was I at 11 probably x100 so whatever. understandable. i love rereading books and realizing what Certain Things mean because i know the full story. this book is literally so tame compared to the next ones that's funny for some reason. I am so tired I am just rambling in here WAIT WHAT IS MONMOUTH DOING IN THE EPILOGUE ??? ok so this book was written in 2007 and i would've been 3-4 then which is legitimately INSANE but it is funny reading about Frank and his old computer and Internet store. TWO THOUSAND SEVEN? that was literally 15 years ago. WHAT. i just realized that ??? it's not even 10pm and i am like going to black out at this point this is such a revelation to me (that is 5/6ths of my life). cupboards are cool i am mildly fascinated by the workings of them even though they're just like vaguely unexplained by the clever plot device of Henry simply choosing not to read that part of the letter but i feel 12 again reading this book for the first time suddenly. this had made me realize that Door Before would've been set in like the 70s-80s at latest if my approximate timeline works out WHAT THE LITERAL HECK ! !!!! shoutout to Ashtown tbh. uuhhhhhh also shoutout to the faeren lmao . MORDECAI! RIP to frank tbh I have never considered exactly how !RJIo2375135u his story is. his home world be BRUTAL lmao i have been thinking about it quite a bit and i have come to the simple conclusion that it is absolutely harsh on everyone but that is how medieval ish fantasy is like. 2007 was 15 years ago??! im still not really over that mfw. shoutout to Blake the cat i want a Blake except i wouldn't shove him in the toilet as a four year old RIP to henry but I'm different. goodnight I forgot everything else I was thinking during this book
edit, 25 minutes later: i opened my laptop for the sole reason of editing this to say that i find it hysterical that Wilson only deals with 12-13 year old MCs. 7th grade boys are another breed of Girl What Is Going On!!!!! they are somewhat fascinating creatures that i do not envision as book protagonists thumbsup ok to be fair it's been 6 years since i was 12 but still. yeeowhchh. Henry and Cyrus and Sam and Alex and what's his face from Boys of Blur and Leepike Ridge you know et cetera. I am still incredibly tired but I don't want to sleep because now I've pulled out Dandelion Fire!!! life choices. have to be up at 6 tomorrow bro
--
i have no idea when i wrote this down:
everytime i reread this book i suddenly gain a new appreciation for the cupboards
and zeke
grabbing henrietta and shaking her girl you are so dumb. maybe DONT open the black cupboard and maybe the witch wouldnt be out in the wild now who could have guessed (i am a henrietta apologist except for that entire saga)
my favorite part of this book is just how zeke shows up and is like ok guess i go here now ?
(EVERYBODY LIKES ZEKE AND I WOULDNT WANT A WITCH TO GAS HIM)
blake is my g still
baseball is magic brb writing an essay about little magics in fantasy books
the letters are SO funny actually. whimpering child, reprehensible and a shame to all who pursue wisdom. enemy, hazard, and human mishap. going to start calling people that
anastasia and richard are both insane characters
i love you so much cupboards to other worlds (that are really all the same world connected by trees :))
frank and dotty <3
penny my unbothered eldest sister queen (she should've let anastasia kill nimiane)
erm yea i will always love this book. kind of funny to me most of this series is just henry desperately having to come into his heritage because of HENRIETTA and then zeke getting dragged into it and simply not leaving
Westmores!! Sons of Amram!!!
hi darius hi monmouth hi eli fitzfaeren hi carnassus hi byzanthemum hi badon hill
--
10/24/22: bros what am i doing reading this Again. it's the FIFTH TIME! i literally have been reading this instead of doing the million and two homework assignments i have to do. i am literally exhausted don't run barn chores in 70 degree weather :D . anyway like - cupboards. Henry. Henrietta and Penny and Anastasia. Frank and Dotty. Raggants. Zeke. everyone likes Zeke!!! Nimiane and Bast. mildly excited for everything go insane in dandelion fire now if i ever get time to read it I love mondays which is not something I thought I'd ever say. but mondays are OFF and FREE and of course i spent it rereading a random middle grade book i've read four times already. cupboards are cool I'm going to go stare at the list of cupboards again. I want to have cupboards. Henrietta is SUPER annoying and stupid in this one but so was I at 11 probably x100 so whatever. understandable. i love rereading books and realizing what Certain Things mean because i know the full story. this book is literally so tame compared to the next ones that's funny for some reason. I am so tired I am just rambling in here WAIT WHAT IS MONMOUTH DOING IN THE EPILOGUE ??? ok so this book was written in 2007 and i would've been 3-4 then which is legitimately INSANE but it is funny reading about Frank and his old computer and Internet store. TWO THOUSAND SEVEN? that was literally 15 years ago. WHAT. i just realized that ??? it's not even 10pm and i am like going to black out at this point this is such a revelation to me (that is 5/6ths of my life). cupboards are cool i am mildly fascinated by the workings of them even though they're just like vaguely unexplained by the clever plot device of Henry simply choosing not to read that part of the letter but i feel 12 again reading this book for the first time suddenly. this had made me realize that Door Before would've been set in like the 70s-80s at latest if my approximate timeline works out WHAT THE LITERAL HECK ! !!!! shoutout to Ashtown tbh. uuhhhhhh also shoutout to the faeren lmao . MORDECAI! RIP to frank tbh I have never considered exactly how !RJIo2375135u his story is. his home world be BRUTAL lmao i have been thinking about it quite a bit and i have come to the simple conclusion that it is absolutely harsh on everyone but that is how medieval ish fantasy is like. 2007 was 15 years ago??! im still not really over that mfw. shoutout to Blake the cat i want a Blake except i wouldn't shove him in the toilet as a four year old RIP to henry but I'm different. goodnight I forgot everything else I was thinking during this book
edit, 25 minutes later: i opened my laptop for the sole reason of editing this to say that i find it hysterical that Wilson only deals with 12-13 year old MCs. 7th grade boys are another breed of Girl What Is Going On!!!!! they are somewhat fascinating creatures that i do not envision as book protagonists thumbsup ok to be fair it's been 6 years since i was 12 but still. yeeowhchh. Henry and Cyrus and Sam and Alex and what's his face from Boys of Blur and Leepike Ridge you know et cetera. I am still incredibly tired but I don't want to sleep because now I've pulled out Dandelion Fire!!! life choices. have to be up at 6 tomorrow bro
--
i have no idea when i wrote this down:
everytime i reread this book i suddenly gain a new appreciation for the cupboards
and zeke
December 12, 2008
When his over-protective parents are kidnapped while on vacation, Henry is sent to stay with relatives in a small Kansas town. When the plaster in his attic bedroom is cracked, Henry discovers strange cupboards, all different from one another, and mysterious compass locks. He and the oldest of his cousins explore the mystery and have adventures (I won't be any more specific because I don't want to give away the plot). I thought the book had some good imagery, and the characters of Henry and his uncle were interesting and fairly complex. Next to them, the characters of Henrietta and her sisters seemed a bit flat, but I'm guessing they will develop more in the sequels which are definitely planned. The book doesn't quite end with a cliff-hanger, but the story is certainly not concluded. Happily, I believe the second book is either already out or about to be released.
May 31, 2017
First read in 2016: This book, guys. This book. It was so good. I nearly had a heart attack while reading it. Also, I want a raggant... hahaha.
Reread May 2017: duh I still love this, but I think I have an appreciation for different aspects of this book now. And I like Henry even more than I did last time.
Reread May 2017: duh I still love this, but I think I have an appreciation for different aspects of this book now. And I like Henry even more than I did last time.
September 26, 2007
Mmm. Delicious. A good fantasy with enough original elements to keep it interesting. "Leepike Ridge" is better, no question, but I dare say this book stands apart from the normal fantasy-laden pack. See for yourself...
January 12, 2023
Oy! Good book. I shall be reading the next ones...
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March 16, 2020
~Actual rating- 2.5 out of 5 stars~
100 Cupboards has probably been sitting on my bookshelf for around six years now, and I've just gotten around to it. To put it simply, I was expecting a lot more.
The reason I rated this so lowly is because by the stars, I don't think I've ever read anything so slow with so little action. The summary of the book on the back basically tells you everything that happens and it just wasn't interesting.
Quite literally, a major portion of this book was the main character, a timid and bland boy called Henry, scraping plaster off of his wall to unearth the 100 cupboards. Like, that was it. There were some shots of him playing baseball and eating cereal, but I was so bored out of my mind that this almost became a DNF.
The one and only reason I didn't DNF it was because this trilogy has been sitting in my room for far too long for me to just give up on it now. However, if the next book turns out the same, I'm not going to torture myself any longer.
My biggest problem with this book, next to it being incredibly sluggish, was that everything that happened was so jumbled. Nothing really made any sense, and the author kept sprinkling in what I suppose were meant to be "hints" but were just a filler that leads into the sequel, Dandelion Fire. This first installment did an absolutely horrid job of setting up the rest of the story. It gave me the same feeling I get when I read the second book in a trilogy and nothing happens because it's mainly focused on setting stuff up for book 3, except this was the first book in the series and...yeah, nothing made sense.
I was left very confused by the end, as it was underwhelmingly anticlimactic. The characters all felt like the same person- dry and boring. It was not exactly the thrilling read I was looking for now that I'm going to be trapped in my house for a few weeks because of COVID-19. Hopefully I will be able to breeze through the rest of the series and move on to more interesting novels.
100 Cupboards has probably been sitting on my bookshelf for around six years now, and I've just gotten around to it. To put it simply, I was expecting a lot more.
The reason I rated this so lowly is because by the stars, I don't think I've ever read anything so slow with so little action. The summary of the book on the back basically tells you everything that happens and it just wasn't interesting.
Quite literally, a major portion of this book was the main character, a timid and bland boy called Henry, scraping plaster off of his wall to unearth the 100 cupboards. Like, that was it. There were some shots of him playing baseball and eating cereal, but I was so bored out of my mind that this almost became a DNF.
The one and only reason I didn't DNF it was because this trilogy has been sitting in my room for far too long for me to just give up on it now. However, if the next book turns out the same, I'm not going to torture myself any longer.
My biggest problem with this book, next to it being incredibly sluggish, was that everything that happened was so jumbled. Nothing really made any sense, and the author kept sprinkling in what I suppose were meant to be "hints" but were just a filler that leads into the sequel, Dandelion Fire. This first installment did an absolutely horrid job of setting up the rest of the story. It gave me the same feeling I get when I read the second book in a trilogy and nothing happens because it's mainly focused on setting stuff up for book 3, except this was the first book in the series and...yeah, nothing made sense.
I was left very confused by the end, as it was underwhelmingly anticlimactic. The characters all felt like the same person- dry and boring. It was not exactly the thrilling read I was looking for now that I'm going to be trapped in my house for a few weeks because of COVID-19. Hopefully I will be able to breeze through the rest of the series and move on to more interesting novels.
August 11, 2022
You no longer have to be in England for magical worlds to find you.
I loved the 100 Cupboards trilogy! Excellent, excellent, excellent, and highly recommended. The second two in particular are pretty intense, however, and the evil in them (and I know Wilson loves Chesterton, who said, "A book without an evil character is an evil book") is true evil. But evil is defeated by nobility, by those willing to die if it means others will live. And you have the uncomfortable feeling while reading that not only are the characters willing to die, but the author might just be willing to let them die -- so that others will live. It's a gripping, page-turning series, where the beauty and -- dare I say -- magic of the supposedly mundane and of everyday life -- even humdrum life in nowhere Kansas -- is affirmed.
I'd say the target audience is in the 8-10 range, but if you have a sensitive reader you'll want to pre-read them. However, whether you pre-read them or not, whatever your age, you should simply read them for pure enjoyment.
Um, but not unless you're willing or able to stay up until 1am or let the dishes and laundry go for a day. Yes, the story is that good.
I loved the 100 Cupboards trilogy! Excellent, excellent, excellent, and highly recommended. The second two in particular are pretty intense, however, and the evil in them (and I know Wilson loves Chesterton, who said, "A book without an evil character is an evil book") is true evil. But evil is defeated by nobility, by those willing to die if it means others will live. And you have the uncomfortable feeling while reading that not only are the characters willing to die, but the author might just be willing to let them die -- so that others will live. It's a gripping, page-turning series, where the beauty and -- dare I say -- magic of the supposedly mundane and of everyday life -- even humdrum life in nowhere Kansas -- is affirmed.
I'd say the target audience is in the 8-10 range, but if you have a sensitive reader you'll want to pre-read them. However, whether you pre-read them or not, whatever your age, you should simply read them for pure enjoyment.
Um, but not unless you're willing or able to stay up until 1am or let the dishes and laundry go for a day. Yes, the story is that good.
February 15, 2009
WOW! Very interesting fantasy tale. I wonder why I hadn't ever heard of it? Henry is a guest in his Aunt and Uncle's home. He finds 99 cupboards covered up with plaster in the attic where he sleeps. Each leads to a different land/time--but too small to get through. Where is the other cupboard, you wonder? Well, I can't tell you that! You'll just have to read it yourself. Quite an interesting story. It reads almost like a Harry Potter. And, if you get your hands on the book, look at the back of the book, in the inside jacket--where they give the author's bio. When you see the author's picture you'll smile, just as I did, and think to yourself, "I wish I knew that guy" purely for the expression that he's got on his face! This is the first in a series of 3 books, I think. Now I gotta get my hands on the other two....
January 6, 2015
First off: ages 9-12? The writing is way to complicated and the book is too gory for this age group . . .
I'm usually a sucker for beautiful, lyrical writing. But sometimes, I feel like authors try too hard to attain this. N.D. Wilson writes as though he's trying to make every sentence a masterpiece and, although I can understand why he'd attempt for it, it doesn't end well (at least in my opinion). His sentences are clunky and really take away from any immediacy in the story.
And for the story itself, I felt the idea BEHIND the story was more interesting than the book's execution of it. Henry York goes to Henry, Kansas to stay after his parents were kidnapped. In Henry, Henry finds 100 cupboards in his house that lead to different worlds.
However, the book took maybe 100 pages to get to any point of action (the opening of the cupboards). And after that, everything seemed suddenly rushed and without point. Henrietta (Henry's cousin) gets lost in a cupboard suddenly because she's curious and he has to find her. Suddenly he finds a random boy that follows him back for no reason. Suddenly a villain is introduced: a witch with no real backstory, no motives, and no personality traits other than PURE EVILNESS. She's one of the most cliched evil characters I've ever read about, complete with a cat to stroke and all.
Worse than this, is the characters. They don't really have personalities. Dialogue seems to bounce off of them with no real thought behind it. Henry, for example, was a character I could not identify with at all, and it's beyond me how any young adult could identify with him. The apathy he has for his parents' plight is almost inhuman. At one point he says himself how he wished he'd be more worried about them, but really doesn't care. When he finds out secrets about his parents or even himself, he brushes them off. There's no shock or anything!
"Oh, your parents weren't actually your parents."
Henry: "Oh, okay." And that's that. The matter ends.
I'm being really mean and sharp-tongued; I apologize, but this book just didn't do it for me. It's a series and I can find it in almost every book store, so I guess it's doing well. I guess it does have a good audience somewhere, which is good for N.D. Wilson . . .
I'm usually a sucker for beautiful, lyrical writing. But sometimes, I feel like authors try too hard to attain this. N.D. Wilson writes as though he's trying to make every sentence a masterpiece and, although I can understand why he'd attempt for it, it doesn't end well (at least in my opinion). His sentences are clunky and really take away from any immediacy in the story.
And for the story itself, I felt the idea BEHIND the story was more interesting than the book's execution of it. Henry York goes to Henry, Kansas to stay after his parents were kidnapped. In Henry, Henry finds 100 cupboards in his house that lead to different worlds.
However, the book took maybe 100 pages to get to any point of action (the opening of the cupboards). And after that, everything seemed suddenly rushed and without point. Henrietta (Henry's cousin) gets lost in a cupboard suddenly because she's curious and he has to find her. Suddenly he finds a random boy that follows him back for no reason. Suddenly a villain is introduced: a witch with no real backstory, no motives, and no personality traits other than PURE EVILNESS. She's one of the most cliched evil characters I've ever read about, complete with a cat to stroke and all.
Worse than this, is the characters. They don't really have personalities. Dialogue seems to bounce off of them with no real thought behind it. Henry, for example, was a character I could not identify with at all, and it's beyond me how any young adult could identify with him. The apathy he has for his parents' plight is almost inhuman. At one point he says himself how he wished he'd be more worried about them, but really doesn't care. When he finds out secrets about his parents or even himself, he brushes them off. There's no shock or anything!
"Oh, your parents weren't actually your parents."
Henry: "Oh, okay." And that's that. The matter ends.
I'm being really mean and sharp-tongued; I apologize, but this book just didn't do it for me. It's a series and I can find it in almost every book store, so I guess it's doing well. I guess it does have a good audience somewhere, which is good for N.D. Wilson . . .
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 17, 2014
This was recommended by - wait for it! - my GRAND-daughter. It's a children's book, and I like and read children's books, but I did find this pretty scary although I did enjoy it. Twelve year old Henry comes to stay with his aunt and uncle in Henry, Kansas hoping for a summer of baseball. Instead, or perhaps in addition, he finds that one wall of his attic bedroom is full of small cupboards with locked doors - and each goes somewhere not in this world. The characters (three cousins and two sets of parents) were well drawn. I found it interesting that Henry's parents (off stage for the entire book) were as much characters as the much more present Uncle Frank and Aunt Dotty. I'm going to read the next one - Dandelion Fire - but I reiterate that I really did find this scary in many ways (not just traveling to frightening places, but having nasty things crawling into your bedroom through tiny doors). I would never have recommended it to a child, but then, a child recommended it to me.
October 12, 2020
10/9/2020: Third time through. This time read aloud to my bf over the course of several weeks. Sharing books that way is a lovely experience, and I highly recommend it to one and all. :)
11/30/2018: By the time I finished this book, I was getting the feeling that it had been written specifically to appeal to me. I mean, a wall full of hidden cupboards in a cool old house (MAGIC hidden cupboards)... Oz homages... Narnia vibes... suspense... cats... and BASEBALL, even. If I didn't know any better, I'd say N.D. Wilson wrote the whole thing with a recipe card in front of him ("How to make the perfect book for Lizzy").
Can't wait to get my hands on the next one.
11/30/2018: By the time I finished this book, I was getting the feeling that it had been written specifically to appeal to me. I mean, a wall full of hidden cupboards in a cool old house (MAGIC hidden cupboards)... Oz homages... Narnia vibes... suspense... cats... and BASEBALL, even. If I didn't know any better, I'd say N.D. Wilson wrote the whole thing with a recipe card in front of him ("How to make the perfect book for Lizzy").
Can't wait to get my hands on the next one.
June 28, 2020
4.5 stars!
This book is curious--very slow paced, sometimes a little boring, but always mysterious with an enchanting quality. Yes, it takes patience, but it's totally worth it. Partly because things are very fascinating towards the end, but mostly because the sequel, Dandelion Fire, is perfection.
As for this book, there's something magical. Odd and bewitching. I don't know what it is, but it's made it a book to reread many times.
This book is curious--very slow paced, sometimes a little boring, but always mysterious with an enchanting quality. Yes, it takes patience, but it's totally worth it. Partly because things are very fascinating towards the end, but mostly because the sequel, Dandelion Fire, is perfection.
As for this book, there's something magical. Odd and bewitching. I don't know what it is, but it's made it a book to reread many times.
March 19, 2017
2.5 stars, I'll give the sequels a try.
September 19, 2022
3.5 stars
July 27, 2025
The tone of this book reminds me of something I would have read in middle school, in a good way. It was a quick read, because of both an easy writing style and an interesting plot. The writing style does an excellent job of helping the reader get to know the characters without being overbearing.
The main character was good, even though he isn't super interesting or different at this point. He has potential, and I like that. He feels like a very authentic 12-year-old, but not annoyingly so. In some books written about kids this age, you can tell that the author is looking down on or satirizing middle schoolers, and I appreciate that that isn't the case here.
Plot-wise, we don't get a lot of answers in this book, just more and more questions, so I guess I'll have to read the other books to truly judge the story arc. So far, the worldbuilding is very intriguing, and I love the concept.
The only objection I have is that one character is a witch. Fortunately, she is portrayed as very evil, but I just don't typically read about witches - they creep me out (we all know I am fairly easy to creep out, though). There are some scenes involving her that might scare younger children, so I wouldn't give this to sensitive kids or those under ten.
The main character was good, even though he isn't super interesting or different at this point. He has potential, and I like that. He feels like a very authentic 12-year-old, but not annoyingly so. In some books written about kids this age, you can tell that the author is looking down on or satirizing middle schoolers, and I appreciate that that isn't the case here.
Plot-wise, we don't get a lot of answers in this book, just more and more questions, so I guess I'll have to read the other books to truly judge the story arc. So far, the worldbuilding is very intriguing, and I love the concept.
The only objection I have is that one character is a witch. Fortunately, she is portrayed as very evil, but I just don't typically read about witches - they creep me out (we all know I am fairly easy to creep out, though). There are some scenes involving her that might scare younger children, so I wouldn't give this to sensitive kids or those under ten.
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