The House With a Clock in Its Walls

Rating:
Summary: Bellairs' Best
Review: It was his first Gothic chiller for the younguns, and was his best.

Orphan Lewis Barnavelt moves to the town of New Zebedee, MI, to live with his uncle Jonathan, only to find himself in the middle of eerie goings on. Why does his uncle behave so oddly? Why do things change around the house? Why does the front hall mirror show images of faraway places? And...what is the reason for the ticking sound heard in the walls of the old Victorian mansion they live in?

All this is contrasted with some of the everyday problems that Lewis faces. He's a fat, bookish kid who's no good at sports and also fairly depressed, so of course he worries about bullies and about making friends.

Supernatural chills abound as Lewis discovers that his uncle is a wizard (although not a very powerful one) and that another, evil wizard is using the clock for a nefarious purpose. The story ends happily and has a good message about courage.

Bellairs maintains just the right balance between scares and whimsy in this terrific little book, great for middle readers and for adults looking for an afternoon's amusement. I would like to see the return of the original Edward Gorey cover, but his illustrations are still there and are sublime.

Rating:
Summary: Not Just For Kids
Review: John Bellairs had a natural flair for gothic fantasy leaving us several very fine stories before his early death. THE HOUSE WITH THE CLOCK IN ITS WALLS was the first in a series featuring Louis Barnavelt. Set in the 1950's (which seemed to be Bellair's favorite period)it centers on an old mansion inside of which can be heard an unseen ticking clock. The fact that the house once belonged to a wizard with a bad reputation convinces Louis and his Uncle Jonathan that there is something sinister behind the ticking. It is a well written tale that quite frankly not just for children. If you have a lazy afternoon or perhaps a stormy night it would make a great read.

Rating:
Summary: I grew up with this book
Review: John Bellairs is a relation of mine--he's a cousin of my grandmother, so I grew up with this book. The character, Rose Rita, is based on my Great Aunt, Rosie, and the house in which it is set in is a house that I have been to countless times. My Grandmother cleans it for the old woman who lives there. I love this book because it is not necessarily written for children--I am 16, and I still enjoy it; it an all of his books. But because it has special sentimental value for me, I love it all the more, and am flattered that you all have given it such good reviews :)

Rating:
Summary: I've BEEN in the House With The Clock In Its Walls!
Review: John Bellairs' books are wonderful-- spooky, exciting, funny and mysterious. His books are are based on a real town, Marshall, MI. I grew up in this town and have BEEN in the house he uses as a model for The House With The Clock In Its Walls. The house is even creepier in person. If you want a great book with a true hero, this is for you! If you are ever in Marshall, MI, go visit the House...

Rating:
Summary: The House With a Clock in Its Walls review by Meghan Feely
Review: Looking for a great read? That is what readers are sure to find when they step into the wild adventures of The House With a Clock in It's Walls by John Belliars. From the very get go readers will be sucked into the mysterious and incredibly thought out plot in this classic adventure tale. Bellairs does a wonderful job of incorporating magic and adventure and the everyday troubles of childhood in this exciting story about a orphan boy by the name of Lewis Barnavelt. When Lewis's parents die, he ends up living with his Uncle Jonathon. Now Uncle Jonathon isn't the most normal uncle in the world. He is very strange person, He walks the halls at night and Lewis even gets the impression that he is afraid of the dark. But his huge house is probably just as much as strange as he is. First of all there are stained glass windows all over the house that change images all by themselves! Also, there is a magical coat rack that has a magical mirror on it. But the most mysterious thing about the house is all of the clocks in it and one night when Lewis decides to ask his Uncle Jonathon about these mysterious clocks, he finds out that the clocks are there to drown out another clock, an evil clock hidden in the walls of the house. He also finds out that they were put there by Isaac Izard, an evil wizard who lived in Uncle Jonathon's house until he died many years ago in an attempt to destroy the world. Now Lewis, his wizard uncle, and his witch friend, Mrs. Zimmerman, are out to find this clock and save the world. But when Lewis accidently lets Mrs. Izard, Isaac's wife, out of her grave things get tricky. Can Lewis and his friends destroy the secret clock and an evil spirit too? Find out by reading The House With a Clock in It's Walls and make sure to put your seat belts on because your about to go on a wild ride!








Rating:
Summary: One of my childhood favorites
Review: Lots of reviews here recount the plot, so I'll skip that.

This book is great fun for younguns who enjoy a good eerie tale. I first read this about 1978 and enjoy revisiting it every so often. Lewis is a great character, smart but also emotional and prone to making bad decisions. He's also fat, bookish and not good at sports although he keeps trying and trying. His Uncle Jonathan is a great parental figure, loving, nonjudgemental but also seemingly baffled sometimes by dealing with his nephew, someone who's a lot like him.

The plot is full of chills and thrills. It does amble somewhat and there are lots of scenes that have nothing or little to do with the main storyline, but this book is also a primer for Bellair's world of wizards and supernatural chills.

The book has a good message about courage that lots of kids like Lewis would benefit from hearing. It helped me as a bookish kid who was no good at sports (although I wasn't fat...that waited until I was an adult!). The writing is brisk and Bellairs is a master of atmosphere. He creates a great feel for the old house and the town of New Zebedee.

As an adult, I enjoy this book immensely, and highly recommend it to kids. Parents whose kids enjoy a good chill may enjoy sharing it with them. Kids who enjoy Harry Potter are likely to enjoy this as well. Bellairs' books are basically gothic horror for the younger set, and this was his first in that genre and his best.

P.S. Hollywood, if you're reading...these books would make great movies, or maybe a TV series!

Rating:
Summary: One of my childhood favorites
Review: Lots of reviews here recount the plot, so I'll skip that.

This book is great fun for younguns who enjoy a good eerie tale. I first read this about 1978 and enjoy revisiting it every so often. Lewis is a great character, smart but also emotional and prone to making bad decisions. He's also fat, bookish and not good at sports although he keeps trying and trying. His Uncle Jonathan is a great parental figure, loving, nonjudgemental but also seemingly baffled sometimes by dealing with his nephew, someone who's a lot like him.

The plot is full of chills and thrills. It does amble somewhat and there are lots of scenes that have nothing or little to do with the main storyline, but this book is also a primer for Bellair's world of wizards and supernatural chills.

The book has a good message about courage that lots of kids like Lewis would benefit from hearing. It helped me as a bookish kid who was no good at sports (although I wasn't fat...that waited until I was an adult!). The writing is brisk and Bellairs is a master of atmosphere. He creates a great feel for the old house and the town of New Zebedee.

As an adult, I enjoy this book immensely, and highly recommend it to kids. Parents whose kids enjoy a good chill may enjoy sharing it with them. Kids who enjoy Harry Potter are likely to enjoy this as well. Bellairs' books are basically gothic horror for the younger set, and this was his first in that genre and his best.

P.S. Hollywood, if you're reading...these books would make great movies, or maybe a TV series!

Rating:
Summary: Fun, scary read for fright fans!
Review: Louis Barnavelt, recently orphaned, goes to live with his UncleJonathan, whom he's never met. When his arrives in New Zebedee, UncleJonathan picks him up at the airport and takes him to his home--a huge, spooky mansion with secret passages and mysterious rooms.

Uncle Jonathan's best friend, Mrs. Zimmerman, is in the house, and as Louis walks in, he finds her listening to the walls. To his astonishment and delight, Louis discovers that Uncle Jonathan is a wizard, Mrs. Zimmerman is a witch, and they both love poker and chocolate chip cookies.

Louis also discovers that Uncle Jonathan's house was once owned by an evil wizard--a Mr. Izzard who has hidden a magic clock somewhere in the walls of the house--a clock that will bring about the end of the world if it's not found and silenced.

To make matters worse, Louis tries to impress his new friend Tarby by stealing a spell from one of Uncle Jonathan's magic books. They perform the ceremony in the graveyard Halloween night, and succeed in resurrecting the truly evil Mrs. Izzard from the dead.

Can they stop the clock in time, or will Mrs. Izzard succeed in resurrecting her husband and bringing about the end of the world?

I was afraid to read this book as a child--the cover looks really scary, and I was a nightmare-prone child who avoided scary books like the plague. Most kids like scary books though, and this one is perfect for your 5th grade fright fan. Louis is a wonderful character, who goes from being a timid outcast, worried about impressing the kids at school, to a brave young man who summons up courage when he needs to act to save the people he loves. The friendship between Uncle Jonathan and Mrs. Zimmerman is funny, and they are both eccentric enough to be interesting, but not so eccentric as to become annoying.

Bellairs wrote other books about these characters, and they are worth reading, but are not as good as this book. ( )

In reading the tributes to Bellairs by his fans, I thought it was interesting that several people mentioned that they hated reading, and were not good readers until they discovered one of Bellairs' books, and that experience turned them into avid readers. END

Rating:
Summary: Mixed feelings
Review: My feelings are divided on this book. In some ways, it is enjoyable reading, but it suffers from many flaws. There is a real sweetness in the writing and in the way Bellairs describes Lewis' inner life, but I could also call the book's tone cutesy or pathetic. Although I felt very sorry for Lewis at many points in the story, and I enjoyed reminiscing about some of the aspects of childhood Bellairs mentions (like Lewis' Viewmaster), evoking the reader's pity and nostalgia isn't the same as developing a character.

Another problem is that it takes a long time for anything exciting to happen in the narrative, and when something exciting does occur (Lewis & Tarby's Halloween ritual), I think Bellairs spends one paragraph describing the "scary" part. Throughout the book, I kept feeling like I was missing out on the action. Even while reading the confrontations towards the end, which should have been gripping, I just wasn't enthralled. The reader is not with Mrs. Zimmermann when she fights the evil witch, because Lewis & his uncle are *across the street* from the main action!

It's like Bellairs constantly cheats the reader out of the juicy parts of the story, and it is very frustrating. Despite the things I enjoyed about the book, I don't think I will be reading any more of Bellairs' work.

Rating:
Summary: Haunting, amusing, frightening, and unforgettable.
Review: Out of all the numerous (and profoundly unremarkable) titles recommended to me as a beginner in junior high school by my teachers and advisors, this is the only one that has stuck with me, for over two decades (I am now 32), as a tale with the kind of spine-tingling horror, sophisticated humor & sarcasm, shocking plot-twists, and ultimately satisfying conclusion rarely seen in novels written for the typical "Young Adult" contingent. To this day, I have (somewhat pleasant, somewhat frightening, and even nostalgic!) dreams about this house, and the clock within its walls, having grown up with a similar timepiece in my own home (and under vaguely similar circumstances). I have never read a book that has haunted me, or entertained and enchanted me, as much as this one. I highly recommend it anyone.