The Trolley to Yesterday

by John Bellairs

Published 1 January 1989
A “spooky[,] spine-tingling” time travel adventure that takes a boy and his eccentric professor friend to the mysterious Byzantine Empire (Publishers Weekly) . . .
 
[Description]
Johnny Dixon is worried about Professor Childermass. The professor has always been an odd duck, but lately his behavior has been positively bizarre. He’s been talking to himself and stalking down the street with his collar turned up and his hat over his eyes, and now he won’t return Johnny’s calls. Johnny’s afraid that the professor’s old age is starting to get to him, but he will soon find it’s something far more amazing—and far more dangerous.
 
The professor has discovered a trolley that can carry them five hundred years back in time, to the last days of the Byzantine Empire. In the dark and winding streets of Constantinople, he and Johnny confront crusaders, mystics, and thieves as they attempt to save the ancient empire from destruction at the hands of the advancing Turkish armies.
 
Created by the award-winning author of The House with a Clock in Its Walls, Johnny Dixon is one of the most charming young heroes in literature—a spunky, bespectacled young man whose curiosity often gets him into trouble—and his “wonderfully warming friendship with cantankerous old Professor Childermass makes them an endearing detective team” (The New York Times).

In Michigan in the mid-1950s, Lewis Barnavelt is convinced that the series of accidents he and his uncle are experiencing are the result of a curse by a mysterious, hooded figure that may be part of his uncle's past.


Lewis and Rose Rita battle Ishmael Izard, the son of the evil magician who tried to destroy the world with the Doomsday Clock.

Hidden away in the local library, a sorcerer’s book casts an evil spell in a novel by the author of The House with a Clock in Its Walls
 
Johnny Dixon and his best friend Fergie are whiling away a rainy day at the Duston Heights library when Johnny asks a screwy question: “What’s the last book in the library?” After Johnny goes home, Fergie decides to find out. There, under number 999.99, he finds a very peculiar tome, The Book of True Wishes, which is all about Fergie’s favorite subject: himself. The book knows Fergie’s name, and it promises him everything he ever wanted, which means he is about to forget a very important rule: Be careful what you wish for.
 
When the book puts Fergie under the spell of a mad old wizard, Johnny and his friend Professor Childermass will do whatever it takes to break the book’s hold and save their friend.
 
Johnny Dixon and his eccentric professor friend are two of the most delightful characters in literature as well as “an endearing detective team,” and their adventures continue to hold readers of all ages spellbound (The New York Times).