The House With a Clock in Its Walls
John Bellairs (Juvenile Fiction)
It’s the summer of 1948. Newly orphaned Lewis Barnavelt is on a bus headed to New Zebedee, Michigan to live with his Uncle Jonathan. Lewis is only ten years old but lately, only questions seem to plague him. Where am I going? Who will I meet? What will happen to me? But rather than getting answers, only more questions await Lewis upon his arrival. Questions like why does his uncle prowl the halls after midnight and listen to the walls? How does the stained-glass window change its image? Why are there so many clocks in the house? Soon, all too soon, Lewis will discover the truth behind these questions and he just might not like the answers.
John Bellairs gives young readers a book full of magic, mystery, and mayhem. At the heart of this story, the author introduces us to a young boy who is alone, unpopular, and an outcast. Parentless, he yearns for a friend and is willing to do anything in order to acquire one. In his pursuit for acceptance, Lewis has to make a choice between keeping a friend and keeping a trust. His decision comes at a cost that proves to be more than Lewis can possibly pay.
The House With a Clock in Its Walls is a ghost story that is suspenseful without being too scary. Perhaps the most frightening thing in this book is how our young hero is relentlessly bullied and disdainfully discarded by a neighborhood boy. Any child who has been excluded from a group or made to feel inadequate because of his or her appearance will certainly relate to Lewis’s unfortunate predicament. Because of this, Bellairs provides us with a lesson that makes this book well worth the read: If you have to prove your value just to keep a friend, is that a friend that’s truly worth keeping?
Happy Halloween from The Dusty Jacket.
Rating: 4/5
* Book cover image attributed to http://www.amazon.com
The Dusty Jacket 