July 7, 2008 at 4:20 pm · Filed under Book Reviews, Children's Literature, Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror
92. The Trolley to Yesterday by John Bellairs (Juvenile fiction, fantasy) 183 p.
This is another John Bellairs novel I hadn’t read as a child, and I can’t say I missed anything. Professor Childermass, who teaches history, has often been moved to tears over the plight of the people of 15th-century Constantinople, some of whom took refuge in the Church of Holy Wisdom when the Turks besieged the city, and were slaughtered. When he discovers a time-travel machine in his basement, the Professor conceives a nutty plan to go back in time and rescue the people in the city.
I definitely am not the person to have patience with this book. Could any historian possibly be so concerned about the individual fates of the people in the period he studies? The whole premise of the book was absurd–and even the two boys, Johnny and Fergie, realized perfectly well what a ridiculous plan it was. This is one of those times when Bellairs’s books are just not readable for anyone over the age of eight.
Rating: 3 out of 10
Pages read: 27,031
Tags: 50 Book Challenge 2008, John Bellairs, Johnny Dixon
July 7, 2008 at 3:24 pm · Filed under Book Reviews, Children's Literature, Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror
87. The Chessmen of Doom by John Bellairs (Juvenile fiction, horror) 155 p.
This is one of the later books in Bellairs’s Johnny Dixon series, and one I never read as a child. I don’t know if it just isn’t as good as the others, or if the fact that I have no nostalgia for the story makes a difference, but I didn’t like it as much as most of Bellairs’s work.
When Professor Childermass’s brother dies, he leaves a cryptic rhyme and a series of instructions in his will, leading the Professor, Johnny, and Fergie to stay in his broken-down mansion for the summer. While there, they have some msyterious and sinister experiences, and uncover a malign plot to end the world.
These books, unlike some of the other juvenile and young adult fiction I read, are really strictly for children. Although they aren’t a bad way to occupy an idle hour, there’s really nothing in them that would appeal to an adult whose never encountered them before, except perhaps the charm of the 1950’s setting. As a child, Bellairs’s books scared me and my roommate (and childhood best friend) to death, but no one over the age of ten would feel the slightest twinge of anxiety. They’re ideal for seven- or eight-year-olds, though!
Rating: 6 out of 10
Pages read: 25,325
Tags: 50 Book Challenge 2008, A ~ Z Reading Challenge, John Bellairs, Johnny Dixon
March 18, 2008 at 11:44 pm · Filed under Book Reviews, Children's Literature, Favourite Books, Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror
35. The Mummy, the Will, and the Crypt by John Bellairs (Children’s Horror) 168 p.
This is the second Johnny Dixon novel, coming between The Curse of the Blue Figurine and The Spell of the Sorcerer’s Skull. At the Glomus mansion, a museum of art treasures collected by the late H. Bagwell Glomus, a rich eccentric, Johnny and Professor Childermass learn about a $10,000 reward for the discovery of the dead man’s will. Three items on a table are supposedly clues to its whereabout: a chess set, a Greek newspaper titled National Herald, and a battered old sign lettered YE OLDE TEA SHOPPE.
The clues seem meaningless; the riddle, unsolvable. Johnny doesn’t think of it again (much) until a series of events make him desperate for money. Determined to earn the reward, he runs away to search for the missing will and save his family.
This is the book where Johnny meets his best friend, Byron Ferguson, called Fergie “on account of nobody in their right mind wants to be called Byron.” I continue to be charmed by the characters and the 1950’s setting of this series.
Pages read: 10,005
Tags: 50 Book Challenge 2008, 888 Challenge, John Bellairs, Johnny Dixon
March 17, 2008 at 11:10 pm · Filed under Book Reviews, Children's Literature, Favourite Books, Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror
33. The Curse of the Blue Figurine by John Bellairs (Children’s Horror) 200 p.
I was lucky enough to find a used bookstore in Toronto that had copies of several of John Bellairs’s children’s books in the old Bantam Skylark softcover editions, for only $3 each. The special thing about them is that, unlike the “updated” cover art on new editions, these older versions feature the Edward Gorey cover art—and they’re the editions I read as a child.
The Curse of the Blue Figurine is the first in Bellairs’s longest-running series, featuring 12-year-old Johnny Dixon and his friend, Professor Roderick Childermass. (Like all Bellairs protagonists, Johhny is a smart, somewhat lonely boy who gets along better with adults than with most kids his age, and who has a close friendship with an intelligent and sympathetic adult.)
The story is set in 1951, and Johnny’s mother has just died. His father, who was an air force pilot during World War II, has jumped at the chance to fly in the Korean War, and has sent Johnny to live with Grandpa and Gramma Dixon, in Duston Heights, Massachusetts. He and his grandparents go to St. Michael’s Church, and he attends the attached Catholic school.
One winter night, after Johnny and his Grandpa have helped to shovel out Professor Childermass’s car, the Professor tells Johhny the story of Father Baart, a 19th-century priest, formerly the rector of St. Michael’s, who may have been an evil sorcerer, and who is said to haunt the church. When Johnny finds a blue figurine and an ominous warning hidden in a hollowed-out book in the church basement, he becomes convinced it has something to do with Father Baart.
I found John Bellairs’s books incredibly frightening when I was a child. Even though they don’t hold the same level of suspense for me these days, they’re still lovely and charming to read. Bellairs creates some wonderfully quirky personalities, and every character vibrates with life, from Johnny’s Gramma to the school bully. I love Johnny, who is a shy and timid, a bookworm and a worrier—not the kind of kid who regularly stars in horror novels.
The most entertaining character is Professor Childermass, a small, middle-aged man with a bad temper and a kind heart. And he has a fuss closet!—a place where, dressed in sweatpants and a sweatshirt, he can vent his frustrations by ranting, yelling, cursing, and pounding on the walls. On the inside of the door is a sign, bearing the words:
TO FUSS IS HUMAN;
TO RANT, DIVINE!
I love it.
It’s such a shame that this book, and all of Bellairs’s kids’ books, were re-issued without the Edward Gorey covers, because they were, and are, such an integral part of my enjoyment of the books. Unlike many illustrators, who seem never to have opened the book, or even glanced at a synopsis or description of the characters, Edward Gorey always drew actual scenes from the book, and the characters always looked exactly right. I couldn’t find a good picture of the cover, but the drawing of Father Baart is perfect; I don’t think I’ve ever seen a cover that was so right.
Pages read: 9,658
Tags: 50 Book Challenge 2008, 888 Challenge, John Bellairs, Johnny Dixon, What's in a Name?
March 5, 2008 at 3:37 pm · Filed under Book Reviews, Children's Literature, Favourite Books, Mystery and Suspense, Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror
23. The Spell of the Sorcerer’s Skull by John Bellairs (Juvenile Horror) 170 p.
This is a re-read for me. I adored John Bellairs’s books as a child, even though many of them scared the pants off me. Although written in the 1970’s and 80’s, Bellairs’s books are set in the 1950’s, during the time when he grew up.
The Spell of the Sorcerer’s Skull features Johnny Dixon, the hero of eight of Bellairs’s books. Johnny is a rather nice boy, timid, a worrier, but a loyal friend, and brave when the occasion demands it. He lived in the small Massachusetts town of Duston Heights with his grandparents, who took him in after his mother died (his father is in the Air Force, having served in the Korean War and re-enlisted afterwards.)
Johnny is good friends with Professor Childermass, a cranky but kindly man who lives across the street. On a trip to New Hampshire, there’s a weird occurrence at an inn, involving a Childermass family clock. When Professor Childremass goes missing a few weeks later, Johnny is convinced that his sinister disappearance is somehow connected to the clock.
Interestingly, I’d forgotten how heavily religion played a part in some of Bellairs’s books, particularly the Johnny Dixon books. Like Bellairs himself, Johnny is Catholic, and since he suspects that the Professor’s disappearance was somehow caused by black magic, he turns to Father Higgins, a priest he feels he can trust.
Instead of magic as an innate ability, with the importance placed on what’s done with the power being wielded, we get magic as a way of twisting nature to achieve selfish and sinister ends. Which I suppose is the difference between fantasy and horror, as genres—in the former, the supernatural is awe-inspiring, while in the latter, it’s just terrifying.
As a book written for 8-year-olds, it isn’t surprising that The Spell of the Sorcerer’s Skull didn’t scare me like it did the first time I read it. I was entertained, though. 1950’s New England is a fun place to visit with Bellairs as a guide, and he’s past master at creating a creepy atmosphere.
Pages read: 6,970
Tags: 50 Book Challenge 2008, 888 Challenge, John Bellairs, Johnny Dixon
