Chances are, if you read one book by author John Bellairs, you'll want to track down all of them. They're that good.
I first discovered John Bellairs when I was 10 years old and saw the spooky cover of The House with a Clock in its Walls in the school library. After that first creepy book, I was hooked. I still am.
In The House with a Clock in its Walls orphan Lewis Barnavelt is sent to live with his strange Uncle Jonathan in New Zebedee, Michigan, where Lewis's life takes a supernatural turn. Uncle Jonathan is a wizard, you see, and not only does the next-door neighbor, Mrs. Zimmerman, make excellent chocolate chip cookies—she's also a powerful witch.
Though fun-loving Uncle Jonathan and Mrs. Zimmerman strictly use their white magic for good (and a little bit of evening entertainment), Lewis tries to impress a classmate with a magic spell and soon makes a bad mistake: he revives evil Mrs. Izard from the dead. Mrs. Izard, a black magic sorceress, plans on destroying the world with her husband's doomsday clock unless Lewis and company can stop her in time.
In addition to the high fright factor, Bellairs' books are loaded with laughs. My favorite character is wacky old Mrs. Zimmerman, and not just because she believes in cookies and poker for every occasion. Everything in her house is purple, right down to the toilet paper. And while she and Uncle Jonathan are best friends, they take great delight in creating nicknames for each other like Hag Face, Weird Beird, Frizzy Wig, and Pruny.
Julia Durango
Children's book review, August 15, 2000
geocities.com/juliadurango/btbbellairs.html
I first discovered John Bellairs when I was 10 years old and saw the spooky cover of The House with a Clock in its Walls in the school library. After that first creepy book, I was hooked. I still am.
In The House with a Clock in its Walls orphan Lewis Barnavelt is sent to live with his strange Uncle Jonathan in New Zebedee, Michigan, where Lewis's life takes a supernatural turn. Uncle Jonathan is a wizard, you see, and not only does the next-door neighbor, Mrs. Zimmerman, make excellent chocolate chip cookies—she's also a powerful witch.
Though fun-loving Uncle Jonathan and Mrs. Zimmerman strictly use their white magic for good (and a little bit of evening entertainment), Lewis tries to impress a classmate with a magic spell and soon makes a bad mistake: he revives evil Mrs. Izard from the dead. Mrs. Izard, a black magic sorceress, plans on destroying the world with her husband's doomsday clock unless Lewis and company can stop her in time.
In addition to the high fright factor, Bellairs' books are loaded with laughs. My favorite character is wacky old Mrs. Zimmerman, and not just because she believes in cookies and poker for every occasion. Everything in her house is purple, right down to the toilet paper. And while she and Uncle Jonathan are best friends, they take great delight in creating nicknames for each other like Hag Face, Weird Beird, Frizzy Wig, and Pruny.
Julia Durango
Children's book review, August 15, 2000
geocities.com/juliadurango/btbbellairs.html
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