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Summary: The House with a Clock in Its Walls
Review: "What if I were to raise a dead person by myself?" With Halloween coming up, this would be a perfect horror fantasy you would want to read. Orphaned Lewis Barnavelt comes to live with his Uncle Jonathan. He finds out an astonishing truth about his Uncle and his neighbor being a witch. Lewis loves watching his Uncle's amazing tricks. When he makes a mistake of not obeying his uncle and bringing the evil Selena Izard back to life, things don't go well. Selena Izard and her husband hold terrible secrets in their house. The clock that is always ticking in Jonathan's house gets louder. Now, the question is, can Lewis, his Uncle and Mrs.Zimmermen stop the clock before Selena Izard brings the world to an end? Read this amazing horror story to find out! I recommend this book to anyone who likes horror fantasies. It's a real page-turner. The author writes it in a way that makes you want to keep reading. There are a lot of surprises in the middle that makes you not want to put down the book. For example, there is this one time when Luke, his uncle and Mrs.Zimmermen take a car ride and then suddenly there is a car following them. To get out of danger they drive across a bridge and then they're safe. Hey, this kind of sounds like the Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Its like the character has to run across the bridge, so he is safe from the headless horseman. Anyways, I also think some of the characters in this book are interesting, like Uncle Jonathan and Mrs. Zimmerman. They're odd in some way, but that is what makes them fit in this story. To end it, this was a really hard book for me to put down. Read this amazing horror fantasy!
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Summary: My all time favorite book, because.....
Review: ..Lewis, the main character in the book, is FAT....just like me bhwahahhahaha. Seriously, i adore this book ever since i read it awhile back ago. It scare me alot like no other book ever did. I had nightmare where a clock is ticking inside the house and i was chubby Lewis, trying to find a way to save the world from destruction. I think i hid under the bed in my nightmares but that is another story. I saw the made for saturday movie based on the book but it was nowhere as scary. Read the book and be forewarn... it will scare you senseless. I am scared just by thinking about it. John Bellairs knows how to write a good scarefest with exact detail and heartfelt suspense. I have read his other books on the Lewis saga and enjoy every one but this one started it all. Check out Edward Gorey's illustration...this guy is good! Well that's enough...now give it a read....and be terrified!!!
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Summary: clock in it walls the best book ever
Review: A House With a Clock In Its Walls by John Bellairs is a mystery story with weird characters that will keep you reading. A long time ago a boy named Lewis lived in a house with his parents. One night his parents got in a auto axident and died. So he had to go live with his uncle Johnathan who lived in New Zebedee on Manision street with a huge house. His friend Miss Zimmerman lived next to him. I would recommend this book for people who like mysteries. I think this is one of the best books ever made. I would give this book to people who like slightly scary stories
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Summary: First and maybe the best
Review: Bellairs's first book may well be his best, a chilling ghost story that adds to my suspicion that he thought clocks were intrinsically evil (just joking) The young hero, a pleasant Charlie Brown type, is sent to live with his Uncle Jonathan at a rambling old mansion with hidden passages and big creaky rooms. He soon discovers that Jonathan is a wizard--so is the crotchety next-door-neighbor, Mrs. Zimmerman. And by attempting to impress his friend, Lewis has unleashed a long-dead evil force that is trying to bring about the end of the world... Aside from the ghost story, there is also an underlying theme concerning Lewis's friend, who taunts him into doing things he knows isn't right. Hopefully, this would affect readers into thinking over what a true friend, like Mrs. Zimmerman, is in comparison to the kids at school. Lewis is likable because of his truthful portrayal, an ugly duckling with a heart of gold. His uncle Jonathan is a rough diamond with a strange sense of humor, who will win over the readers immediately. Some readers might be offended by the usage of "white magic" and accidental "black magic," by the heroes of this book, but do keep in mind that the "white magic" is mostly illusions, like a holodeck, and Lewis almost dooms the world because of his dabblings in the "dark side," of which he quickly repents. The magic is of the type in many fantasy novels, unrealistic and dreamlike. This book is an excellent read!
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Summary: An excellent series!
Review: Funny, spooky, humorous, whimsical, and touching. The books in this series ("House With a Clock in it's Walls", "Figure in the Shadows", "The Letter, the Witch & the Ring") introduce Bellairs' best characters and strongest stories. If you enjoy Harry Potter, or C.S. Lewis' Narnia books, these are worth your time. Strong characters, both male and female, should provide someone for everyone to identify with. I think most readers would lobby to have these at every library that young people (and families) use.
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Summary: Lewis is NOT a Harry Potter
Review: I bought this book based on one of the "what to read while waiting for the next Potter book" lists. While the book is ok, it in no way compares to JK Rowling's works. In comparison, The House With A Clock In Its Walls is short, has a simplistic plot, and no character development except for Lewis, his uncle Jonathan and Mrs. Zimmerman. Lewis makes no real friends and is generally a weak character for the main character role. The art work reminds me of the original Adams Family cartoons minus the homor - dark and not overly interesting. Maybe this book will have more interest for a younger audience (which I am sure it was written for). But, as an adult (56), I find the Harry Potter series to have the kind of plot and character development that I find in a John Grisham novel while still appealing to the younger audience. Most adult appeal is certainly missing in this book.
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Summary: Still my all-time favorite book
Review: I first read "The House with a Clock in it's Walls" when I was ten years old. I immediately fell in love with it; reading and re-reading constantly. Now I'm thirty years old, and it is still my favorite. Last year I decided to collect all of his books and re-read them-it's been the most fun I've had in ages. Out of all of the John Bellairs books, this one, in my opinion, is the very best. It's scary and funny, the characters are warm, lovable and due to their magical history, fascinating. I fell in love all over again as I re-read this last week. God bless you, Mr. Bellairs. And thank-you for showing this "little girl" just what great writing is all about.
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Summary: a scary and mysterious ride
Review: i got this book for chrismas of 2002. at first i was little skeptical because it wasn't that big (179 pages) chicken sratch compared to what i usually read but when i actually started reading it i was amazed! John was a great writer, if only he had lived long enough to meet J.K. Rowling...the two would've been great buddies!
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Summary: timeless magic
Review: I had completely forgotten about this great book, a deceptively light take on magic and being an awkward pre-teen that sounds like Harry Potter but actually achieves more. Recently orphaned Lewis is our hero. Fat and friendless, he is consigned to his weird uncle Jonathan for safekeeping. Unfortunately (okay, luckily for us) Uncle Jonathan is a minor wizard who lives in a strange old house full of spells, books and secrets, and topped by an ominous cupola. For his middling powers, Uncle Jonathan is a strangely affecting character - proven when he "transports" them back through time so Lewis can witness the destruction of the Spanish Armada that Lewis had read about. (Jonathan's imagery is compelling, but isn't above reminding Lewis that it's still just imagery. Even so, the spell maintains the illusion until the Armada's bitter end.) Uncle Jonathan has a darker pre-occupation though - searching the house for a clock built and hidden by the house's previous owner, a wizard like Jonathan who proves to be a wizard at all like Uncle Jonathan. The clock, we are made to believe, is a doomsday clock. What Uncle Jonathan will do with the clock isn't clear, but it's moot given that the clock has eluded Jonathan's powers of detection. If "House" were about nothing more than the search for the missing clock, it would be one of countless forgettable stories about young magicians. Instead, Bellairs wonderful characterization threads doomsday magic with the horror of being a fat, lonely, orphaned boy in a strange world. Lewis befriends another boy, but the pairing leads to disaster in a slick plotline that leads back to the clock. The wonderful prose works the plot like a kind of magic - told through the dialog of orphan and wizard-uncle. "House" has a simple plot - that being lonely is as dire an existence as the brink of doom, but neither are inescapable. Though not as complex a story as "Harry Potter", "House" has a magic that remains undiminished. (And unless Rowling can raise the dead, "House" will also have the drawings of the late-great Edward Gorey to maintain its lead in the dark arts.) I first read this story while in 2nd grade, and kept coming back. Like a great spell, it offers something new on each read.
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Summary: Yesterday and Today
Review: I have been trying to think of some books I can give to my 10-year old niece and 12-year old nephew. For some reason, I could not get theis book out of my mind. I read it 12 years ago, when I was their age. Even though I had hundreds of other books in my room, I read it, and re-read it, and read it again until the pages were falling out and the paper backing had to be taped together. This is an excellent book filled with age-appropriate suspense, and I know I have to share it with these two wonderful kids.
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