“The Troll Door, The Trunk & The Compass” by Pamela Devor

In today’s post, let’s take a closer look at Pamela Devor’s book, “The Troll Door, The Trunk & The Compass”.

Book Details:
Paperback: 129 pages
Publisher: PublishAmerica (March 3, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1604741961
ISBN-13: 978-1604741964
Book Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.3 inches

Pamela, please tell us a little about your book, “The Troll Door, The Trunk & The Compass”:

“The Troll Door, The Trunk & The Compass” is about five siblings who spend the summer with their Aunt Matilda on the farm. Their aunt’s fiancé had been missing for six months. Their aunt needs the children to distract her from her problem. That is why she invited them for the summer. The children have a lot of fun farm experiences.
Eight-year-old Alexander explores in the attic and discovers a trunk. Inside the trunk is a diary from a scientist who had lived at the house with his grandparents twenty years before. After reading a few pages of the diary, Alexander looks in the trunk further and finds a time travel compass. He accidentally travels back in time and meets the scientist who invented the compass. Together Alexander and the scientist travel to other worlds searching for his aunt’s missing fiancé.

An excerpt from the book follows:

“The next day Alexander woke up thinking everything that had happened last night was just a dream. Until he rolled over, that is, then he felt something in his pajama pocket. He reached down into his pocket to find that there was something medium sized that almost took up the entire pocket space. He took it out. It was the compass from last night. He was shocked and found it hard to believe that he had actually been to another time. He had actually met Thaddeus Worthington! He desperately wanted to tell someone about it, such as his sisters Alicia or Minnie, but he knew Alicia would only scoff at him and that Minnie would only laugh. He knew Caleb would probably believe him for he had a huge imagination. But there would be questions and then he might blurt out something about the trunk behind the “troll door.” So Alexander would have to keep his discovery to himself. But he kept thinking that maybe Alicia and Minnie might know something that would help him find Kevin.
After breakfast, Aunt Matilda started doing the laundry in the basement. Caleb and Veronica were playing with toys in the living room. Alexander, Minnie, and Alicia were doing the breakfast dishes.
Alexander blurted out, “I think I know what happened to Kevin. I think he disappeared out of this world and is stuck in another world.” Both girls looked at him.
Then Minnie said, “Alicia, Did you tell him what Penelope told us?”
Alicia said, “No!”
Minnie said, “Then how does he know that Kevin really disappeared?”
Alexander said, “I didn’t, until now. But I did know you girls were kind of secretive and you might know something.”
Alicia said, “Well, What do you know? Why did you bring it up? What do you mean ‘Other World’?”
Alexander said, “I’m not sure where Kevin is, but I think I can find him.”
Minnie said, “But how?” Just then Aunt Matilda came upstairs from the basement and the kids stopped talking.
After they finished the dishes they went outside to the picnic table to talk.
Alexander told them there was a scientist named Thaddeus who had invented four compasses to travel through time and to different worlds. He told them that Thaddeus had left two compasses in the trunk behind the troll door, and he had one of them but one was missing. Minnie and Alicia just looked at him with wide eyes.
Alexander said, “I think Kevin has the other compass, or at least he had the other compass. Either he lost it, broke it, or does not know how to use it to get back here.” Minnie and Alicia both just sat there without speaking while they thought about what he told them.
Minnie and Alicia told Alexander all about their talk with Penelope and how Kevin had disappeared into thin air right in front of his commanding officer.
Then Minnie said, “Let us see the compass.” Alexander said, “Ok, But don’t try to take it away.” He carefully pulled the compass out of his pocket. It was brass with lots of different dials. The girls looked closely at it. It had a dial for ‘Year’, a dial for ‘Month’, even ‘Day’, ‘Hour’, and ‘Minute’. There was a dial labeled ‘AH’, ‘Home’, and there was a safety catch. There was also a dial labeled ‘World’.
They both said, “WOW!” at the same time. They could not believe it. This was so cool!
Minnie said, “Take us with you! Three are better than one. We could help.”
Alexander said, “I don’t know if I CAN take you with me.”
Alicia said, “Have you actually used it?
Alexander said, “Yes, I’ve gone to other times but not to other worlds. I set it to go two minutes back in time. This worked. Then I accidentally traveled back in time to Thaddeus time by setting the dial to ‘Home’.”
Minnie had a watch on.
She said, “We’ve been sitting here for ten minutes. Let’s all switch positions so we’ll know if it worked.” So Alexander set the compass for five minutes in the past. They all touched Alexander. Alexander held the compass and pushed GO. Nothing happened. The safety catch was on. He took the safety off and pushed GO. They were suddenly sitting in the spots they had started out in, before they switched places. Minnie looked at her watch.
“It worked!” Minnie shouted.”

Now that this has piqued your interest, please buy Pamela’s “The Troll Door, The Trunk & The Compass” and enjoy the read.

Cheers for now!

Harry