Have you ever fantasized about what it would be like to live on your own, and not have to follow parental rules? In A Door Near Here by Heather Quarles, 15 year-old Katherine Donovan has assumed the daily responsibility for the care and well-being of her three younger siblings when their mother becomes lost in a haze of depression and alcoholism and refuses to leave her room. As Katherine stubbornly tries to hold the family together and pretend that everything is normal, insurmountable obstacles develop: money runs out, food becomes scarce, and Alisa, the youngest sibling, who is obsessed with the books of C.S. Lewis, runs away to find the door to the imaginary land of Narnia. When a compassionate teacher suspects that something is drastically wrong and takes steps to intervene, Katherine, in fear of the family being split up by Social Services, makes a decision that will change everyone's lives forever. This beautifully written, powerful novel, which provides no easy solutions, won the annual Delacorte Prize for Best First Young Adult Novel.
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