kitness's review
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Par for the course spooky children’s lit for the first half, but after the priest takes charge it heats up! A very fifties kids’ book with black magic and surprises. Not afraid to be ridiculous if it means being fun, and not afraid to be dark. Engaging twists and turns once it gets going.
hannahcpk's review against another edition
5.0
Creepy little bedtime mystery, for days where it’s gloomy and you want to give yourself a non-traumatising scare!
Johnny boy goes on a trip with his beloved Prof. Childermass, only to get looped into another haunted item! Oh Johnny didn’t you learn something from the haunted church? Now with another two friends helping him to solve this supernatural history, Johnny goes on to figure things out and help the Prof out :)
I love short middle-grade stories like these which don’t require much thinking but brings you along for the ride. The plot may or may not be predictable, but at this point you don’t really care anyway because it’s FUN! A HEA is also often guaranteed, which ticks all my boxes. I also enjoyed how the characters aren’t all Mary Sues - Johnny is scared nearly all the time, the Prof has a temper, Fergie is a skeptic, Granny isn’t one of those all-sunshine-and-warm-cakes kind of person... It makes everything so much more realistic.
John Bellairs is a classic, perfect for someone like me who gets scared easily but still wants something spooky :)
Johnny boy goes on a trip with his beloved Prof. Childermass, only to get looped into another haunted item! Oh Johnny didn’t you learn something from the haunted church? Now with another two friends helping him to solve this supernatural history, Johnny goes on to figure things out and help the Prof out :)
I love short middle-grade stories like these which don’t require much thinking but brings you along for the ride. The plot may or may not be predictable, but at this point you don’t really care anyway because it’s FUN! A HEA is also often guaranteed, which ticks all my boxes. I also enjoyed how the characters aren’t all Mary Sues - Johnny is scared nearly all the time, the Prof has a temper, Fergie is a skeptic, Granny isn’t one of those all-sunshine-and-warm-cakes kind of person... It makes everything so much more realistic.
John Bellairs is a classic, perfect for someone like me who gets scared easily but still wants something spooky :)
calistareads's review against another edition
5.0
This was my favorite of the Johnny Dixon Series so far. I love John Bellairs clear dialogue and quirky characters. I also like the setting of New England. John explores all over the area and I want to visit some of those islands now.
Johnny and Prof. Childermass are staying at a hotel where there is a clock with a room inside it that is made by Childermass's father. A skull falls out of it and Johnny takes it home. Then Prof. Childermass disappears and no one knows what happened.
Johnny gets the help of a catholic priest to help him find the professor and figure out the clues as to what's going on. this is a fun book with gothic dark tones to it. It never is too scary for middle grade and it still gets the job done with a nice conclusion.
Another thing I like about these books for middle grade is they are under 200 pages and you can read them quickly and get a good story. Most middle grade books are now 300 pages and I like those too, but it's nice to have a quick book that does a superb job.
Better than my memory.
Johnny and Prof. Childermass are staying at a hotel where there is a clock with a room inside it that is made by Childermass's father. A skull falls out of it and Johnny takes it home. Then Prof. Childermass disappears and no one knows what happened.
Johnny gets the help of a catholic priest to help him find the professor and figure out the clues as to what's going on. this is a fun book with gothic dark tones to it. It never is too scary for middle grade and it still gets the job done with a nice conclusion.
Another thing I like about these books for middle grade is they are under 200 pages and you can read them quickly and get a good story. Most middle grade books are now 300 pages and I like those too, but it's nice to have a quick book that does a superb job.
Better than my memory.
easolinas's review against another edition
4.0
John Bellairs books have a certain style that you come to expect -- it's got to have lots of humor, a cheesy title that sounds like a B-movie, dark visions, weird dreams, and a shapeless supernatural evil that can destroy us all. One outstanding example would be "Spell of the Sorcerer's Skull," a genuinely creepy little horror story tinged with clever humor.
Professor Childermass's car breaks down in a small town. While he waits for it to be repaired, he and his young friend Johnny Dixon are shown a dollhouse connected to the professor's grandfather, who died under mysterious circumstances. Johnny finds a tiny skull, which he finds he can't speak to anyone else about -- then he has a vision of a ghostly figure killing the old man. Soon afterwards, Professor Childermass vanishes under mysterious circumstances.
Johnny finally approaches the priest Father Higgins, who promises to help if he can. A petition to Saint Andrew provides sudden answers, in the form of a cryptic rhyme that leads Johnny, Fergie and Father Higgins to a remote island in Maine. But even if they can find the professor, how can they defeat the evil forces that center on the sorcerer's skull?
John Bellairs had a very clever knack for spooking people, scattering creepy elements through "Spell of the Sorcerer's Skull" like a farmer strewing seeds. He has creepy caretakers, Victorian mansions, an enchanted skull and visions of evil skeleton scarecrows -- and while these things just sound a little cheesy, he imbues them with a dark, eerie feeling that seems to cling to even the innocent scenes.
But as usual, he also injects plenty of quirky humor into the story, such as Father Higgins whipping out a guitar and singing a folk song (much to Johnny's bewilderment). It's a good balance to the darker elements of the story. The only problem is that some of the plot twists seem rather contrived, but the story is a fairly decent one despite that flaw.
He also uses this book to introduce the character of Father Higgins, a gruff but kindly priest who serves as the adult authority figure in this book since the professor is, obviously, nowhere to be seen. He's not quite as knowledgeable as the professor, but he serves as a good temporary replacement, and he works well with the complementary buddies Johnny and Fergie.
"Spell of the Sorcerer's Skull" is a genuinely spine-tingling nugget of kiddie horror, and despite no longer being a kid, I still feel a chill at some of the darker moments. Funny, eerie and weird.
Professor Childermass's car breaks down in a small town. While he waits for it to be repaired, he and his young friend Johnny Dixon are shown a dollhouse connected to the professor's grandfather, who died under mysterious circumstances. Johnny finds a tiny skull, which he finds he can't speak to anyone else about -- then he has a vision of a ghostly figure killing the old man. Soon afterwards, Professor Childermass vanishes under mysterious circumstances.
Johnny finally approaches the priest Father Higgins, who promises to help if he can. A petition to Saint Andrew provides sudden answers, in the form of a cryptic rhyme that leads Johnny, Fergie and Father Higgins to a remote island in Maine. But even if they can find the professor, how can they defeat the evil forces that center on the sorcerer's skull?
John Bellairs had a very clever knack for spooking people, scattering creepy elements through "Spell of the Sorcerer's Skull" like a farmer strewing seeds. He has creepy caretakers, Victorian mansions, an enchanted skull and visions of evil skeleton scarecrows -- and while these things just sound a little cheesy, he imbues them with a dark, eerie feeling that seems to cling to even the innocent scenes.
But as usual, he also injects plenty of quirky humor into the story, such as Father Higgins whipping out a guitar and singing a folk song (much to Johnny's bewilderment). It's a good balance to the darker elements of the story. The only problem is that some of the plot twists seem rather contrived, but the story is a fairly decent one despite that flaw.
He also uses this book to introduce the character of Father Higgins, a gruff but kindly priest who serves as the adult authority figure in this book since the professor is, obviously, nowhere to be seen. He's not quite as knowledgeable as the professor, but he serves as a good temporary replacement, and he works well with the complementary buddies Johnny and Fergie.
"Spell of the Sorcerer's Skull" is a genuinely spine-tingling nugget of kiddie horror, and despite no longer being a kid, I still feel a chill at some of the darker moments. Funny, eerie and weird.
manwithanagenda's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
The professor invites Johnny on a winter holiday to see the White Mountains of New Hampshire, but an accident on the icy roads strands them in a small town. Coincidentally the inn in that town has one of the professor's family heirlooms in a back storage room. Of course it does. The heirloom is a tall mantel clock with a dollhouse room built into the base. It depicts a room of the Childermass estate, the study and a doll of the professor's great-uncle on the evening of his mysterious death. Of course it does.
Inside the diorama sits exquisite miniature human skull that Johnny is fascinated by and, for reasons, ends up in his pocket. Afterwards Johnny has a compulsion to tell no one about the skull and eventually carries it around with him (did he learn NOTHING from the blue figurine?) even after he has odd dreams and the professor himself disappears after Johnny sees a phantom jack-o-lantern in the professor's window.
'Sorcerer's Skull' is noteworthy in the Bellairs canon not just for Johnny's vacation with his elderly friend Roderick Childermass, but because he also goes on a "pleasure outing" with the parish priest, along with Fergie. This is considered a good cover, as the real reason they were off together was to battle supernatural forces, but that would have provoked suspicion.
It's a sad fact of today's world that parents would have every right to be suspicious of elderly gentlemen spiriting their children away on trips all the time. The fact that one is a priest...whoo boy....
Anyway, the nice thing about reading these Dixon mysteries more or less in order is that I can see how Bellairs did build in some initial skepticism on the part of the professor and the boys towards the supernatural. In a few books they'll be all "Welp, time to go back in time in the trolley buried in my basement" and no one will think twice. It's nice to know everyone in Duston Heights started off in the real world.
Overall this was not a strong addition to the series. Way too many coincidences going on here. I mean, couldn't the professor have just found the clock in the attic instead of in a stranger's house in a town he'd never been to? The clock had actually been stolen? I mean, evil tramp warlocks can curse people from beyond the grave, but let's be plausible about it.
Johnny Dixon
Next: 'The Revenge of the Wizard's Ghost'
Previous: 'The Mummy, the Will, and the Crypt'
Inside the diorama sits exquisite miniature human skull that Johnny is fascinated by and, for reasons, ends up in his pocket. Afterwards Johnny has a compulsion to tell no one about the skull and eventually carries it around with him (did he learn NOTHING from the blue figurine?) even after he has odd dreams and the professor himself disappears after Johnny sees a phantom jack-o-lantern in the professor's window.
'Sorcerer's Skull' is noteworthy in the Bellairs canon not just for Johnny's vacation with his elderly friend Roderick Childermass, but because he also goes on a "pleasure outing" with the parish priest, along with Fergie. This is considered a good cover, as the real reason they were off together was to battle supernatural forces, but that would have provoked suspicion.
It's a sad fact of today's world that parents would have every right to be suspicious of elderly gentlemen spiriting their children away on trips all the time. The fact that one is a priest...whoo boy....
Anyway, the nice thing about reading these Dixon mysteries more or less in order is that I can see how Bellairs did build in some initial skepticism on the part of the professor and the boys towards the supernatural. In a few books they'll be all "Welp, time to go back in time in the trolley buried in my basement" and no one will think twice. It's nice to know everyone in Duston Heights started off in the real world.
Overall this was not a strong addition to the series. Way too many coincidences going on here. I mean, couldn't the professor have just found the clock in the attic instead of in a stranger's house in a town he'd never been to? The clock had actually been stolen? I mean, evil tramp warlocks can curse people from beyond the grave, but let's be plausible about it.
Johnny Dixon
Next: 'The Revenge of the Wizard's Ghost'
Previous: 'The Mummy, the Will, and the Crypt'
More...