Bernie Magruder & the Bats in the Belfry

by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

Book Overview

There are strange goings-on once again in Middleburg. Someone has put up posters warning townspeople that the dreaded Indiana Aztec bat has been sighted in the area. What's more, the town is in an uproar over the bells recently placed in the church belfry that chime every hour -- twenty-four hours a day It seems the whole town is going batty with the constant pealing Bernie Magruder is determined to get to the bottom of things. Who put up all those...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0689850670
• ISBN13: 9780689850677
• Release Date: September 2004
• Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
• Length: 144 Pages
• Weight: 0.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.2" x 7.7"
• Age Range: 8 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 7

Customer Reviews

Wonderful Read

Since I first picked up this book, to the time I put it down- I loved it! It was fantastic and wonderful. My older sister still loves these books too, so this is a read for anyone older than 9-12 years old, except it might be a little bit of an easy read. Loved it!

Mystery and Adventure with a Twist of Humor!!!

This 2004 winner of an Edgar Award for Best Juvenile Literature certainly will leave everyone talking! In Naylor's book of the Besseldorf mystery series, Bernie Magruder finds himself in the middle of strange happenings again! Not only are the bells in the belfry tower are ringing around the clock, someone has brought terror to the town by displaying posters warning of the invasion of Indiana Aztec Bats-a bat species NO ONE has heard of before. This has everyone in a frenzy and it is up to Bernie to find out what is going on. This book is perfect for the upcoming Halloween season, and if you like mystery and adventure with a twist of humor, you won't want to miss this one!

This book is sure to entertain any reader.

Bernie Magruder's life should be ordinary and normal, yet it isn't. For one thing, strange and dangerous bats from South America are said to be flying towards his town and everyone is scared stiff at the very idea of bats moving in. Then there is the problem of the bells, the church bells. Every hour they clang out, "Abide with me," and the racket is beginning to have a very negative effect on the people of Middleburg. Some people want to turn off the bells, but some insist that they must continue their hourly cacophony.It is with horror that Bernie's family finds out that a bat has flown in through one of the hotel windows. The last place Bernie and his family want to see a bat is anywhere near their home, the Bessledorf Hotel. Bernie's father is the manager of the hotel, so if anything goes wrong, he will be blamed for it. As always, keen to get into the thick of things, Bernie takes it upon himself to try to find the errant bat with the help of his two best friends.As Halloween approaches, a large number of bats are seen flying around the church belfry, home of those same bells that are driving almost everyone in town mad with their noise. Now no one is willing to turn the bells off because they are afraid of the bats. Will all the people of Middleburg be driven mad by the musical bells, or will they die after being bitten by the Indiana Aztec Bat? Bernie Magruder is determined to find out what is going on in his town before it is too late.This book is sure to entertain any reader with its gripping and off-the-wall story, as well as its delightfully eccentric characters. This is one of several amusing books about Bernie Magruder. (...)