If your kids - or, let's face it, you - loved J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter, you might want to pick up this first in John Bellairs' classic, magical series. In The House with a Clock in its Walls, we meet Lewis Barnavelt, a chubby, bookwormish orphan on his way to live with his mysterious uncle Jonathan in the summer of 1948. Lewis soon learns his burly, red-bearded uncle is a lot of fun, but he's also a bit of a weirdo: just what is he doing every night, walking the halls of his old mansion, banging on the plaster, listening at the walls? Turns out the mansion's previous owner was Isaac Izard, an evil wizard who placed an enchanted clock somewhere inside--an enchanted clock that will bring the end of the world when it winds down. The benign magic practiced by Uncle Jonathan (who likes to use it to change the scenes in his stained-glass windows) and the kindly-but-powerful witch next door, Mrs. Zimmermann, might be enough to stop the clock, if they can find it . . . but meanwhile, Lewis has his own problems. Seems he's got a shot at friendship with the school's most popular bully - perhaps a magic show will be just the thing to win a new friend? No? Well, how about raising the dead on Halloween?
That's right: raising the dead. There are a few daring moves in this book, written well before This Golden Age of Coddling Child Readers. Hands of Glory, Coke bottles full of blood, undead henchmen...and some scary bits that are sure to creep out the age 8-12 set. But don't worry: Bellairs' story is also full of humor, surreal magic, and love. How often do you get to read novels about kids who form real friendship and love with their estranged uncle and the old lady next door? Who would rather explore the dusty nooks of an old mansion than hang out at the mall?
Speaking of that dusty old mansion, it's appropriately illustrated by the late Edward Gorey. His line drawings - textured, deceptively simple and mysterious - complement the novel perfectly and provide yet another reason why this nearly thirty-year-old book has not gone out of print.
Jennifer Gomoll
That's right: raising the dead. There are a few daring moves in this book, written well before This Golden Age of Coddling Child Readers. Hands of Glory, Coke bottles full of blood, undead henchmen...and some scary bits that are sure to creep out the age 8-12 set. But don't worry: Bellairs' story is also full of humor, surreal magic, and love. How often do you get to read novels about kids who form real friendship and love with their estranged uncle and the old lady next door? Who would rather explore the dusty nooks of an old mansion than hang out at the mall?
Speaking of that dusty old mansion, it's appropriately illustrated by the late Edward Gorey. His line drawings - textured, deceptively simple and mysterious - complement the novel perfectly and provide yet another reason why this nearly thirty-year-old book has not gone out of print.
Jennifer Gomoll
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