A few pages in, I started checking “hero” characteristics off in my mind. I can say that it was a lot of fun to reread in the Harry Potter era. I grew up with this book and have loved it all my life, so it’s hard for me to tell how well it’s aged. In several of the books (most notably The Case of the Vanishing Boy,) Key portrays some sort of communal withdrawing from society with a group of like-minded individuals.

The protagonists of Key's books are often ostracized, feared, or persecuted due to their abilities or alien origin, and Key uses this as a clear metaphor for racism and other prejudice. In The Strange White Doves, he professed his belief that animals are conscious and aware, and have subtle ways of communicating, perhaps via telepathy.

He is known for his portrayals of alien but human-like people who have psychic powers and a close communion with nature, and who can speak with animals. His novel The Incredible Tide became a popular anime series, Future Boy Conan. His novel Escape to Witch Mountain was made into a popular film in 1975 and again in 1995. After he began writing novels for young people, he moved his family to the North Carolina mountains, and most of his books include that wild and rugged landscape. He became a nationally known illustrator before he became an author. There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this nameĪn American science fiction writer, most of whose books were aimed at a juvenile audience.

Escape to witch mountain novel