The Explorers: The Door in the Alley blog tour

Thank you to Random House/Delacorte Books for Young Readers for providing me with a review copy of The Door in the Alley for this blog tour.

The Explorers: The Door in the Alley by Adrienne Kress
Published: April 25, 2017
Publisher: Delacorte
Pages: 320
Genre: Fantasy
Audience: Middle Grade

From Goodreads:
Featuring a mysterious society, a secretive past, and a pig in a teeny hat, The Explorers: The Door in the Alley is the first book in a new series for fans of The Name of This Book Is Secret and The Mysterious Benedict Society. Knock once if you can find it—but only members are allowed inside.

This is one of those stories that start with a pig in a teeny hat. It’s not the one you’re thinking about. (This story is way better than that one.)

This pig-in-a-teeny-hat story starts when a very uninquisitive boy stumbles upon a very mysterious society. After that, there is danger and adventure; there are missing persons, hired thugs, a hidden box, a lost map, and famous explorers; and also a girl on a rescue mission.

The Explorers: The Door in the Alley is the first book in a series that is sure to hit young readers right in the funny bone.


Fantasy can sometimes be a hard sell to readers because there is so much that background knowledge can't help you with when you're entering a world you've never encountered before. So fantasy with a touch of humor can often make the difficulty of interpreting a new world much more digestible...   the spoonful of sugar to help the medicine go down, if you will.

After I finished reading the ARC of The Door in the Alley, I offered it up to my 6th graders by raffling it off, and I had quite a few students clamoring to read it. The student that did win the copy informed me she enjoyed it greatly and passed it on to a friend. I think this will be the start of a fun and entertaining series for middle grade readers!