The Doom of the Haunted Opera (Lewis Barnavelt Series #6)

by John Bellairs, Brad Strickland, Edward Gorey (Illustrator)

Overview

Two kids find a haunted opera score capable of raising the dead!
 
When Lewis Barnavelt and Rose Rita Pottinger explore an abandoned theater, they discover an unpublished opera score entitled “The Day of Doom”. Ignoring a strange omen, they show it to their music teacher, who heralds “The Day of Doom” as a masterpiece. Little do they know that the eerie Henry Vanderhelm, the composer's grandson, arrives-with a plan…A plan to awaken the dead and enslave the world!

Books by John Bellairs:
 
The Doom of the Haunted Opera
The Figure In the Shadows
The Ghost in the Mirror
The House With a Clock In Its Walls
The Letter, the Witch, and the Ring
The Mansion in the Mist
The Specter From the Magician's Museum
The Treasure of Alpheus Winterborn
The Vengeance of the Witch-Finder

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781101659687
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	03/01/1998
Series:	Lewis Barnavelt Series , #6
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	64
Sales rank:	984,507
File size:	1 MB
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

John Anthony Bellairs (1938–1991) is an award-winning American author, perhaps best known for his fantasy novel The Face in the Frost. He is also the author of many gothic mystery novels for children and young adults, including The House with a Clock in its Walls (which received both the New York Times Outstanding Book of Award and the American Library Association Children's Books of International Interest Award), The Lamp from the Warlock’s Tomb (which won the Edgar Allen Poe Award), and The Specter from the Magician’s Museum (which won the New York Public Library "Best Books for the Teen Age" Award.
 

Editorial Reviews

Gr 5-8A delightful, spooky mystery starring Lewis Barnavelt and Rose Rita Pottinger, heroes of several earlier novels. A school assignment leads these 1950s teens to an abandoned theater in the heart of their hometown, New Zebedee, where Lewis finds sheet music inside an old pianoand a ghost, who warns him, ``Beware the doom of the haunted opera!'' The whole town gets involved in staging the opera, and a stranger shows up to watch the action. Henry Vanderhelm claims to be the composer's grandson, but when New Zebedee is suddenly cut off from the outside world, a horrid suspicion dawns on Lewis. Vanderhelm is the composer himselfand the opera is really an elaborate spell designed to make him King of the Dead and enable him to take over the world. Lewis and Rose Rita are bright and likable protagonists. Other characters are equally well drawn, especially the evil Vanderhelm and the mistake-prone would-be magician, Mrs. Jaeger, a neighbor who helps the young people. The action moves quickly; tension escalates nicely, and Lewis gets a boost of confidence from a surprising source when things look bleakest. A great addition to the mystery shelf.Mary Jo Drungil, Niles Public Library District, IL

School Library Journal

Bellairs fans will welcome the return of Lewis Barnavelt and his buddy Rose Rita Pottinger. In this story, completed by Strickland after Bellairs' death, the two young people discover an unpublished opera in an abandoned theater and let lose an evil spirit that takes over the town and wants to rule the world. Splashes of character comedy leaven creepy scenes and ghostly encounters, at which Bellairs and Strickland certainly excel, and the accompanying artwork by Edward Gorey perfectly matches the story's tone. That good magic will win out over evil is understood, but it's still a tense race to the finish. This is not as tightly structured as "The Drum, the Doll, and the Zombie" , but the authors' ability to fashion people and a place at once ordinary and special is still a great drawing card for readers.

Stephanie Zvirin