Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
Johnny and Fergie are worried. Professor Childermass has been acting weird. Very weird. In this sixth Johnny Dixon mystery, the two boys sneak over to the professor s house to investigate, and what they find in the process is more amazing than usual: a talking statue, the ghosts of long dead Crusaders, and a rickety old trolley that turns out to be a time machine. Soon, our three heroes have traveled back to Constantinople in 1453. The Turks are invading and Professor Childermass has taken it upon himself to save the people trapped in the Church of Holy Wisdom. Johnny and Fergie must stop their friend from getting himself killed on his noble but doomed mission, but in doing so, do they risk their own lives? Will they all be lost in the past forever?"
Synopsis
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).