smith-jones reviewed The Best of John Bellairs: The House with a Clock in Its Walls / The Figure in the Shadows / The Letter, the Witch, and the Ring on + 47 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
This tittle contains three stories in one. This review is based on the first story The House with a Clock.
This turned out to be a warm and fun book full of magic and mystery and the battle of four wizards in search for a mysterious clock hidden between the walls of an old house. The house becomes the new home of recently orphaned 10 year old Lewis who is now living with his uncle Jonathan -a bachelor- who has this wacky neighbor Mrs. Zimmerman.
During the first days of Lewis' living with his uncle, Lewis learns Jonathan is a parlor magician and that he is a pretty eccentric one. Both uncle Jonathan and Mrs. Zimmerman are wizards but young Lewis doesn't know that yet. He just knows that at night they act strangely and that the house comes alive with a constant tick tock noise emanating through the walls.
The mysterious clock is heard through the walls of this house but only one wizard knows why its ticking increases with time as if forecasting something bad about to explode.
The one wizard who hid the clock knows of it and where it is but that wizard is dead and trapped in his tomb. He cannot get out unless somebody releases him or his dead wife.
It is a book for middle school children, surprisingly well written and with an excellent story line with warm and compassionate characters. It deals with a young boy trying to fit in in a new city, new school with its own bullies and a new set of family members wacky and all.
By the way, 10 year old Lewis is very well loved and cared for by uncle Jonathan and Mrs. Zimmerman the neighboring wizard.
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This turned out to be a warm and fun book full of magic and mystery and the battle of four wizards in search for a mysterious clock hidden between the walls of an old house. The house becomes the new home of recently orphaned 10 year old Lewis who is now living with his uncle Jonathan -a bachelor- who has this wacky neighbor Mrs. Zimmerman.
During the first days of Lewis' living with his uncle, Lewis learns Jonathan is a parlor magician and that he is a pretty eccentric one. Both uncle Jonathan and Mrs. Zimmerman are wizards but young Lewis doesn't know that yet. He just knows that at night they act strangely and that the house comes alive with a constant tick tock noise emanating through the walls.
The mysterious clock is heard through the walls of this house but only one wizard knows why its ticking increases with time as if forecasting something bad about to explode.
The one wizard who hid the clock knows of it and where it is but that wizard is dead and trapped in his tomb. He cannot get out unless somebody releases him or his dead wife.
It is a book for middle school children, surprisingly well written and with an excellent story line with warm and compassionate characters. It deals with a young boy trying to fit in in a new city, new school with its own bullies and a new set of family members wacky and all.
By the way, 10 year old Lewis is very well loved and cared for by uncle Jonathan and Mrs. Zimmerman the neighboring wizard.
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Karissa E. (ophelia99) reviewed The Best of John Bellairs: The House with a Clock in Its Walls / The Figure in the Shadows / The Letter, the Witch, and the Ring on + 2527 more book reviews
I was absolutely obsessed with everything by John Bellairs when I was in the 10-11 year old age range. Being that the movie âA House With a Clock in its Wallsâ is supposed to release soon, I thought I would go back and give this childhood favorite a re-read. Honestly this was a bit disappointing; this story and book just didn't hold up very well over time fo rme. This is one of those childhood favorites I kind of wish I hadn't gone back and re-read.
I was a bit disappointed on how much of the story focuses on Lewis and him struggling to keep his âfriendâ interested in him. There is lots of talk about baseball (which I had forgotten about) and a lot of discussion of history which was okay. In the end though the majority of this story is fairly...well...boring.
I did still enjoy the mystery behind the ticking in the old house Lewis moves in to. I was also impressed by the magic in this book and how dark and mysterious it is. I think if you took out all the weird catering of Lewis to a boy who obviously didn't like him and all the strange baseball references; this could make a pretty good movie.
Overall this is one I wish I hadn't re-read. My childhood memories of it were much better than the actual book itself. I wouldn't really recommend to modern middle grade aged readers. A lot of references and topics in here are fairly dated and the story wasn't all that exciting.
I was a bit disappointed on how much of the story focuses on Lewis and him struggling to keep his âfriendâ interested in him. There is lots of talk about baseball (which I had forgotten about) and a lot of discussion of history which was okay. In the end though the majority of this story is fairly...well...boring.
I did still enjoy the mystery behind the ticking in the old house Lewis moves in to. I was also impressed by the magic in this book and how dark and mysterious it is. I think if you took out all the weird catering of Lewis to a boy who obviously didn't like him and all the strange baseball references; this could make a pretty good movie.
Overall this is one I wish I hadn't re-read. My childhood memories of it were much better than the actual book itself. I wouldn't really recommend to modern middle grade aged readers. A lot of references and topics in here are fairly dated and the story wasn't all that exciting.
