Comments of Praise, Richly Compiled

Catherine Dalek commented on some of her summer reading list, including few Bellairs titles:

Obviously I’m not the target audience. however, I’m not sure how well novels written in the 1980s but set in the 1950s resonate with today’s ten year olds.

What say you, readers of today?  Do you enjoy reading of the world 50+ years ago or is too strange a time and place to bother with?  We wonder how John would have been affected by - or would have affected - children’s literature trends were he still around.

Other recent topics from other fans include:

• Tell Him Fred references the Dixon series characters (when they probably meant the Barnavelt series characters, what with the mention of deerstalker hat) when discussing Celtic basketball prowess.  Plus it's always weird seeing the home-made graphics we made for Bellairsia appear elsewhere (we're cool with, just didn't expect it):

"The Celtics are the most Jeckyll-and-Hyde team I’ve ever seen, and that includes the 1999 Red Sox. One night they show up and shove your face into the yellow snow like an 8th grade bully drunk on power. The next night they’re Johnny Dixon getting pushed down by Eddie Tompke and having his deerstalker hat stolen."

• It’s Favorite Author Meme time again and someone’s picked John’s The House with a Clock in its Walls:

The first author I remember being obsessed with – as in, I’ve got to read everything by this person – was John Bellairs.

• Finally, it's nice to see Johnny Dixon and friends in what appears to be some sort of class assignment. You can quiz yourself over The Eyes of the Killer Robot, too, but we have no idea what this means. Unless “dozer” is just a sly, mistyped Slavitza Jovan reference?

Sloane is the bad guy....the only thing he needs is the eyes, human eyes, and he’s chosen Johnny as the perfect dozer [...].