John Bellairs

Johnny Dixon doesn't believe that the ghost of mad Father Baart haunts the town church. But then he takes an old scroll and a seemingly harmless figurine from the church basement, accepts a magic ring from a mysterious stranger--and is plunged into a terrifying adventure that may cost him his life.

While spending the summer in an old house on a desolate Canadian island, Anthony Monday and Miss Eells discover a chest that can transport them to another world and a maniacal group who are plotting the destruction of people on Earth.

When Johnny Dixon and his friend Professor Childermass discover an old heirloom clock, the terror begins. The professor suddenly vanishes, and Johnny is left to solve the mystery--alone. Inside the clock Johnny discovers a miniature room, a room exactly like the one in which a murder took place long ago. And from the inside the little room Johnny pockets a tiny skull with magical powers. But taking the skull is a terrible mistake--for dark demonic forces are unleashed the minute he picks it up. Enlisting the aid of his friends Fergie and Father Higgins, Johnny embarks on a harrowing chase to a deserted island off the coast of Maine--where he must confront something more terrifying than his worst nightmares. --back cover

Twelve-year old Johnny Dixon and his friend Professor Childermass look for the hidden will left by an eccentric cereal tycoon, Mr. Glomus, who wished to make life difficult for his heirs after his own death by suicide. Although the professor warns him to stay away from the Glomus mansion, Johnny can't resist a challenge. Soon he's alone in the deserted house...with one of the undead at his heels!

Rose Rita Pottinger is dreading summer. With her best friend, Lewis Barnavelt, away at Boy Scout camp, vacation threatens to be altogether boring. But when Mrs. Zimmermann, Lewis's next door neighbor and a genuine witch, receives a strange deathbed letter from an eccentric uncle, unexpected things start to happen. Rose Rita and Mrs. Zimmermann set off on a trip to discover the meaning of the letter. A ransacked farmhouse, a missing ring, shadowy figures appearing in the night, and mysterious magic symbols are just the beginning as they are gradually drawn into a terrifying world of occult mysteries, where Mrs. Zimmermann's failing powers can't help them.

Chubby Lewis, the timid but dauntless hero of The House with a Clock in Its Walls, returns in an even scarier tale of magic and mystery. Investigating the contents of Grandfather Barnavelt's ancient trunk, Lewis and Uncle Jonathan discover an old coin. Lewis hopes it's an amulet whose magic will protect him from bullies. Together with his new friend Rosa Rita, he performs a test to find the coin's power--but neither Lewis nor Rosa Rita is prepared for the astonishing and sinister events that follow.

When Lewis Barnavelt and Rose Rita Pottinger explore an abandoned theater, they discover an unpublished opera score. Ignoring a strange omen, they show it to their music teacher, who heralds The Day of Doom as a masterpiece. Then eerie Henry Vanderhelm, the composer's grandson, arrives--with a plan to awaken the dead and enslave the world!

Johnny Dixon, Fergie and Professor Childermass comply with a strange will left by the Professor's brother, which requires them to spend the summer at a desolate estate where they encounter a madman bent on destroying the world.

When Lewis Barnavelt, an orphan, comes to stay with his uncle Jonathan, he expects to meet an ordinary person. But he is wrong. Uncle Jonathan and his next-door neighbor, Mrs. Zimmermann, are both magicians! Lewis is thrilled. At first, watching magic is enough. Then Lewis experiments with magic himself and unknowingly resurrects the former owner of the house: a woman named Selenna Izard. It seems that Selenna and her husband built a timepiece into the walls—a clock that could obliterate humankind. And only the Barnavelts can stop it!

When thirteen-year-old Johnny Dixon and his friend Professor Childermass try to save the life of the elderly Dr. Coote, they find themselves facing the forces of a menacing voodoo cult.

Collapsed in a weird trance, Johnny Dixon is dying. Professor Childermass and Fergie soon learn the horrifying reason: Johnny is possessed by the spirit of the evil Warren Windrow. In a desperate effort to find a clue that will save Johnny's life, the professor and Fergie race to the gloomy Windrow estate. But demonic forces are waiting for them, and suddenly they're fighting for their own lives.

Evaristus Sloane is a scientist who has invented a baseball-playing robot. But the robot can only be activated by human eyes, and the maniacal wizard has selected none other than 13-year-old Johnny Dixon as the next donor!

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 Bellairs's vivid characterization and and excruciatingly suspenseful plots make this series a thrilling ride! . . . . . Contains: [The House with a Clock in Its Walls]( [The Figure in the Shadows]( [The Letter, the Witch, and the Ring](

It was a warm summer day in 1951 when Rose Pottinger and Mrs. Zimmermann entered the tunnel. When they had emerged, it was snowing...and the year was 1828. Mrs. Zimmermann had felt that the ghost of Granny Wetherbee, who had taught Mrs. Zimmermann witchery, was in trouble and needed help. So she and Rose Rita had traveled to Pennsylvania where Granny had lived. They never dreamed that they would also journey back to a time long ago where they would encounter a sorcerer more terrifying than either could have imagined.

In 1951, while visiting a distant cousin in the English countryside, thirteen-year-old Lewis Barnavelt accidentally unleashes demonic forces and summons the ghost of an evil wizard bent on killing the Barnavelt family.

Professor Childermass is stunned when Father Higgins claims that a ghost is trying to contact him. Then the priest disappears. When the professor and Johnny catch up to him, they make a terrifying discovery -- Father Higgins is possessed by Masterman, the spirit of a long-dead knight determined to rule the world.

Anthony Monday can't understand why his best friend Miss Eells, the town librarian, is so excited about an old Dutch oil lamp, but she buys it anyway. Little do they know that the lamp was stolen from an underground tomb--a frightening place where eerie occult rituals used to be held. When Anthony borrows the lamp for a school science project, he makes a very big mistake: he lights it. Monstrous forces are at once unleashed, forces so demonically powerful that they threaten to take over the entire world--unless Anthony and Miss Eells can stop them! -- From back cover of Bantam-Skylark edition, 1989

Johnny Dixon and Professor Childermass discover a trolley which transports them back to Constantinople in 1453 as the Turks are invading the Byzantine Empire.

When Anthony Monday and Miss Eells find J. K. Borkman's diary, they think it contains the ravings of a lunatic. But soon violent hailstorms and blizzards rage across the land, and they must accept the frightening words: Borkman's son, carrying on his father's work, intends to turn into an icy wasteland. As the final blizzard explodes, they confront the evil Anders Borkman deep inside his father's tomb. How can they defeat such a formidable enemy -- and is there still time? -- Synopsis from Bellairsia.com

When Miss Eells gives young Anthony a job at the library, he thinks he’ll just be dusting shelves and filing books. Instead, he discovers a hidden clue leading to the treasure of eccentric millionaire Alpheus Winterborn. Miss Eells thinks the clues are a practical joke left by the odd, old Winterborn before he died. But then why do things suddenly start getting so strange? And terrifying?