The House of Dies Drear is a 1968 novel by Virginia Hamilton

Virginia Hamilton

Virginia Esther Hamilton was an award-winning author of children's books. She wrote 41 books, including M. C. Higgins, the Great, for which she won the National Book Award in 1974 and the 1975 Newbery Medal....

. The novel takes place in 1968,Thomas Small, a 13-year-old African American

African American

African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

 boy, moves with his family into a house that was once part of the Underground Railroad

Underground Railroad

The Underground Railroad was an informal network of secret routes and safe houses used by 19th-century black slaves in the United States to escape to free states and Canada with the aid of abolitionists and allies who were sympathetic to their cause. The term is also applied to the abolitionists,...

that is in Ohio. His father, Mr. Small, tells Thomas that the caretaker of the house is Mr. Pluto. People think he is the devil because Mr. Pluto rides an old buggy driven by two horses and because Pluto is the roman name for Hades the god of the underworld. Once they move into the house, strange and scary things begin to happen. They meet a malicious family next to them, the Darrows. In the end, they learn that the Darrows are doing all they can to scare away the Smalls and get the treasure located in Mr. Pluto's cave.

The Smalls

The Smalls are an African American family that have moved from North Carolina to Ohio. The family consists of Mr. Small, who is going to take a job in Ohio at a college, his wife Mrs. Small, and their three sons, Thomas, Billy, and Buster. Mr. Small is the only one who has actually seen the house. The family feels that the House of Dies Drear is a bit strange, but better than the Southern racist community from where they came from. Then some people vandalized the Small's kitchen and Mayhew makes a plan to run them out of town.

• Thomas Small — the protagonist, a 13-year-old boy who is very curious about his new home. His hobby is whittling.
• Walter Small -- the father of Thomas with an important role of saving Pluto's cavern and its treasure.
• Billy and Buster -- Thomas' younger brothers, a set of twins.
• Mr. Pluto -- the caretaker of the house. He is known to be the devil because of the way he looks. He's actually a not bad person.
• Pesty -- taken in by the Darrows. She is Mr. Pluto's friend. Has many nicknames. She is a little older than Billy and Buster.

The Darrow feud

The Darrows have had a feud with Pluto since Grandpa Darrow's time. Mr. Pluto and the Darrows' grandpa were once friends when they were children. One of the youngest Darrow children, Mac, wishes to befriend Thomas, but is punished for attempting to do so. The Darrow boys were blamed for vandalizing the Smalls' kitchen when the Small family wasn't at home. So at the end Mayhew has a plan to scare the Darrows for good.

Red Herrings

There are red herrings, like when Mr. Pluto wears gloves you think he is hiding something on his hands, how he dresses weird. That sends you in the wrong direction, so you think that has something to do with why he is acting so strangely. As a matter of fact, this is because the man that barges into the Smalls' house is not Mr. Pluto at all. It is Mayhew Skinner, Pluto's son.