The House with a Clock in its Walls by John Bellairs

Item: The House with a Clock in Its Walls
Rating: 5
Author: karenbaron

Posted April 5, 2024 by karenbaron in Children's, Fantasy, Mystery, Review / 0 Comments

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy from . This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

The House with a Clock in Its Walls

by John Bellairs, Edward Gorey

Published by Puffin Modern Classics on August 3, 2004
Setting: New Zebedee Michigan
Genres: Middle Grade Mystery
Pages: 179
Format: Audible Audiobook, Hardcover, Kindle, Paperback
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A haunting gothic tale by master mysery writer John Bellairs--soon to be a major motion picture starring Cate Blanchett and Jack Black!

"The House With a Clock in Its Walls will cast its spell for a long time."--The New York Times Book Review

When Lewis Barnavelt, an orphan. comes to stay with his uncle Jonathan, he expects to meet an ordinary person. But he is wrong. Uncle Jonathan and his next-door neighbor, Mrs. Zimmermann, are both magicians! Lewis is thrilled. At first, watchng magic is enough. Then Lewis experiments with magic himself and unknowingly resurrects the former owner of the house: a woman named Serenna Izard. It seems that Serenna and her husband built a timepiece into the walls--a clock that could obliterate humankind. And only the Barnavelts can stop it!

The House with a Clock in its Walls by John Bellairs has magic and a mystery woven together beautifully.

Can the Barnavelts and Mrs. Zimmermann stop the clock?

The Barnavelts

Lewis Barnavelt is an orphan and is nervous about meeting his uncle Jonathan, a man he never knew existed until after his parents died. Lewis has always had difficulty fitting in, no matter where he is, since kids his age always tease him. I felt terrible for Lewis, but seeing him gain his confidence as he is living with his uncle was nice. Lewis learning about magic definitely helped with his confidence and being able to help his uncle and next-door neighbor.

Uncle Jonathan Barnavelt bought the house and has been dealing with the constant tick-tock noise ever since. He has been trying to figure out where the clock is in the walls so that he can put a stop to it, but sadly, he still hasn’t found it—not even with the help of Mrs. Zimmermann. Jonathan is a magician. In his own words, “I’m pretty much of a parlor magician, though I have a few tricks that go beyond rabbits and playing cards.” Jonathan is a wonderful character, and I love how eccentric he is.

I believe these two needed each other much more than they knew in the beginning.

The Mystery

Our characters need to find the clock hidden in the walls that changes from how fast to how slow it ticks. Jonathan has been searching this house for the last five years and hasn’t found it. He and Mrs. Zimmermann hope that with Lewis there, they might be able to find it and actually stop it.

I have to say that once I got into the book, I couldn’t put it down, and I had to know what happened next. The mystery is a good one.

Five Stars

The House with a Clock in its Walls by John Bellairs is getting five stars and a recommendation. Lewis and Jonathan are great characters, and I love the bickering between Jonathan and Mrs. Zimmermann. I also loved the story. Some things confused me about how to say it, but I either skipped over those parts or basically translated it to the best of my abilities to make sense of the sentences around it.

Look for my review of the movie with Jack Black, which is coming in the next few weeks.

Thank you for dropping by! I hope you enjoyed this review of The House with a Clock in its Walls by John Bellairs.

Until the next time,

Happy Reading!

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About John Bellairs

John Bellairs (1938–1991) was an American novelist working primarily in the Gothic genre. He is best-known for the children’s classic The House with a Clock in its Walls 1973) and for the pathbreaking fantasy novel The Face in the Frost (1969). Bellairs held a bachelor’s degree from Notre Dame University and a master’s in English from the University of Chicago. He combined writing and teaching from 1963 to 1971, including a year at Shimer College that coincided with that school’s storied Grotesque Internecine Struggle. After 1971, he took up writing as his full-time work. (from Shimer College Wiki)

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