Editing John Bellairs (section)

=== Early life and education ===
Bellairs was born in [[Marshall, Michigan]], the son of Virginia (Monk) and Frank Edward Bellairs, who ran a cigar store and bowling alley in Marshall.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L25ycEzuXxIC&q=%22Frank+Edward+Bellairs+and+Virginia+Monk%22&pg=PA814|title = Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature Vol 2|isbn = 9780941028776|last1 = Reginald|first1 = R.|date = September 2010| publisher=Wildside Press LLC }}</ref> He was raised a strict Roman Catholic and initially planned to become a priest.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Beal |first=Darlene |title=John Bellairs Keeps Stories 'Real' |url=http://archive.org/details/observer1988nort |access-date=2024-01-08 |work=The Observer |publisher=[[Northern Essex Community College]] |pages=6 |volume=39 |issue=7}}</ref> His hometown inspired the fictional town of New Zebedee, Michigan, where he set his trilogy about Lewis Barnavelt and Rose Rita Pottinger.<ref>{{Cite book|last=MacNee|first=Marie J.|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780810398665|title=Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Writers|publisher=Gale Research|year=1995|isbn=0810398664|volume=1|location=New York|pages=49–52}}</ref> Shy, overweight, and often bullied as a child, he had become a voracious reader and a self-described "bottomless pit of useless information" by the time he graduated from [[Marshall High School (Michigan)|Marshall High School]]<ref name=":7" /> and entered the [[University of Notre Dame]] in 1955.<ref name=":8">{{Cite web|last=Dunne|first=Patrick|date=2011|title=John Bellairs: Author of the Imaginary|url=https://magazine.nd.edu/stories/john-bellairs-author-of-the-imaginary/|access-date=2021-09-05|website=Notre Dame Magazine|language=en}}</ref>

Bellairs graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English ''magna cum laude'' from the University of Notre Dame in 1959.<ref>{{Cite news|date=1991-03-14|title=John A. Bellairs, 53, A Children's Author|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/03/14/obituaries/john-a-bellairs-53-a-children-s-author.html|access-date=2021-08-29|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> At Notre Dame, he competed in the [[College Bowl]] and wrote a regular humor column for the student magazine ''[[Scholastic (Notre Dame publication)|Scholastic]]''.<ref name=":8" /> Bellairs went on to receive a Master of Arts degree in English from the [[University of Chicago]] in 1960. He received a [[The Institute for Citizens & Scholars|Woodrow Wilson Fellowship]] in 1959.<ref>{{Cite web|date=1959-03-15|title=Press release|url=https://archives.nd.edu/pr/pdf/PR_1959_03.pdf|access-date=2021-08-28|website=University of Notre Dame}}</ref>