The Golden Door

The Golden Door is the first book in the Three Doors trilogy written by Emily Rodda. This text feature Rye who lives in a walled city called Weld, on the island of Dorne. Rye lives with his mother and two older brothers; the family know very little of what is outside the walls of the city, except that it is dangerous past the wall. For several years the city has been overwhelmed by skimmers (savage bat like creates that fly in hordes over the wall looking for human and animal prey). The Warden of Weld offers a large award to any man who can hunt and defeat the enemy sending the skimmers. Rye's adventurous older brother volunteers first but when he doesn't return his second brother leaves in search for the source of the skimmers.   

Rye is not old enough to volunteer however little does he know that a strange series of events will force his hand. He will lie about his age chose one of Weld's three secret magic doors and go through. Rye will be accompanied by someone he didn't bargain for and the dangerous adventure to find his brothers and reunite his family will allow himself to see that everything he believed was nothing but a lie.

The Golden door is a suitable for readers aged between 8-12 as the language used allows most of the characters to speak in a formal, old fashioned way that is often associated with the fantasy genre. The book takes the form of a chapter book which includes themes of journey, friendship, trust, family ties, self confidence, the nature of truth and the nature of dictatorships. These key themes may not all be identified by the readers however teachers can use this book in their reading program for students who can read independently.

This text can be connected to the Australian Curriculum under Year 5 and the strand Literature and the sub strand creating literature. The descriptor is ' create literary texts using realistic and fantasy settings and characters that draw on the worlds represented in texts students have experienced'. Before reading this book students could discuss common elements of the fantasy genre, such as quests, imagination and mystical creatures so that the literature is understood before they begin reading. This will allow the text to become more meaningful and the students will gain more from it.