Little Jon tried to think. Everything was so unbelievably tangled in this world, with their laws and their money and their hates and their fighting for power. He could see only one solution that might help . . .

While gazing at the night-time sky with his people, a boy falls through a hole in the hillside, ending up in another world. What surprises the reader is that the world “Little John” falls into is the human one. Impaired by amnesia from the impact of crashing down among the rocks in a cave, Jon tries to navigate the mountainous new landscape he finds himself in. Initially he relies on the guidance of animals with whom he can communicate telepathically. However, even they cannot save him from a nasty first encounter with a gun-toting malevolent human, Gilby Pitts (and his equally repugnant wife, Emma), after he unwittingly walks onto their land.

Shortly after this, Jon, who has the ability to sense the emotions and thoughts of others, makes contact with benevolent humans. The Beans—Mary, Thomas, and their children, Brooks and Sally—stop their pick-up truck on a nearby country road and take the boy home with them. However, Jon’s unfortunate confrontation with the unsavoury Mr. and Mrs. Pitts has already set him on the wrong track. The couple quickly spread the rumour that a “wild boy” is on the loose, a foreign-looking, “unnatural,” and strangely dressed being. Soon the hateful pair will report him for breaking, entering, and robbing a summer home that Mr. Pitts is responsible for minding when its owner is away. Gilby, it turns out, is intimately acquainted with stealing, having done so much of it himself. Lying and blaming come just as easily to him. He’s a classic vindictive and ignorant local yokel.

The Beans quickly figure out that Jon is not of this world. While some objects (books and radios) and concepts (kindness) are familiar to him, others (like automobiles) are not. That laws (and a government to make them) should really be necessary to keep people in line and that humans should actually use animals for food and clothing are ideas both foreign and troubling to Jon. The Beans marvel at the boy’s ability to read minds, know others’ intentions, and effortlessly learn an entirely new language, English.

Thomas and his family willingly take on the job of protecting Jon from wrongful criminal charges. They recognize that they must help the boy recover his memory and get him back to the world he came from. Their mission becomes urgent when Jon’s ability to read minds is widely publicized by the media, ultimately coming to the attention of government agencies which recognize just how useful the boy could be for intelligence purposes.

Although it was originally published in 1965, only recently did I became aware of this novel for children. When I was a kid, readers’ advisory was not a service commonly offered by children’s and school librarians. They mainly ordered and shelved books and reminded you to keep quiet. If any adults knew of this novel back then, they unfortunately didn’t share that information with me. I’m glad to report that the novel has withstood the test of time. Yes, there are a few mentions of Jon’s “Indian” or “gypsy” appearance, wich might get some present-day, zealous, politically correct library-book-purgers worked up—I’m well aware of Ontario teacher-librarians weeding excellent children’s literature, even classics, for even slighter reasons—but I see nothing in the book to warrant its removal from shelves. Considering a book within its historical context strikes me as a better approach than the removal or outright banning of it. Why throw a lovely baby (with a birthmark) or two out with the bath water?

This is a delightful and insightful book that illuminates and critiques some of the very big problems with human beings. Some might argue that the good characters are too thoroughly good and the bad, too entirely bad, but that’s the case with fairytales, which have also endured over time. This is an enjoyable, fast-paced, accessible little novel for kids and, in my opinion, it’s well worth reading. ( )

The Forgotten Door by Alexander Key

The Forgotten Door is a middle grade science fiction novel, published in 1965. The author is Alexander Key, who also wrote the more famous Escape to Witch Mountain.

The Forgotten Door is the story of a young boy who accidentally falls through a hidden interdimensional portal and finds himself in a cave in a mountainous region on Earth.

Jon finds a kind family, the Beans, who take him in and gradually come to realize that he originates from a society very unlike our own. The Beans are eager to assist Jon, but others in the community are suspicious, prejudiced, selfish, and greedy, and conflict inevitably ensues.

Jon incurs amnesia during his fall into the cave. He only remembers his name, and while he can recognize certain things like books, he is totally unfamiliar with other items commonly used by the society of the 1960s. At first, he speaks no English, but learns astonishingly quickly, and possesses other abilities which the local people begin to fear.

As the Beans work to help Jon recover his memory, they find themselves surrounded by enemies and in great danger.

The Forgotten Door is relatively short and fast-paced, with tension mounting continuously up to its climax.

Is the book perfect? By no means. The characters, while well drawn, are either good or bad, with no gray areas in between. Jon's thoughts on matters and his observations could also be considered somewhat moralizing. However, I only realized this when I had finished the book and was thinking about it analytically. While I was reading it, these criticisms did not occur to me.

I think what is special about The Forgotten Door is the underlying concept - that there could be civilizations so advanced that its members would be genuinely bewildered on encountering anyone who wished to do them harm.

Judging by the online comments and reviews, many people who were teens in the 1960s have very favorable memories of this book, and some have read it over and over again in order to savor the atmosphere and sense of wonder it evokes.

Since it can be read on different levels, young people and adults can enjoy it, and I consider it an excellent example of thought-provoking middle grade science fiction literature. ( )

This book, and A Wrinkle in Time, got me started on my lifelong love for science fiction. ( )

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An enjoyable story - but oddly not what I remembered reading long ago. I'm not sure if I'm mixing stories, or I was young enough that Little Jon felt older (that's what I remembered - a teenager at least). It's got a lot of similarities to Escape from Witch Mountain by the same author, though the ending is happier. Mysterious child appears in the mountains - a mystery even to himself, without his memory. His peculiar abilities first help him, then get him into trouble with the authorities. But rescue comes at the last minute, and things end well - I'd forgotten the family's choice, too. ( )