Empowering Bright & Gifted Children

 

Author: Garth Nix

Interest Level: Middle Grades (4-8)
ATOS Reading Levels: 5.9-6.5
AR Points: 9.0-13.0 each
Publisher Recommended Age: 9-12
Publisher: Scholastic
Book Type: 6 Book Set includes 5 paperback and 1 hardcover books

 

 

The Keys to the Kingdom series is about an asthmatic 12-year-old boy, Arthur Penhaligon. Arthur lives a relatively normal life as an adopted child in a large and caring family. An asthma attack on a Monday that should have killed him brings him to a strange house that only he can see and he is given a strange key in the shape like the minute hand of a clock. Because of this Key's magical properties, Arthur is relieved of his asthma, and proceeds to a strange and dangerous set of adventures.

 

Arthur discovers that the Will of the Architect, the creator of the house, was not fulfilled as it should have been. Instead, it was broken into seven pieces by the Architect's Trustees. The Will was forced to act on its own, and chooses Arthur as the Heir to the Kingdom. Therefore, it becomes Arthur's responsibility to recover each of the missing pieces of the Will by defeating each Trustee. Each Trustee has been afflicted with one of the seven deadly sins. By defeating each Trustee, Arthur obtains their Key and discovers hidden secrets of the house.

 

Each book moves from one day of the week to the next, and each day features a new Trustees who governs a different part of the House.  The seven domains of the house are: the Lower House, the Far Reaches, the Border Sea, the Great Maze, the Middle House, the Upper House, and the Incomparable Gardens.

 

 

 

Arthur is not supposed to be a hero. He is, in fact, supposed to die an early death. But then his life is saved by a key shaped like the minute hand of a clock. Arthur is safe — but his world is not. Along with the key comes a plague brought by bizarre creatures from another realm.

 

A stranger named Mister Monday, his avenging messengers with bloodstained wings, and an army of dog-faced Fetchers will stop at nothing to get the key back —even if it means destroying Arthur and everything around him.

 

Desperate, Arthur ventures into a mysterious house — a house that only he can see. It is in this house that Arthur must unravel the secrets of the key — and discover his true fate.

 

 

On the second day, there was darkness. Arthur Penhaligon didn't think he would ever have to return to the strange house that nearly killed him on Monday — the house that contains a fantastical and sinister realm inside. But the next day brings new challenges — in the form of an enemy named Grim Tuesday, who threatens the safety of both Arthur's family and his world.

 

Arthur must retrieve the Second Key from Grim Tuesday in order to save everything — an adventure that will force him to steal a Sunship, survive a very weird work camp, befriend a bearlike spirit, and fight the void Nithlings. And even after all that, he will still have to venture into the scary Far Reaches for an ultimate showdown. The stakes are high. And time is ticking.

 

 

Wednesday has rolled around, and Arthur Penhaligon has an invitation to return to the House that he can't refuse. Drowned Wednesday has sent a ship to pick him up from the hospital…even though his hometown is miles from any ocean. From hospital room to the high seas, Arthur finds himself on an adventure that will pit him against pirates, storms, explosions of Nothing-laced gunpowder, and a vast beast that eats everything it encounters.

 

Through it all, he is drawn deeper into the central mystery of the House. Arthur must find the third part of the Will and claim the Third Key-not just for himself, but for the millions who will suffer if he doesn't. The first step? Surviving life aboard a ship on the Border Sea.

 

 

Following their adventures in the Border Sea, Arthur and Leaf head for home. But only Leaf gets through the Front Door. Arthur is blocked because someone . . . or something . . . has assumed his identity and is taking over his life.

 

Before Arthur can take action, he is drafted by Sir Thursday and forced to join the Glorious Army of the Architect. While Leaf tries to banish Arthur's doppleganger on earth, Arthur must survive his basic training, avoid getting posted to the Front and work out how he can free Part Four of the Will.

 

 

Four of the seven Trustees have been defeated and their Keys taken, but for Arthur, the week is still getting worse. Suzy Blue and Fred Gold Numbers have been captured by the Piper, and his New Nithling army still controls most of the Great Maze.

 

Superior Saturday is causing trouble wherever she can, including turning off all the elevators in the House and blocking the Front Door. Amidst all this trouble, Arthur must weigh an offer from Lady Friday that is either a cunning trap for the Rightful Heir or a golden opportunity he must seize - before he´s beaten to it!

 

 

The secret of his own identity. The identity of The Architect. The complete Will of the House. The fulfillment of his fate. Arthur Penhaligon is getting closer and closer to these things... but not without risks, conflict, and adventure.

 

 

Garth Nix (born 19 July 1963 in Melbourne) is an Australian author of young adult fantasy novels, most notably the Old Kingdom series, The Seventh Tower series, and The Keys to the Kingdom series.

 

Rather than become a scientist (like his father) or an artist (like his mother), he decided to be a writer. That meant, among other life experiences, attending college, working in a bookshop, and entering the publishing industry. Of course, it's tough to write when you're working all day, so Garth quit his day job to become a full-time writer.

 

The winner of many awards and much acclaim, his novels include Sabriel, Shade's Children, The Ragwitch, Lirael, The Seventh Tower series, and Abhorsen. Garth currently lives very happily near Coogee Beach in Sydney, Australia, with his wife and two sons.