From School Library Journal
Grade 5-8–Just 15 minutes after Mister Monday(Scholastic, 2003) ended, with Arthur Penhaligon cleaning up the mess the slothful Mister Monday made of Earth, the asthmatic orphan is summoned again. His new adversary is Grim Tuesday, and once again he finds himself in a battle to the death to get the Second Key. If he gives in to the errant Days or loses the battle against them, he knows they will destroy his own home on Earth as well as the Denizens and inhabitants of the magical House, including his new friend and stalwart companion Suzy Turquoise Blue, one of the children spirited away from plague-ridden Europe by the Pied Piper centuries earlier. Grim Tuesday's weakness is greed, and the themes running through this book all revolve around excesses of manufacturing, copying, and accumulation. As before, Nix creates unusual characters, artifacts, and settings. Once again, Arthur proves himself a worthy hero as he overcomes his fears, weaknesses, and setbacks in order to save the people and the worlds that are depending on him, whether they know it or not. But of course, there will be more challenges to come. The series is aimed at a younger audience than Nix's masterful Sabriel (HarperCollins, 1996) and its sequels. While occasionally longer than they need to be, Arthur Penhaligon's adventures are absorbing and entertaining, with worthy characters and thought-provoking situations.–Susan L. Rogers, Chestnut Hill Academy, PA Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


Book Description
Arthur doesn't think he will ever have to return to the strange house that nearly killed him on Monday -- the house that contains an entire world. But Tuesday brings new challenges -- in the form of an enemy named Grim Tuesday, who threatens the well-being of both Arthur's family and his world. Arthur must retrieve the Second Key from Grim Tuesday in order to save everything -- an adventure that will include stealing a Sunship, surviving a very weird work camp, befriending a bearlike spirit, fighting the voidlike Nithlings, and traveling to the scary Far Reaches for the ultimate showdown.

ANNOTATION

Seventh-grader Arthur Penhaligon returns to the parallel universe known as the House to fight his latest enemy, Grim Tuesday, whose greed threatens to destroy both the House and the Earth.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Arthur Penhaligon didn't think he would ever have to return to the very strange house that nearly killed him on Monday -- the house that contains a fantastical and sinister realm inside.

But the next day brings new challenges -- in the form of an enemy named Grim Tuesday, who threatens the safety of both Arthur's family and his world. Arthur must retrieve the Second Key from Grim Tuesday in order to save everything -- an adventure that will force him to steal a Sunship, survive a very weird work camp, befriend a bearlike spirit, and fight the void Nithlings. And even after all that, he will still have to venture into the scary Far Reaches for an ultimate showdown.

The stakes are high. And time is ticking.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

The second in Garth Nix's Keys to the Kingdom series, Grim Tuesday, brings back Arthur Penhaligon after his defeat of the titular villain in Mister Monday. While a new nemesis, Grim Tuesday, attempts to challenge Arthur for control of his key, the young hero must deal with Nithlings, a shape-changing Scoucher and Grim's band of seven Grotesques. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Children's Literature - Kathleen Karr

Garth Nix burst on the literary scene with his riveting Shade's Children, a YA tale of life down under post-apocalypse. Now he is taking his futuristic stories to the middle grades with this new "Keys" series. Book 1 Mister Monday crossed into fantasy when its eleven-year-old hero, Arthur Penhaligon, was chosen to be the leader of another dimension during a near-death experience. Asthma and all, Arthur managed (with a little help) to overcome the amusingly indolent Mister Monday and grasp the keys of the first of the Seven Days that illegally rule The House. In Book 2, Arthur barely has a moment to catch his breath back on earth—a.k.a. The Secondary Realm—before he receives a non-negotiable return summons. This time his adversary is the truly grim lord of the Far Reaches, a kind of self-made hell. Arthur must journey as a slave into this pit, then beyond into the heart of a sun, to find the next paragraphs of the Will that will save the latest threats to his family back home. The young hero is fighting pure blackmail all the way, and surely could not succeed without the help of the sprightly and refreshingly irreverent ex-earthling, Suzy Blue. Arthur is an earnest young hero and his absurd adventures could well become addictive. So what's the pub' date for Book 3? 2004, Scholastic, Ages 10 to 14.

School Library Journal