The Castle in the Attic

The Castle in the Attic is a fantasy novel for middle-grade readers by Elizabeth Winthrop. Published in 1985, it tells the story of a young boy whose toy castle comes to life and draws him into a heroic adventure in which he must rescue his own nanny from a mistake he made.

Widely considered a children’s classic, the book and its sequel, The Battle for the Castle, were nominated for two dozen honors. The Castle in the Attic won the California Young Reader medal and Vermont’s Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children’s Book Award. Winthrop descends from the Alsop family of journalists, a family that made a name for itself in American journalism beginning in the 1930s. She has written more than 60 books for children and adults.

The book includes a floor plan of the castle drawn by Trina Schart Hyman.

This guide uses the 2012 Holiday House eBook edition of The Castle in the Attic.

Plot Summary

Mrs. Phillips has been William’s nanny since he was an infant. Now 10, he’s stunned to learn she’s leaving to return to England. He tries to prevent it by stealing a picture and a pin passed down from her family, two items she holds dear and wouldn’t leave without.