Review – The Best of John Bellairs by John Bellairs (3/5 stars)

Reading Level: Middle Grade
Genre: Fantasy/Mystery
Length: 544 pages
Publisher: Barnes & Noble Books
Release Date: May 22, 2018
ISBN-13: 978-0760711422
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: Bought
Rating: 3/5 stars

“The House with a Clock in Its Walls; The Figure in the Shadows and The Letter, the Witch, and the Ring are three magically eerie tales gathered in this one-volume edition. The series opens as Lewis Barnavelt, a newly orphaned ten-year-old, comes to live with his Uncle Johnathan. Little does Lewis know that Uncle Johnathan and his next-door neighbor, Mrs. Zimmerman are witches. Lewis finds that he himself owns magical powers, and soon is thrust in a supernatural battle between good and evil. The second tale focuses on Grampa Barnavelt’s old coin. Lewis thinks the coin is an amulet, but when he starts to wear it around his neck, bizarre things start to happen – and not all of them good. The last tale shifts the focus to thirteen-year-old Rose Rita, who is embittered because she cannot go to camp like Lewis. so Mrs. Zimmerman offers Rita an adventure of her own. But when a magical ring disappears, Rita gets more of an adventure than she bargained for. John Bellair’s vivid characterization and and excruciatingly suspenseful plots make this series a thrilling ride!”

I was absolutely obsessed with everything by John Bellairs when I was in the 10-11 year old age range. Being that the movie “A House With a Clock in its Walls” is supposed to release soon, I thought I would go back and give this childhood favorite a re-read. Honestly this was a bit disappointing; this story and book just didn’t hold up very well over time fo rme. This is one of those childhood favorites I kind of wish I hadn’t gone back and re-read.

I was a bit disappointed on how much of the story focuses on Lewis and him struggling to keep his “friend” interested in him. There is lots of talk about baseball (which I had forgotten about) and a lot of discussion of history which was okay. In the end though the majority of this story is fairly…well…boring.

I did still enjoy the mystery behind the ticking in the old house Lewis moves in to. I was also impressed by the magic in this book and how dark and mysterious it is. I think if you took out all the weird catering of Lewis to a boy who obviously didn’t like him and all the strange baseball references; this could make a pretty good movie.

Overall this is one I wish I hadn’t re-read. My childhood memories of it were much better than the actual book itself. I wouldn’t really recommend to modern middle grade aged readers. A lot of references and topics in here are fairly dated and the story wasn’t all that exciting.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– Goodreads Reading Challenge
– Mount TBR Reading Challenge