The House with a Clock in its Walls [Import] [Hardcover]

John Bellairs (Author), Edward Gorey (Illustrator)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 179 pages
• Publisher: Hutchinson Junior Books (June 12, 1978)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0091328004
• ISBN-13: 978-0091328009
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (100 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,864,987 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

56 of 62 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Still my all-time favorite book, April 28, 2000

By 

enchantedmoons "enchantedmoons" (Longmont, Colorado United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The House With a Clock in Its Walls (Paperback)

I first read "The House with a Clock in it's Walls" when I was ten years old. I immediately fell in love with it; reading and re-reading constantly. Now I'm thirty years old, and it is still my favorite. Last year I decided to collect all of his books and re-read them-it's been the most fun I've had in ages. Out of all of the John Bellairs books, this one, in my opinion, is the very best. It's scary and funny, the characters are warm, lovable and due to their magical history, fascinating. I fell in love all over again as I re-read this last week. God bless you, Mr. Bellairs. And thank-you for showing this "little girl" just what great writing is all about.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fun, scary read for fright fans!, June 9, 2000

By 

Book Woman (Oklahoma) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The House with a Clock in Its Walls (Lewis Barnavelt) (Mass Market Paperback)

Louis Barnavelt, recently orphaned, goes to live with his UncleJonathan, whom he's never met. When his arrives in New Zebedee, UncleJonathan picks him up at the airport and takes him to his home--a huge, spooky mansion with secret passages and mysterious rooms.

Uncle Jonathan's best friend, Mrs. Zimmerman, is in the house, and as Louis walks in, he finds her listening to the walls. To his astonishment and delight, Louis discovers that Uncle Jonathan is a wizard, Mrs. Zimmerman is a witch, and they both love poker and chocolate chip cookies.

Louis also discovers that Uncle Jonathan's house was once owned by an evil wizard--a Mr. Izzard who has hidden a magic clock somewhere in the walls of the house--a clock that will bring about the end of the world if it's not found and silenced.

To make matters worse, Louis tries to impress his new friend Tarby by stealing a spell from one of Uncle Jonathan's magic books. They perform the ceremony in the graveyard Halloween night, and succeed in resurrecting the truly evil Mrs. Izzard from the dead.

Can they stop the clock in time, or will Mrs. Izzard succeed in resurrecting her husband and bringing about the end of the world?

I was afraid to read this book as a child--the cover looks really scary, and I was a nightmare-prone child who avoided scary books like the plague. Most kids like scary books though, and this one is perfect for your 5th grade fright fan. Louis is a wonderful character, who goes from being a timid outcast, worried about impressing the kids at school, to a brave young man who summons up courage when he needs to act to save the people he loves. The friendship between Uncle Jonathan and Mrs. Zimmerman is funny, and they are both eccentric enough to be interesting, but not so eccentric as to become annoying.

Bellairs wrote other books about these characters, and they are worth reading, but are not as good as this book. ( )

In reading the tributes to Bellairs by his fans, I thought it was interesting that several people mentioned that they hated reading, and were not good readers until they discovered one of Bellairs' books, and that experience turned them into avid readers. END

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A "timeless" story!, August 23, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The House with a Clock in Its Walls (Lewis Barnavelt) (Mass Market Paperback)

I first became acquainted with "The House With a Clock in Its Walls" around the age of eight. It was made into a kids' TV show (an "After School Special", perhaps? I don't remember), and I immediately checked the book out from the library. Over the years I read several other of Bellairs' books, but my favorites were always the books linked with (and continuing the story of) "The House With A Clock In Its Walls". The stories were especially fascinating for me, as they all took place in Michigan, my home state (in fact, "The Letter, The Witch, and The Ring" - book three of the series - takes place in no small part near Petoskey, Michigan, which is only 25 miles from my hometown). When I was in college, I found that the college bookstore had some copies of T.H.W.A.C.I.I.W. for sale, so I bought one. I found the story was just as enjoyable then as it had been 16 years before. I'm now 27, and I STILL enjoy these books! These are truly stories for young and old alike.