The Steps Up the Chimney
by William Corlett

3 out of 5 stars

William, Mary, and Alice visit their uncle Jack at Christmas in the ancient Golden House in Wales. Uncle Jack lives with his girlfriend Phoebe, and they are having a baby together, but they think it is “old-fashioned and hypocritical” to get married. The children notice some odd behavior from animals in the forest surrounding the Golden House, and they meet a Magician who says they must be tested before they will be ready to help him. William notices that there are footholds to climb up inside the massive chimney in the oldest part of the house, and their adventures lead them into magic and danger.

I liked the mystery surrounding the Magician, and all the magic with the animals they meet. The writing is really good, and I liked the characters and the magical plot. The setting in the ancient house brings a lot of mystery and history into the story.

I didn’t like that Uncle Jack and Phoebe living together was such a focus of the story. The children have three different scenes where they talk about their Uncle Jack’s living situation and they wonder why he isn’t married, and they worry that the baby will be born “out of wedlock” and won’t have Uncle Jack’s last name. And then there are two scenes where they ask Uncle Jack and Phoebe about it, and the adults give these long excuses about not being religious and not needing a “piece of paper” to confirm their commitment to each other. All of that had no place in a children’s book. These siblings are ages 8-13. It was just so awkward and weird!

I also didn’t like that the siblings squabbled so much. Some light teasing was fine, but there are a couple of times where they really bully each other in a cruel way. I think that aspect of the sibling relationships could have been lighter and not so dark. I would have liked their characters better if they weren’t so mean to each other all the time.

But overall, I liked the magic and the mystery!

This book has been screened on the Screen It First website. https://screenitfirst.com/book/the-steps-up-the-chimney-the-magicians-house-book-1-67621