Five Favorite Fictional Rooms from Children's Literature

Over at Charlotte's Library, Charlotte has been writing about her favorite fictional rooms. This, naturally enough, inspired me to think about my favorite fiction rooms. Here are my top five favorite fictional rooms. All of them (no surprise to people who read this blog) are from favorite children's books of my childhood.

#1: The Velvet Room of the title in Zilpha Keatley Snyder's book (which I wrote about more extensively here and here). The description is a bit too detailed for me to share it all here, but here is the reaction of the main character (Robin) when she first sees the room:

"Expecting only another bedroom, Robin opened the door and stepped into the most wonderful surprise of her life.

From that first glimpse, from the first minute, it was more than a room -- more even than the most beautiful room Robin had ever seen. Her hands shook on the doorknob, and the shaking didn't come from fear or cold. Her trembling hands were only an echo of something deeper that had been strangely shaken by that first sight of the Velvet Room.

Part of it might have been surprise, surprise that this room wasn't empty like all the others. But another part of it was a strange feeling, almost like recognition. It was as if she had been there before, or at least had known it was there. As if she had always know that there would be a place exactly like this."

#2: The shop in Maida's Little Shop, by Inez Haynes Irwin. And oh my gosh! There's a new paperback reissue of this 1909 title, published earlier this year by Tutis Digital Publishing Pvt. Ltd. There's even a Kindle edition. I currently possess three different old editions of this title, but don't think that's going to stop me from buying this new one. The Maida books, well, they helped make me into a reader. My Grandmother had the first two books in the series (which started with this one), and I have collected them myself for as long as I can remember. Maida's Little Shop is the story of a little rich girl who is lame, and has been sick for all of her life. Her doctor recommends a project, and her father buys her a little shop (toys and candy, etc.) in a working class neighborhood. Working in the shop and becoming friends with the neighborhood children give Maida a new lease on life. It's sappy, but I love it. Here's Maida's first glimpse of the finished shop, and her first, personally arranged shop window.

"Indeed, you would never have known the place yourself. The ceiling had been whitened. The faded drab woodwork had been painted white. The walls had been colored a beautiful soft yellow. Back of the counter a series of shelves, glassed in by sliding doors, ran the whole length of the wall and nearly to the ceiling. Behind the show case stood a comfortable, cushioned swivel-chair...

The window certainly struck the key-note of the season. Tops in all sizes and colors were arranged in pretty patterns in the middle. Marbles of all kinds from the ten-for-a-cent "peeweezers" up to the most beautiful, colored "agates" were displayed at the sides. Jump-ropes of variegated colors with handles, brilliantly painted, were festooned at the back. One of the window shelves had been furnished like a tiny room. A whole family of dolls sat about on the tiny sofas and chairs. On the other shelf lay neat piles of blank-books and paper-blocks, with files of pens, pencils, and rubbers arranged in a decorative pattern surrounding them all."

I may have especially bonded with Maida's shop because my father owned a hardware store, and I always wished it had been a stationery store instead (no, I didn't wish for a toystore, I wished for a stationery store with lots of pens and blank notebooks).

#3: The Chocolate Room from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl (introduced in Chapter 15).

"Mr. Wonka opened the door. Five children and nine grownups pushed their way in -- and oh, what an amazing sight it was that now met their eyes!

They were looking down upon a lovely valley. There were green meadows on either side of the valley, and along the bottom of it there flowed a great brown river.

What is more, there was a tremendous waterfall halfway along the river -- a steep cliff over which the water curled and rolled in a solid sheet, and then went crashing down into a boiling churning whirlpool of froth and spray."

There's lots more (and of course the waterfall is chocolate, not water), but you'll have to re-read the book to experience it.

#4: The cupola in the Four-Story Mistake, from the book by Elizabeth Enright (reviewed here, and with thanks to Square Fish for re-issuing this series).

"... Randy was the first of the children to see the cupola. She followed her father up the steep, narrow steps. Almost as good as a ladder, she thought to herself. At the top Father opened the door and there they were, standing in a tiny room that seemed to be nothing but windows. The tower of the enchanted princess, Randy thought. All around is nothing but sea. Once a day a slave in a rowboat comes bringing a basket of food. The princess pulls it up on a long silken cord. She also catches fish from the window."

#5: The Boxcar from the first Boxcar Children book by Gertrude Chandler Warner. I don't have a copy, so I can't give you a quote, but it sticks in my head despite being probably 30 years since I read the book, so that should count for something.

It's not that there haven't been interesting rooms in more recent novels (the Hogwarts common room comes to mind, for example), but these are the ones that have been with me the longest, and qualify as my favorites. What about you? What are your favorite fictional rooms?

Many thanks to Charlotte for inspiring this trip down memory lane.

© 2009 by Jennifer Robinson of Jen Robinson's Book Page. All rights reserved.

Comments

[aquafortis]

What a great concept! Geez, who could forget the chocolate room?? I'm pretty sure I had daydreams about it for years. Also, I don't know if the Giant Peach qualifies as an actual room, but it was pretty memorable, too.

This is a really hard question, though! Wow. Will have to ponder...

[Alkelda the Gleeful]

I don't have time to pull up the quotes, but I like this collection, and have a few rooms of my own in mind. There's Maria's room in The Little White Horse, by Elizabeth Goudge, Julia Redfern's room in A Room Made of Windows, by Eleanor Cameron and a whole house filled with marvelous rooms in Henrietta's House/The Blue Hills (Elizabeth Goudge again). I hope others write about their favorite rooms in books, because I want to read about them.

[Libby]

Anne's room,in Anne of Green Gables. It's very plain and simple but she can open the windows out onto a tree and a view, and makes Marilla see a beauty there that she hadn't seen. For a stark contrast, the janitor's closet that Melinda takes over in Speak--it's a refuge, with a poster of Maya Angelou as its patron saint.

[msmac]

Love the idea of the favorite fictional room. Have to check out Charlotte's blog.

[Jen Robinson]

Sarah, I never quite bonded with the Giant Peach. But the chocolate room - that was a thing of beauty. Of course it helps that I've been watching the Gene Wilder movie regularly for years and year. But the inspiration came from the book.

Alkelda, Charlotte also wrote about Maria's room, and another Goudge title, Linnets and Valerians. Clearly I'm going to have to read some Elizabeth Goudge. I thought of A Room Made of Windows, too. I just hadn't bonded with that one quite as much as the others. I do have it on my shelf, but haven't re-read it since childhood. Hmmm... more reading to do.

Libby, good choices too. I did love Anne's room. And for a whole house, she had that cottage with her friends while they were in college. Once you start thinking about this, there are lots of choices. The one is Speak is unconventional, but powerful.

Jone, definitely worth checking the original posts out at Charlotte's.

[Karen]

Little Women -- Actually, any of the rooms in that house, but my favorite is the attic where the plays took place.

A recent favorite is the classroom in Ralph Fletcher's Flying Solo.

[Jules]

What a fabulous idea Charlotte had! Now I'll be thinking on my rooms all day...

[beth kephart]

Charlotte has a touch of genius about her. And now you've got me thinking.

Not just about books I've read where great rooms live (Paul Horgan's Richard's Trilogy comes to mind). But about the rooms I'm now writing about.

Thank you.

[Jen Robinson]

The attic in Little Women is another good choice, Karen. Kind of gives you a cozy feeling just thinking about it.

Jules, I would love to see posts around the Kidlitosphere about this.

And agreed, Beth, this idea is genius on Charlotte's part. For writers like yourself, I'm sure that the idea of creating a room so wonderful that people will list it as a favorite 20 or 100 years from now (the Maida book I mentioned was from 1909) must be powerful. I'll look forward to reading your rooms.

[Christine M]

The room I most remember from a book is the shell room from Julie Edward's book Mandy. A room in the little cottage whose walls were completely covered in shells.

[Jenny Schwartzberg]

I would have loved to visit the room in Shadow Castle by Marian Cockrell where the shadows come to life as Robin tells their stories. I've just found that a new expanded edition is in print and have ordered a copy. Yum!

There are various fascinating attics in children's books I would love to explore....

And I absolutely have to second or third Maria's room in The Little White Horse! Elizabeth Goudge's books are full of the most fascinating houses and rooms!

Off to think some more....

[BookMoot]

Why don't I ever think of clever questions to pose like this? What a great idea.

Gotta second Maria's room in Little White Horse.

[Jen Robinson]

That sounds like a lovely room, Christine. I have to admit that I don't think I've read Mandy. Even more pathetic is that I'm sure I picked up a copy at some point. So many books...

Jenny, I'm not familiar with Shadow Castle (but what an appealing title). And I do love attics! And hidden rooms. And rooms with windowseats. Your comment made me remember a hidden bedroom, last slept in by an aunt and uncle who disappeared long ago as children, in Jane Langton's The Diamond in the Window. Another GREAT childhood series.

Camille, I think that the important thing is that we're clever enough to recognize good ideas like Charlotte's when we see them.

And now I really have to read about Maria's room.

[Charlotte]

gee, I'm blushing...

Let us know what you think of Little White Horse, Jen! I would actually recommend Linnets and Valerians first, but LWH is probably easier to get these days, having been republished.

I like your rooms a lot!

[Little Willow]

As soon as I read the title of this post, I _knew_ we'd share at least one favorite: The Velvet Room! :)

Oh, which other rooms would I want? There are so many stories that have full worlds (fantasy or otherwise) that I'd like to inhabit, but it's more difficult when you consider specific rooms. I'd love to live in Sunset Towers from The Westing Game, of course, so perhaps I ought to say Turtle's room. Alice never had a room; her story begins and ends outside on the riverbank. I'd rather have Mary's garden than her room. Oh, Anne Shirley's room at Green Gables, of course. Let's throw in Claudia Kishi's bedroom (since all of the BSC meetings took place there) as well as Jenna Blake's dorm room. There, that's five!

[Little Willow]

Posted! Click!

[Sarah Rettger]

Hmmm... the only room that jumps to mind is Judy Abbott's first dorm room in Daddy Long-Legs, the one she's so excited about arranging herself. And really, you can never go wrong with a window seat.

[Jen Robinson]

Thanks for the inspiration, Charlotte.

LW, I enjoyed your choices, too. I have to tell you, the Velvet Room was what made me want to do this post in the first place - the rest are great, but not as special as that one. I'm glad that we share a favorite fictional room.

Sarah, I definitely agree about the window seat. And I have really got to read Daddy-Long-legs.

[Abby]

Oooh, what a neat thing... My favorite fictional room would have to be Sara Crewe's room in A Little Princess. AFTER her mysterious benefactor made it all nice and cozy. When I was a kid I used to pretend that my room was her room with the little fireplace and a little monkey that would come over and visit.

And I've got to second Claudia Kishi's room, too. I was jealous of all her art supplies!

[Jen Robinson]

Oh, good one, Abby. That is a great room. I feel warm and toasty just thinking about waking up in that bed, with the fire and all.

[Melissa Wiley]

Jen, what great fun!

[emmaco]

What a lovely discussion! Like Charlotte my first thought was Maria's room from The little white horse, but I've loved these other reminders of wonderful rooms!

[Nancy]

Oh I'm with Abby - my first thought was Sara's room with it's wonderful furniture and the monkey coming to visit.

Though I agree with the attic in Little Women too.

I'm going to also throw out a more recent one - the Weasley's kitchen in the Harry Potter series.

[Jen Robinson]

It has been a lot of fun, Lissa.

Emmaco, I really have to read The Little White Horse one of these days.

And Nancy, the Weasley kitchen is an excellent choice. Harry's tower bedroom is nice, too. But the Weasley kitchen is lovely.

Thanks for playing, all!

[Mama Squirrel]

I've posted my ideas on my blog.

[Mama Squirrel]

I'll post in what I wrote, but I don't think the hyperlinks will come through.

OK, Maria's tower room (The Little White Horse) and Anne's bedroom (Anne of Green Gables) have been covered, as has the cupola in The Four Story Mistake.

But if we're thinking about the Melendys anyway, how about their first upstairs "Office" back in New York, with the trapeze and all that? Or Clarinda's secret room?

I've always liked The Grape Room in The Moffats. And the kitchen/sitting room in Understood Betsy.

I'd like to be in the Stanton's living room on Christmas Eve, eating mince pies in front of the fire. (The Dark is Rising) Or in Mole's house, ditto, eating whatever they ate (fresh, no canned mind you) with the mice. (The Wind in the Willows)

Someone already mentioned the original Boxcar in The Boxcar Children. I'd like to hang out in the restored train car in Margot Benary-Isbert's The Ark. Or in the converted trolley car in The Trolley Car Family.

I'm not so sure about staying in Aunt Sarah's house in Magic Elizabeth, at least not at the beginning of the book. Maybe after it stopped raining.

And once in awhile I'd like to live underground with the Wombles.

P.S. Oh yes--I've always thought I'd like to have tea in Alfie's kitchen.

[Jen Robinson]

Hey there, Mama Squirrel. I made your link above active, so that people can easily click through to see your list in more formatted fashion.

Great stuff! I forgot about the Office in the Saturdays. That was a lovely room. And the Trolley Car Family! I loved that book, but haven't re-read it in years. There are so, so many great places to visit in children's literature, aren't there?

[Rosepixie]

Thanks for posting this! It inspired me to do a post about this topic myself!

[Jen Robinson]

Thanks for playing, Rosepixie. I edited to make your link clickable. Great choices!

[Elizabeth]

This is a cool idea for a post... and I so agree on the cupola!

I have a tendency to rearrange every house in a book, no matter how it's described, so that I imagine it looking like one of my friends' houses from childhood. I lack visual imagination.