The House of Dies Drear
By Virginia Hamilton
Review by Cayla
The House of Dies Drear is an exciting
book. It is about Thomas Small, his twin brothers Buster and Billy, and
his mother and father. They are moving from their home in North Carolina
to a house in Ohio that used to be a station on the Underground Railroad.
The house has secret passages that were used to hide slaves and to bring
them to other stations. Thomas has fun discovering these passages, but
sometimes he thinks he hears ghosts when he explores them.
Mr. Pluto (Mr. Skinner) is the caretaker of
the house. He was nicknamed by the townspeople (Pluto is another name for
Hades), and he is old and keeps to himself. Mr. Pluto has green eyes, dark
hair, and a beard. Thomas is angry with Mr. Pluto for getting everything
ready without asking them. Mr. Pluto arranged the furniture, planted flowers,
and even set up the bedrooms without asking who wanted which one.
One day Thomas meets M.C. Darrow, or Mac,
and Pesty, a little girl that follows him around and is almost a sister
to him. Pesty is riding Mr. Pluto's black horse, and Mac Darrow is trying
to keep up. They talk a little, but they seem to be making fun of him.
Most of the people in the town are mean to
the Smalls. They ignore them and think they are crazy for living in the
house, which they say is haunted. Only one of the Carr boys talks to them
when Thomas's father stops at their filling station to ask directions.
They mention the Darrows, and say that they are a mean family. They also
mention that the Darrows and Mr. Pluto do not get along.
One day the Smalls come home and find that
their kitchen is messed up. There is flour mixed with water and apple juice
all over the floor, and all the food is gone from the refrigerator. The
Smalls suspect Mr. Pluto, and Thomas and Mr. Small go to the cave where
he lives. They can't find him, so they search the cave for a secret door.
Finally Mr. Small and Thomas pull a rope that is coming out of a hole and
wrapped around a hook, and the wall slides away.
Thomas and Mr. Small walk down the passage,
which is filled with stalactites and stalagmites. At the end of the passage
Mr. Pluto and Pesty, or Little Miss Bee as he calls her, are sitting at
a desk. In the cave there are hundreds of historical objects that were
preserved by the temperature. There are tapestries and Persian carpets,
Native American canoes, chests, totem poles, and jewelry, watches, silk,
embroidery, and a wall of glass in all different colors. Even the desk
is fancy, and looks like it came from French Renaissance.
They talk to each other and become friends.
Mr. Pluto's son Mayhew comes too. He explains that sometimes, when they
thought they saw Mr. Pluto, it was really him in disguise. He did this
because he didn't want the Darrows to know that Mr. Pluto was getting weak
and to come searching for treasure. Mayhew also did it because he was worried
that the Smalls might be like the Darrows and try to search for treasure
too.
When Mr. Small and Thomas tell Mr. Pluto and
Mayhew about the mess in the kitchen, they get angry. They come over to
help clean up the mess. Then they make a plan to trick the Darrows.
The next day Mayhew and the Smalls go to the
theater store to buy supplies. While they are there they run into the Darrows.
They say that Mr. Pluto is in the hospital, but will probably be back by
the next day. Then they act like they are hiding something. This is supposed
to make the Darrows come over that night to search for treasure, and it
does.
That night Thomas and Mr. Small dress up as
slave ghosts and Mayhew as Dies Drear's ghost. Pluto is himself. Pesty
rides a horse with wings attached to its sides. They all hide. When the
Darrows come to look for treasure, they are scared to death. They run home,
and never bother Mr. Pluto or the Smalls again.
Mr. Small decides to inventory all of the objects
in the cavern. Thomas and Pesty like to sit nearby and watch. They know
it will take a long time, but they don't care.
Five fun facts:
1. Elijah Anderson was the superintendent of the Underground Railroad
in Ohio. He died in prison in Kentucky.
2. Within seven years, 1,000 slaves died in Kentucky.
3. Between 1810 and 1850, 100,000 slaves fled from the south to Canada,
and 40,000 of them passed through Ohio.
4. There were many secret passages and hideouts in stations, as houses
on the Underground Railroad were called.
5. Slaves sometimes used a Greek cross to help them find their way
since they couldn't read.
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