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    Eight Keys
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    Eight Keys
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    Eight Keys
    Audiobook5 hours

    Eight Keys

    Written by Suzanne LaFleur

    Narrated by Georgette Perna

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    Elise and Franklin have always been best friends. Elise has always lived in the big house with her loving Uncle and Aunt, because Elise's parents died when she was too young to remember them.  There's always been a barn behind the house with eight locked doors on the second floor.

    When Elise and Franklin start middle school, things feel all wrong. Bullying. Not fitting in. Franklin suddenly seems babyish.  Then, soon after her 12th birthday, Elise receives a mysterious key left for her by her father. A key that unlocks one of the eight doors upstairs in the barn . . .

    SUNSHINE STATE AWARD FINALIST!

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateAug 9, 2011
    ISBN9780307941657
    Unavailable
    Eight Keys

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    Reviews for Eight Keys

    4/5

    105 ratings21 reviews

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      This book is about a girl named Elise. Elise is best friends with a boy named Franklin. He plays pretend games with her. She falls in one of their games and gets a scab. When school starts, a girl named Amanda says, "hi Scabular". When Elise gets to her locker, it turns out she is partners with Amanda, the girl who teased her. When she gets home, she can barely do any of her homework. The next day Elise misses the bus and has to miss school. She does this several times. One of her aunts and cousins are living in her house for a while. One day, as Elise is building a castle with Franklin, she sees a key. At that exact moment, her thumb gets injured by Franklin's hammer. She finds more of these keys and discovers eight locked rooms upstairs. What will she find in the rooms? This book will keep you in suspense. I really enjoyed this book. The mystery kept me on the edge of my seat. I wanted to find out more. My favorite character was Franklin because he would always act in an entertaining way. I recommend this book to fans of mystery and humor.
    • 4/5
      In this coming-of-age story Elise moves into middle school and re-evaluates her relationships with her family, her long-time friend Franklin and the new kids in her new school. It is also the year she discovers the keys that unlock the 8 doors in the barn and learns about life from her father who died when she was three.
    • 4/5
      an enjoyable book that introduces the reader to a young girl Elise who is struggling to deal with the emotional changes that pubertal change brings. Elise is being reared by her aunt and uncle as her birth mother dies not long after her birth and her father died from cancer when she was a toddler. Before he died her dad set up eight rooms in the barn for Elise to unlock when the 'time was right'. Elise is being bullied at school and her best friend Frankiln no longer seems cool to her. Elise finds the first key and unlocks the first door; this leads her to discover more about who she is and how she fits into the scheme of things. A journey of self discovery which allows Elise to gain self confidence and begin to achieve.
    • 5/5
      I tried to read listen to this book in the car. It was too hard to follow so I decided to buy the book and I couldn't put it down. It was such a great story about love and loss, friendship, struggles with getting older and finding yourself. I really enjoyed the story about Elise and her journey to find out what the eight keys were for. Elise lost her mom at birth and then her dad three years later to cancer. She now lives with her Aunt Bessie and Uncle Hugh. Elise has many struggles in school with a bully named Amanda, with her best friend Franklin and with her new journey to being in middle school and the work load. Elise turns 12 and receives her last letter from her dad on her birthday. He says that he has left something for her. She discovers a key with her name on it and wonders what it is for. She remembers that in the barn at her house, upstairs there are eight doors. She has never known what they were for. Throughout the story these random keys are showing up everywhere and she keeps opening the doors to see what her father left for her. I won't tell you what is in these doors because that is part of the story. I highly recommend this book. In the end she was able to find herself.
    • 5/5
      Loved this book! It made me think about my own family and how important they are to me. I just couldn't wait to find out what was in all the rooms so I had to keep reading.
    • 5/5
      I listend to this book on CD. Once I got past the reader, who distracted me, I really got into the story. I actually looked forward to driving in my car. Eight Keys has a phenomenal flow. In the middle section when everything seems to be going wrong the author doesn't solve the problems quickly but allows the reader to feel the time it takes Elise (spelling?) to become the person she wanted to be in the first place. As a reader I was frustrated with the lack of support her family gave her when they found out abou the bullying. I just wanted to go in and talk to the principal myself. At the sametime I appreciate the internal struggle she had with various choices she made throughout the story. It felt real and it showed the impact bullying can have on kids. I think this book would be a great read aloud to get students thinking about themselves and their own self esteem. It is a great life lesson book without smacking the reader on the head. By the way I loved the empty room!
    • 5/5
      I loved this book! I loved the way the story was written, I felt like I could be in the story and be Elise. I love how she has a hard time with friends and school and then it gets better as she starts opening more doors. Kids could really relate to this story. It was my favorite book I have read during this class.
    • 3/5
      Eleven-year-old Elise has been raised by her aunt and uncle since the death of both her parents. Her mother died during childbirth and her father a few years later from cancer. Her father left her letters which she receives on her birthday each year, with this year's one being the last. She is having a bad time in her first year at intermediate. The homework expectations of the teachers are higher than at primary school, and she has become the target of a bully. On a daily basis her school locker-buddy squashes her lunch and uses any opportunity to call her names and laugh at her. She doesn't want to go to school and stops doing her homework. Telling a teacher does not help. Her best friend, Franklin, just makes things worse. He is Elise's neighbour and they have been friends for years, although his quirky behaviour has suddenly started embarrasing Elise. One day Elise discovers a key with her name on it. Not knowing where it will lead she tries one of the eight locked doors in her uncles barn and discovers her past, her present, and her future. An interesting coming-of-age tale for tweens. Age 11 .
    • 5/5
      Elise has started a new school and things are not going well. She has become the target of a bully and her long-time friend, Franklin, seems to make things worse. On her 12th birthday she receives the last of the letters her father wrote her before he died and in it he mentions something else he has left for her to discover and unlock - 8 keys which open 8 rooms.This books is an absorbing read about a very real girl facing very real problems. It would appeal to girls aged 9 and up.
    • 3/5
      This book is suppose to be for preteens however adults may like it as well, I did. I really enjoyed this coming of age book or girls. It took me back to when I was 11 turning 12 in fact Elise and I have our birthdays the same month. I could see myself at that age in her and Franklin. Her road to self discovery was enjoyable. I would highly recommend this book for any preteen girl. I wished I knew one to past my copy on to. * I received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads.
    • 4/5
      Elise is starting middle school, and she is off to a bad start. Her locker mate torments her every day, and she is having a hard time keeping up with her classes. Before her father passed away, he built eight rooms in a barn, all holding a special meaning for whenever Elise was ready to discover in her life. It was a very touching story, and moving. It proves that the love a parent has for a child is limitless. Any child can relate to Elise or her friends, Caroline and Franklin. The first two chapters were a bid dull, but the pace picked up quickly after the 5th chapter. I would definitely use this book to read with my class together for Reading, and we would have daily discussions on each chapter. They could also write how they felt about certain situations in their journals.
    • 3/5
      So, I was under the somewhat misguided opinion that Eight Keys was a YA book for the younger YA audience. Yep, I was sort of mistaken. Eight Keys is a children's book. A good one, but a children's book nonetheless. So keep that in mind if you want to read this because you think it's a YA book. It's not. Now that I got that out of the way, I'll say that I really did like Eight Keys. I thought that it was a very cute, yet emotional read. In fact, the meaning of the eight different keys did tug at my heart strings a little. The main character Elise is someone you can root for and it's easy to get into the different problems she has in middle school. All in all, I think Eight Keys is a great read for the pre-teen set. If you're older than that, then you might not enjoy it much.
    • 5/5
      A beautiful story. I enjoyed it as much as my granddaughters did and didn’t want it to end. Hope to find more like this.
    • 5/5
      I thought it was interesting a kid getting to know her day though eight different rooms
    • 3/5
      A good friend is one of the hardest things to keep in this life. Don't forget that sometimes you have to work at it.
      --Chapter 19

      Sometimes you are friends with someone just because you're used to it, and maybe you forget why it happened in the first place.
      --Chapter 9

      Trying to figure out why things change is probably even harder than trying to figure out how they started.
      --Chapter 9

      Elise is starting 6th grade. She is trying to figure out who she is and who she wants to be. Both her parents are dead and she was raised by her Aunt & Uncle. When she turns 12, she finds a key to one of the 8 locked rooms above the barn. When she opens the first one, she realizes that her father left the key and the room for her. And, there are 7 more locked rooms, but where are the keys? This is a good time for Elise to find out more about her father. She is having difficulty with school, with bullying and with figuring out how to be a good friend.

      This is a cute story and Elise is a nice girl, but she makes some not so nice decisions. Still, she is a likable character. There isn't much new or exciting in this story but it is a enjoyable read. Elise grows and learns a lot during the course of the story about who she is and who she wants to be.

      Recommended to:
      Young girls in grades 3-6 will enjoy this story. I think it will help them learn more about empathy and how to be a friend.
    • 4/5
      For Elise, nothing has seemed right since middle school started. She gets tortured by her locker partner and can't get her homework done. A new baby moves into her house, interrupting her wonderful life with uncle Hugh and at Bessie. Worst of all, things with her best friend, Franklin, I just not the same as they used to be.
    • 4/5
      3.5 stars rating... better than average, but not lingers-with-you-afterwards. I read this with my daughters (5th and 7th graders) and, while 15 minutes several night a week makes this a longer than it should be read, we easily came back into the story after not reading for a day or two and slipped right back into Elise's story. Appropriate for children making transitions into Middle school -- it is an awkward, uncertain, uneasy time for many to go from their known world of elementary school to the unknown world of middle school. Elise didn't make all the right choices and had to make amends for her errors. Of course, by the end, friends, emotions and school/studies were back in the right "place".
    • 4/5
      A very nice little read about friendship and what it's like to be a kid on the way to growing up. I wouldn't call it a "coming-of-age" story, because Elise is only 11, but she does learn a lot about growing up in general.When Elise was depressed and miserable, I genuinely felt depressed and miserable. Those parts really were well done. Other times, she wasn't so believable. Near the beginning, I had a hard time understanding exactly how old she was supposed to be. Sometimes she felt really young and then she'd act older and I just wasn't sure. Maybe that was the point, since she herself gets confused about who she is.Franklin's cool. He has my approval. Elise's family also has my approval. They're all very cool.
    • 4/5
      "Eight Keys" by Suzanne LaFleur unlocked a hidden surprise! Elise's twelfth birthday is just around the corner. She is hoping that when she turns twelve, something will finally happen that was good in her life for once. Her parents both died when she was little, and she needs some happiness sprinkled upon her. But, boy was she wrong. Elise has just started middle school, and everything is a mess. Her mean locker partner, Amanda; squashes her lunch EVERYDAY and constantly makes fun of her and her best friend Franklin. Things haven't been so good between her and Franklin lately, either. Ever since Amanda bullied Elise for all the scabs on her legs that she got from playing "knights" in the woods with Franklin, things went downhill. Elise was embarrassed that people thought she was hanging around with such a baby. And on top of that, something even worse happens and Franklin ends up taking all the blame; which pushes their friendship even farther apart. Then a very nice girl named Caroline comes along and Elise starts to enjoy life again. But will things ever be the same between her and Franklin? Will Amanda ever feel a taste of her own medicine for once? Read this book to find out if one of the mysterious eight keys Elise finds along the way can unlock the door to happiness.
    • 3/5
      Eleven-year-old Elise has been raised by her aunt and uncle since the death of both her parents. Her mother died during childbirth and her father a few years later from cancer. Her father left her letters which she receives on her birthday each year, with this year's one being the last. She is having a bad time in her first year at intermediate. The homework expectations of the teachers are higher than at primary school, and she has become the target of a bully. On a daily basis her school locker-buddy squashes her lunch and uses any opportunity to call her names and laugh at her. She doesn't want to go to school and stops doing her homework. Telling a teacher does not help. Her best friend, Franklin, just makes things worse. He is Elise's neighbour and they have been friends for years, although his quirky behaviour has suddenly started embarrasing Elise. One day Elise discovers a key with her name on it. Not knowing where it will lead she tries one of the eight locked doors in her uncles barn and discovers her past, her present, and her future. An interesting coming-of-age tale for tweens. Age 11 .
    • 5/5
      I loved LaFleur’s debut novel, Love, Aubrey and her second novel, Eight Keys was just as good. Elise has lived with her aunt and uncle ever since her father died when she was 3. She loves her aunt and uncle, and spends much of her time playing with her best friend named Franklin. But now that Elise is turning 12 and entering middle school, her safe, comfortable life seems to be changing. Suddenly, “playing” is no longer the cool thing to do, a 6th grade bully is picking on her, homework is piling up, and Elise begins to take out her frustration on the one friend who loves her as she is, Franklin. One day, Elise discovers a key in the barn with her name on it. Looking for answers, she takes the key and unlocks a door that gives her back the past, while at the same time, helping her to begin moving forward.This is an excellent book for 5th-7th grade girls. Elise’s story is honest and real. LaFleur deals with the realities of friendship and middle school without exaggeration. And although Elise must find her own answers, she is surrounded by loving adults as well.