Where did the character Mrs. Zimmerman come from? John Bellairs was influenced by a real-life Mrs. Zimmerman so much that he decided to create an unforgettable character about her for his Lewis Barnavelt series. We all know Mrs. Zimmerman in the book had no family – her husband has died and she didn’t have any Read more…
How Friendship can Interfere with The Law by Inaya Majid In “After 20 Years” by O. Henry, friendship wants to be kept; whereas in “The Hitchhiker” by Roald Dahl, the law is challenged because of friendship, but in both, we have the same idea that friendship can always try to bend the law. When the reader Read more…
“‘It is also said,’ answered Frodo, ‘Go not to the Elves for Council, for they will say both no and yes.’” (Chapter Three Three is Company) When Frodo was little his adopted father Bilbo Baggins was a legend in the Shire for bringing riches back from a journey that no one really expected him to Read more…
Isabella is the youngest student to ever take my The Art of the Personal Essay (ed. Phillip Lopate) unit, and has just finished reading Virginia Woolf’s “Street Haunting”. Woolf is in need of a pencil one evening in London. It is a wintry evening as she walks across town, and “the champagne brightness of the Read more…
John Bellairs and Edward Gorey: a Winning Combination The cover of the gripping The Ghost in the Mirror by John Bellairs features a massive rock, strewn with snow, so high that Rose Rita could be taken for a cold-looking doll at the bottom. The illustration, by the famous and taste-making Edward Gorey (1925-2000) transports the Read more…
