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by Rho Weber Mack (Author)
Fifteen-year-old Ramie just wants a better story than the impossible one she was born into. When she refuses to swallow the lies around her "like a happy pill," she is caught between two competing, contradictory stories of her identify.
The NORML* version of her life, the one everyone else believes, leads to betrayal, heartbreak, and danger, with no choice but to play her part in the game. The other version opens a door to an alternate world where she is The Mysterious Mannikin, The Miss Who, and where it seems she can choose any story of herself. Hungry to belong, she summons the ultimate cool boy Xavier who begins to take over her story-and then her identity. And the one girl who could save her is the friend she has betrayed.
What Ramie doesn't know is that she is on the oldest journey on earth. What she doesn't guess is that there are allies waiting for her to notice them. What she discovers is that finding her own best life means opening an unexpected, terrifying Door.
The Thin Door is a slipstream YA novel that blends myth, dystopia, and raw contemporary realism, where Little Red Riding Hood enters the matrix. It's also a book-as-toy, with hidden tracks, sketch-and-journal prompts, free speech bubbles, and interactive elements that invite readers to step inside Ramie's world to write or draw a story of their own.
The Thin Door is a gift for teens who feel unseen, for parents who have lost that mysterious map to initiation, and for counselors and therapists in search of conversation-starters. The Thin Door opens into a story of resilience, identity, and finding one's allies in unexpected places. For the screen oriented or reluctant reader, playful graphic elements and visual cues help to tell the story. For the disenfranchised, Ramie's desperate ride on an old beater bike in search of a better version of her life leads to an unexpected encounter with herself. For the myth lover, the Map of the Realm offers a personal map of the Hero's Journey.
* In Ramie's private opinion, The NORML world, the one everyone else seems to live in, is Not Only Real, Mostly Lies. So NORML, no one notices.
