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3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
Loved John Bellairs when I was younger so I'm introducing my 7 year old to his works starting with this one. It was actually better than I remember it. We follow young Johnny Dixon in an appropriately Gothic New England setting (he attends a Catholic school and hangs out in the church of course) as he discovered a maybe/maybe not cursed object and begins experiencing some rather creepy maybe/maybe not supernatural happenings.
I didn't realize how great the language was at setting the scene until I was reading this book aloud. Bellairs does a fantastic job of setting the scene and keeping the tension high but also being approachable for young readers. My son gasped in all the right places and loved the suspense.
We also made a sacher torte as mentioned in the book. It was just as yummy as the book described.
We're going to move on to The Mummy, The Will, and the Crypt now with high hopes.
I didn't realize how great the language was at setting the scene until I was reading this book aloud. Bellairs does a fantastic job of setting the scene and keeping the tension high but also being approachable for young readers. My son gasped in all the right places and loved the suspense.
We also made a sacher torte as mentioned in the book. It was just as yummy as the book described.
We're going to move on to The Mummy, The Will, and the Crypt now with high hopes.
Gateway horror at its best! Read these when I was a kid, and it took me years to figure out John Bellairs was the author. For my money, the Johnny Dixon series is his best work.
Johnny takes a mysterious figure from the local church and from there strange things begin to happen. Love all of the John Bellairs books.
This book scared the heck out of me when I read it at age six or seven (yes, that was too young), but I went on to become a great fan of Bellairs at more like age ten or eleven, and I've never really stopped. They're quite well-written, full of actual historical fact, and full of funny and quirky characters. They are absolutely terrifying to the very young, and a few of them still make me a little uneasy if I read them at night, but then I am not a horror fan at all.
My godbrother gave me this book when I was sleeping over with the intent to shut me up. And shut me up it did, because I was scared shitless. And kind of am to this day when I think about this book. So the fact that I can still recall this fear means that Bellairs did something right.
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Always love a good adventure with Johnny and the Professor, and this is the one that kicked them all off. A very pastoral look at life in the 50s, but very charming.
3 STARS
"A mysterious stranger gives Johnny Dixon a magical ring that plunges him into a terrifying adventure during which he must outwit the ghost of the mad Father Baart." (From Amazon)
A great mystery paranormal children's novel.
"A mysterious stranger gives Johnny Dixon a magical ring that plunges him into a terrifying adventure during which he must outwit the ghost of the mad Father Baart." (From Amazon)
A great mystery paranormal children's novel.
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This book is about a boy who went to stay with his grandparents after his mother died and his father was sent to fight in the war. He was smart but one flaw he had is that he had a wondering mind that would one day lead him into trouble.
One of the things that I like about the book was, the ending because of the action, it was thrilling and fun to read. I overall think that the ending was written well. It was different from the other parts of the book, more fast paced. One thing that I wish for, is that it drew my attention sooner than at the end of the book. The book was hard to get into and the characters, there wasn't one that I like more than the other. It was hard to care about the main character because I couldn't relate to him at all.
One of the things that I like about the book was, the ending because of the action, it was thrilling and fun to read. I overall think that the ending was written well. It was different from the other parts of the book, more fast paced. One thing that I wish for, is that it drew my attention sooner than at the end of the book. The book was hard to get into and the characters, there wasn't one that I like more than the other. It was hard to care about the main character because I couldn't relate to him at all.
John Bellairs' gothic adventures for kids featuring Johnny Dixon and Professor Roderick Random Childermass were part of my childhood, complete with Edward Gorey illustrations, but I don't think I ever read the first one until now. Johnny is trying to adjust to living with his dirt-poor grandparents after the death of his mother and deployment of his father, and the school bully is just making things worse. Then Johnny meets his future best friend, the weird, eminently educated, socially awkward professor who lives across the street. The professor tells him a ghost story about a mad priest, and the adventure begins.
No idea why Bellairs set his books in the 50's when they were being published in the 80's--the old fashioned setting isn't necessary to the story, with the exception of that joke about how in 30 years the country will probably be crawling with psychiatrists. It's hilarious, unevenly paced, choc a block with Catholicism, and as cliched and melodramatic as one would guess. I still loved it.
No idea why Bellairs set his books in the 50's when they were being published in the 80's--the old fashioned setting isn't necessary to the story, with the exception of that joke about how in 30 years the country will probably be crawling with psychiatrists. It's hilarious, unevenly paced, choc a block with Catholicism, and as cliched and melodramatic as one would guess. I still loved it.