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electricbloomers's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
informative
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
gabmaciel25's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
It was the first "thick" book (for a 11yo) I have ever read and I thought it was really good. This was the book that made me love mystery books. At the time I would have given it 5 stars but now I'd give it 4 because the mystery was not really mystery, it was pretty obv what was gonna happen at the end, but this was def my fav book as a young kid
carka88's review against another edition
5.0
I've read this so many times; it is probably my favorite children's book. I love the characters and the memories the book evokes in me. My friend Krissi and I would check this book out from the library and read the whole thing aloud, taking turns lying in a cedar chest! Mrs. Zimmerman is great, but it's the courage of the girl that amazes me. She reminded me of myself--in terms of her straight hair and glasses, but she had much more courage than I ever did or probably ever will.
calistareads's review against another edition
5.0
Wow! this was a bold choice for John. This series is about Lewis Barnavelt and his uncle. Mrs. Zimmerman is a main player and Rose Rita was introduced as a somewhat secondary character. In this book in the series, Rose Rita takes center stage. She plays the protagonist. Lewis goes off to summer camp and we don't hear from him, but about 5-10 pages of the whole book. Rose Rita heads off with Mrs. Zimmerman to the UP (upper peninsula) of MI. This is all about Rose.
I know this was written for middle grade readers, but this was a scary story I thought. A 13 year old is up in the middle of nowhere away from her family alone with only Mrs. Zimmerman and a witch is cursing Mrs. Zimmerman leaving Rose Rita all alone to figure everything out on her own. She has to figure everything out. Rose Rita is gutsy and really steps up here. She faces down a devil and an evil witch. This has the creep factor.
I love John Bellairs and his books and this is the creepiest and scariest thing I have read. It was sort of intense as well. I mean John Puts Rose Rita through the paces and I kept wondering how she was going to get out of this. This packs a punch in the middle grade books. Anyone who likes suspenseful and horrifying stories will enjoy this book, I think. It was really well done and kudos for John to give a female protagonist the story in the middle of this story about boys. This was the 70s and so this is pretty cool. It's a lovely twist John gives his readers. No one saw this coming. It's a great surprise.
I know this was written for middle grade readers, but this was a scary story I thought. A 13 year old is up in the middle of nowhere away from her family alone with only Mrs. Zimmerman and a witch is cursing Mrs. Zimmerman leaving Rose Rita all alone to figure everything out on her own. She has to figure everything out. Rose Rita is gutsy and really steps up here. She faces down a devil and an evil witch. This has the creep factor.
I love John Bellairs and his books and this is the creepiest and scariest thing I have read. It was sort of intense as well. I mean John Puts Rose Rita through the paces and I kept wondering how she was going to get out of this. This packs a punch in the middle grade books. Anyone who likes suspenseful and horrifying stories will enjoy this book, I think. It was really well done and kudos for John to give a female protagonist the story in the middle of this story about boys. This was the 70s and so this is pretty cool. It's a lovely twist John gives his readers. No one saw this coming. It's a great surprise.
librarygirl94's review against another edition
3.0
This was the final book in the best of John Bellairs compilation and I will admit that I didn't enjoy it as much as the first two only because the focus what not on the usual main character. It won't deter me from reading other books by this author though!
ramseyhootman's review against another edition
5.0
It's really interesting to re-read this with my own kid and realize how closely my own adolescence mirrored Rose Rita, in terms of her emotional journey. I probably read this at about age 12 - before I had my own personal crisis about not wanting to grow and change into a young woman. I would not be surprised if Bellairs didn't prepared me for some of the complicated feelings I would have. I'm sad all over again that he passed away before he could finish this series himself.
manwithanagenda's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Rose Rita faces a summer alone after Lewis goes to Boy Scout camp. It gets worse when her mother suggests they have a "little talk" about boys and girls soon, and Rose Rita thinks about how she's 13 now and about to enter Junior High where there's even less room for a tomboy like her as well as dances and dating.
Thankfully Mrs. Zimmerman invites her along on a road trip to see the sights of Upper Michigan and take care of some inherited property. But there's something amiss. When they arrive a ring that may be magical has been stolen and it feels to Rose Rita that her and Mrs. Zimmerman aren't alone either in the new Plymouth Cranbrook on lonely backroads or in the bedrooms of the tourist homes they stop in at. Bellairs really creates a claustrophobic mood that's offset by Rose Rita's inner struggle about what the future will hold for her and Lewis' friendship.
What I really love, more and more, about Bellairs' books, particularly these early ones, is his grey shading of his characters and villains. The evil here isn't faceless. In Clocks Jonathan theorizes that Isaac and Selena Izzard weren't treated so well in the present world and so took drastic steps to begin a new one, the Figure in The Figure in the Shadows came to be after he was burned alive in his house, but in The Letter the villain is unnervingly sympathetic. Gert Bigger blames Mrs. Zimmerman for her eventual fate of being married to a wife-beater after Mrs. Zimmerman won away the affection of a boy in their youth. Lewis found acceptance in The House with a Clock in its Walls and faced down his inner demons in The Figure in the Shadows but we didn't know much about his best friend.
Rose Rita becomes a fully fleshed out character and her outsider status, as a tomboy and otherwise peculiar girl in 1950, is explored. This was the last Lewis/Rose Rita book completely written by Bellairs, he wrote two different similarly themed series after this, which disappoints me still, but I see why he left them behind, now. Bellairs had moved Rose Rita and Lewis forward to the point where, almost inevitably, their friendship would turn towards romance or break apart when all Rose Rita wants is for things to remain the same. That awareness of Rose Rita's about the changes approaching because of their ages and because of societal expectations dominates the book and elevates it above some of Bellairs' later output and all of Brad Strickland's completions and original "John Bellairs Mysteries".
Lewis & Rose Rita
Next: 'The Ghost in the Mirror'
Previous: 'The Figure in the Shadows'
Thankfully Mrs. Zimmerman invites her along on a road trip to see the sights of Upper Michigan and take care of some inherited property. But there's something amiss. When they arrive a ring that may be magical has been stolen and it feels to Rose Rita that her and Mrs. Zimmerman aren't alone either in the new Plymouth Cranbrook on lonely backroads or in the bedrooms of the tourist homes they stop in at. Bellairs really creates a claustrophobic mood that's offset by Rose Rita's inner struggle about what the future will hold for her and Lewis' friendship.
What I really love, more and more, about Bellairs' books, particularly these early ones, is his grey shading of his characters and villains. The evil here isn't faceless. In Clocks Jonathan theorizes that Isaac and Selena Izzard weren't treated so well in the present world and so took drastic steps to begin a new one, the Figure in The Figure in the Shadows came to be after he was burned alive in his house, but in The Letter the villain is unnervingly sympathetic. Gert Bigger blames Mrs. Zimmerman for her eventual fate of being married to a wife-beater after Mrs. Zimmerman won away the affection of a boy in their youth. Lewis found acceptance in The House with a Clock in its Walls and faced down his inner demons in The Figure in the Shadows but we didn't know much about his best friend.
Rose Rita becomes a fully fleshed out character and her outsider status, as a tomboy and otherwise peculiar girl in 1950, is explored. This was the last Lewis/Rose Rita book completely written by Bellairs, he wrote two different similarly themed series after this, which disappoints me still, but I see why he left them behind, now. Bellairs had moved Rose Rita and Lewis forward to the point where, almost inevitably, their friendship would turn towards romance or break apart when all Rose Rita wants is for things to remain the same. That awareness of Rose Rita's about the changes approaching because of their ages and because of societal expectations dominates the book and elevates it above some of Bellairs' later output and all of Brad Strickland's completions and original "John Bellairs Mysteries".
Lewis & Rose Rita
Next: 'The Ghost in the Mirror'
Previous: 'The Figure in the Shadows'
obviousthings's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
I read part of this as a kid (sometime around 2010, judging by the bookmark left in it) and... wow, I'm glad I never finished it back then. There's some weirdly insidious transphobia in here.
There are a lot of female main characters in kids books who struggle with being forced to do Girly Things, or with not being allowed to do the same things as boys, or with misogyny in general, but I would say most of them don't read as trans-coded. Rose Rita, though, seems to dislike being a girl more than any of the difficulties that come with it. Her feelings about gender and about growing up are eerily similar to my own before I knew I was trans.
What disturbs me about this book is that, by the end of it, Rose Rita is taught that it is wrong for her to want to be a boy.She nearly makes a deal with a demon to become one, and afterwards, though she's supposedly learned her lesson, she doesn't seem any happier about being a girl. She seems resigned to it.
There are a lot of female main characters in kids books who struggle with being forced to do Girly Things, or with not being allowed to do the same things as boys, or with misogyny in general, but I would say most of them don't read as trans-coded. Rose Rita, though, seems to dislike being a girl more than any of the difficulties that come with it. Her feelings about gender and about growing up are eerily similar to my own before I knew I was trans.
What disturbs me about this book is that, by the end of it, Rose Rita is taught that it is wrong for her to want to be a boy.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Abandonment, Transphobia, Bullying, Car accident, and Kidnapping
Minor: Medical content
haddyaddy's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0