Day 44: "The House With a Clock in Its Walls"

If you like: Goosebumps, A Wrinkle in Time, descriptions of the books in Moonrise Kingdom, breweries.

By John Bellairs; Puffin Books.

Remember the nostalgia factor in the Nancy Drew comics? “The House With a Clock in Its Walls” had that reverse problem for me.

I wanted to read it again before the movie came out, but I wasn’t sure if the warm childhood memory that comes from reading a good book could withstand the adult eye.

It’s a classic for a reason, though. The writing is simple but done with enough imagination to transport you to a magical world that hides just behind the mundane. There’s chocolate chip cookies, dark hallways, a town that can be explored by a kid on his own and a cemetery at night.

What I was reminded of, though, is the real scary tension of the book isn’t the ghost and the clock. It’s that Lewis, the kid in the book, does something he’s not supposed to and he’s too worried to tell the two adults in his life what happened.

It’s understandable -- Lewis is in a tenuous situation. He’s living with his eccentric uncle after the death of his parents. While he finds a place in this new family, he’s also not sure how stable it is.

There’s also a tension between adult logic and kid logic that plays an important part of the book, whether it’s the orderliness of clock magic or the reasoning for trying to impress another kid at school.

“He paced and tried to think logically. But logic wasn’t much help where the clock in the walls was concerned, so at last Lewis gave it up.”

Again, it’s simple but effective. It shows an understanding of kids without writing down to them.

I did get something new out of reading it as an adult -- John Bellairs grew up in nearby Marshall and sets the book in a similar town. He didn’t even bother coming up new names for some things, like Wilder Creek and 12 Mile Road.

It’s fun to read something such as: “Sometimes Lewis just walked up and down Main Street and stared at the high, elaborate, false fronts of the stores. One of the stores had an abandoned opera house in its upper stories.”

And I’ve been there! I’ve been up in that abandoned opera house and it’s still just like he describes it.

Since I’m more familiar with the geography, it had more of that clash of reality and imagination. If you’re near Marshall and a fan of the book, I recommend stopping by. See the fountain. Have lunch at Dark Horse Brewing Co. (which isn't mentioned in the book but the brewery also has a bakery and they mentioned chocolate chip cookies). There will be events during the movie premiere weekend.

"The House With a Clock in Its Walls" by John Bellairs; Puffin Books; 1973.