Thirteen-year-old Johnny Dixon and his friend Professor Childermass and Fergie are skeptical when they first hear about a mad inventor who made a metal robo come to life. But the professor knows that Evaristus Sloane once dabbled in the black arts, and that he is an evil old man. could the terrible rumor really be true - that Sloane activates his robots with human eyes?

New England through a different lens. I don't know if whether reading these books would have made me more willing or more resistant to moving to Massachusetts. The baseball games, bad; the leaves good; the killer robot, endearing. The Gorey cover, which I'm certain I remember from my youth, certainly helps. ( )

I enjoy Bellairs' books. His characters are entertaining and the adventures keep me reading. He is able to keep the action going to make me want to read the next chapter and the next.

The story of a robot that pitches and the idea that it comes to life is a fun premise. ( )

I was looking in a bookstore for one of my favorite childhood books -- The House with a Clock in its Walls -- since I can't remember anything about it anymore, even after hundreds of readings in my youth. Instead, I found another of John Bellairs' titles. This one turned out to be a supernatural "mystery" (although it's not one the reader is meant to solve with the main character). It's set in what seems like a very ancient time, when teenaged boys would hang out with older men, even going on unsupervised weekend trips with them! Like many YA books, the ending wraps up rather neatly even though the supernatural part isn't explained away. I had grown out of Bellairs' main audience (~9-13) before he wrote this book, but I suspect had I been that age I wouldn't have found as many faults as I now see as an adult.

--------------
LT Haiku:

Teen has to protect
his eyes else killer robot
will find use for them. ( )

I wouldn't describe anything that Bellairs wrote as bad, but this book certainly features one of his more bizarre plots. An evil magician builds a magical, baseball-playing robot and schemes to take revenge against Johnny's grandfather for not endorsing it? Okay .... Despite the strange premise, the story actually strikes me as a bit dull compared to some others in the series. However, the unusual, horrific twist of the robot's eyes themselves add a bit of spice to the mixture. ( )