951, etc.) pairs a smart, unhappy, rich kid and a small-town teacher too quick to judge on appearances. Playing on his customary theme that children have more on the ball than adults give them credit for, Clements ( Big Al and Shrimpy, p. Though the deliciously ghastly climax suddenly comes to a halt so that the sorcerer can rehearse his motives and life story, the plot generally develops in a smooth and coherent fashion, driven along by a pair of active female characters. Zimmerman's powers-not, of course, without negotiating plenty of cryptic instructions, apparitions, lurking evils, spells, and narrow escapes, plus a slavering demon or two. Together, the two rescue a Pennsylvania Dutch family from an evil sorcerer, uncover an old chest of Revolutionary War gold, and activate a crystal ball that restores Mrs. Having lost most of her magic in The Letter, The Witch and The Ring (1977), Florence Zimmerman travels back in time to recover it, taking along her friend Rose Rita Pottinger (14). It seems only appropriate that death has not brought an end to Bellairs's career and, happily, this posthumous collaboration has less of a thrown-together feel than his last few books.
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