First Published: 1992

Rating: Great

"I was found on the drawbridge of Toad-in-a-Cage Castle on a cold December night."

Bruce Coville wrote many of the science fiction and fantasy stories that I loved reading as a child--in fact, I'll confess that I still have at least ten of them on my shelf today so I can give them a reread when I'm feeling nostalgic. Among my favorites is a stand-alone tale called Goblins in the Castle, a story about a boy named William who discovers a dark secret of his castle home and sets out to right wrongs with the help of some new friends.

Dropped off on the steps of Toad-in-a-Cage Castle when he was an infant, William was taken in by the Baron, a distant old man who can't seem to keep his young charge's name straight. Also living in the castle are Karl, the librarian, and Hulda, the housekeeper; apart from Nurse, who died when William was five, they are the only people the young boy has ever known. He never leaves the castle and, apart from a few visitors for the Baron, no one really comes in.

Unable to sleep due to the sound of moaning voices in the hall, William passes his time exploring his home via a series of secret passages, carefully avoiding the mist-shrouded North Tower and the dungeons. But one night he finds a new passageway that leads down into the depths of the castle, and there he finds a strange man named Igor who lives in a cell with his teddy bear.

One night, when the voices in the hall grow particularly loud, William decides to see what's behind the door to the North Tower. Unknowingly, he unleashes a horde of mischief-making, house-cleaning goblins into the countryside. With the help of Igor, a girl in the woods named Fauna, and a tricky young goblin named Herky, William sets off to the goblin kingdom of Nilbog to set things right by recapturing the goblins who wreaked havoc years ago--but on the way, he learns that while what he's doing is right, it might be for the wrong reasons.

Goblins in the Castle isn't complicated in terms of plot, but that doesn't mean that younger kids (and the young at heart) won't enjoy it. William's story is told from a first-person perspective (as is the case with many of Coville's books), though the book is more driven by the story and other characters than by William himself. The tale maintains its focus on William's quest to get to Nilbog throughout; readers who are interested in knowing about William's past or other subplots will be disappointed, as there's very little mention of them.

Parents reading the book with their children will still find things to talk about, though, since Coville's books often attempt to get values or moral ideas across to the reader. For instance, William starts out thinking that the goblins are bad, but throughout the story he meets other characters who tell him about the goblins from their own perspectives, and he's left having to make his own decision about who is right and what to believe. The plot makes for an interesting discussion about both discerning what is right and having the courage to do it.

Coville is an excellent storyteller, and Goblins in the Castle is high on my list of favorites when it comes to his work (trumped, in fact, only by his series of books about Rod Allbright). It's a great story to read chapter-by-chapter before bedtime, or even all in one go on a rainy day, and one parents and kids will probably both enjoy.

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