A review by mabith
The Trolley to Yesterday by John Bellairs, Edward Gorey
5.0
This is one of those *those* books for me. I dragged my feet about reading chapter books on my own as a kid because I loved comics (grew up on Asterix and Carl Barks' work) and my parents read chapter books to me at night (I was a bit lazy). When I finally felt pressured enough in our extremely book-heavy family to pick up a real chapter book it was some horrible thing about young kids solving a crime.
Luckily the second chapter book I read was Trolley to Yesterday. It was exciting, spooky, and interested me in both science and history. Johnny Dixon is an odd and wonderful main character - not a hero, just a normal kid who liked chess and history. I read, and loved, all of John Bellairs' other Johnny Dixon books.
Oddly enough I've never been partial to any other similar books and definitely don't like the supernatural Stephen King type of books, and I don't like horror movies. They've always seemed tame and predictable, whereas some of the Johnny Dixon books still creep me out even after countless re-readings (Eyes of the Killer Robot is the creepiest, I think).
Luckily the second chapter book I read was Trolley to Yesterday. It was exciting, spooky, and interested me in both science and history. Johnny Dixon is an odd and wonderful main character - not a hero, just a normal kid who liked chess and history. I read, and loved, all of John Bellairs' other Johnny Dixon books.
Oddly enough I've never been partial to any other similar books and definitely don't like the supernatural Stephen King type of books, and I don't like horror movies. They've always seemed tame and predictable, whereas some of the Johnny Dixon books still creep me out even after countless re-readings (Eyes of the Killer Robot is the creepiest, I think).