Having seen the trailer for the upcoming movie with the same title, I learned it was a book first published in 1973. A great yarn filled with spooky and magical elements that many 8-12-year-olds love to read. Lewis Barnavelt, an orphan, comes to live with his uncle Jonathan and discovers a world totally new to him. Uncle Jonathan and the lively next-door neighbor Mrs. Zimmerman are both magicians. Lewis eventually learns that he has some magical skills as well and on Halloween tries to impress one of the popular kids with his magic. A husband and wife team of wizards, the Izards, created a clock now hidden in the walls of Uncle Jonathan’s house that has the power to obliterate mankind. With Lewis’s help Uncle Jonathan and Mrs. Zimmerman madly attempt to locate and destroy the clock before the end of the world occurs. This book is the first in a series of 12 featuring the orphan Lewis Barnavelt. Great fun and just scary enough to entertain young readers without sending them to bed with nightmares.
–Cynthia Claridge, Paulina Springs Books, Sisters, OR
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