Many books by Daniel Pinkwater including my favorite (now out of print) “Alan Mendelson, the Boy From Mars”. Also “From The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler”
I can’t remember if it was Bunnicula or The Celery Stalks, but for the longest time I understood “hors d'oeuvres” and “auderbs” to be two different concepts (and with auderbs being the finger snacks served at parties).
I still cannot believe my fourth grade teacher in Catholic school read this to us. I loved it, but we are talking possession, exorcism, kids nearly dying, and a traumatizing death at the tentacles of a horrifying monster. Few things have influenced me as much as a writer. Also, Edward Gorey art A+++
OH!!! This book cover stuck with me for YEARS and I described it on Twitter and someone remembered it for me! I don’t even remember the contents but the cover creeped me out. Thanks for the nostalgia.
Loved these. I read these when I was pretty young and there was something very unsettling about these. They used to publish chapters in Boys Life magazine which seemed super weird. And there was a really strange low budget show that would randomly come on PBS.
IIRC TCoG&L had some surprisingly deep themes about how your oppressor can have real affection for you, and you can even return it to some extent...but when it comes to the push, they're still the enemy.
I wasn't a Boy Scout but most of my friends were; IIRC there was a serialized comic strip adaptation in the official Scouting mag, along with the books being in every school library in the country (probably).
YESYESYESYESYES!!!! I KNEW I remembered these! Thank you! Didn’t remember the author or title, mixed it up with Heinlein - Between Planets was in Boy’s Life as well. Made a diorama of one of the stories for 4th/5th grade. I’m off to relive my childhood.
Loved those Tripod bboks. Hmm... I don't really remember much about it, but I remember liking a book called Champion Dog, Prince Tom as a kid. It was an old book my mom had. That might be the most obscure one I can think of. Not sure how popular The Chronicles of Prydain are now. Loved those too.
Arthur Ransome’s “Swallows and Amazons” series with a group of children in a sailboat in England. I yearned to learn how to sail after reading that series
The Transall Saga. About a chubby Boy Scout that accidentally gets teleported to another planet. Has to to learn to survive. I remember it fondly and have never heard anyone mention it.
I read these! Book 3 I ended up having to buy from the library because I couldn't find it to return it. It showed up a few years later, so the only book of the trilogy I own is the third book lol
There was series of kids books I barely remember, animal stories about Reddy Fox and a bunch of other woodland critters. They were old and outdated when I read them probably in the mid-sixties.
Oh, that's everything I read back then. One that stands out as one almost no one heard of is the children's book The Search for the Ten-Winged Dragon. Beautiful message about creativity, and no one else has ever heard of the book when I've mentioned it before!!
Have to confess to being a fan of the Hardy Boys. Even now, as an old man, I'll pick one up here and there at a thrift store or wherever and enjoy them just for the nostalgic flashback.
Absolutely no shame. For me they were a major gateway to more reading of more kinds of things, and probably the first allowance money I ever spent at the book store was on Hardy Boys books.
I read a lot of Goosebumps and teen thrillers from Stine, Pike and others, along with more "standard" selections. Then Dad gave me his Cussler and Michener when I was in middle school.
Well, thanks for that. Not exactly a shameful indulgence, but sometimes hard to explain whimsically flipping on a dime from "Bloodlands" or "Franco's Crypt" (let's say, for example) to "The Secret of the Old Mill."
Boo to people who hate on adults reading "kiddy" books. I don't go back as much myself these days, but I'll happily go from space opera to goofy fantasy to mystery to horror.
I never read any Enid Blyton books, but was quite aware of them as a thing. Even as a kid, don't know exactly why, but I disdainfully regarded them as being "twee." A silly, unfounded, irrational prejudice maybe, or perhaps something radar-like that's attuned to sussing out drivel. Who knows?
Indeed, "my" edition of Terror Castle would've looked like this one, which apparently was first published in '78. I'd kind of like to know who the artist was: most '70s aesthetics were awful but I dig this sort of faux-Nouveau; reminds me of the original Dark Tower boardgame from the early '80s.
I've never heard of this series of books up to right now, though I recall back in the day reading some pulp fiction mystery books that Hitchcock had associated himself with. What a character that guy was...
I've actually been reading some of those via Internet Archive this past year. He licensed his name all over the place for mystery and horror short story collections through the '50s and '60s. Not sure he had much to do with them other than cashing the checks.
I just got reminded of Three Investigators again recently while listening to The Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society podcast, as the author of those old books apparently also wrote spooky radio drama! Loved all those old kids' mystery stories.
Never heard of it before, but what is not to love about "The Mysterious old Radio Listening Society" — the name alone is absolutely captivating. Off to check it out. Thanks for the tip.
as a fat kid in the 80s I appreciated that there was a fat kid in the 60s (who wasn't really fat at all but they did keep bringing it up). he wore hawaiian shirts! I also wore hawaiian shirts! also the covers were amazing
I'd love to know more about the hack writers who purported to be "Franklin W. Dixon" over the years... I'm sure that would make a fascinating story in itself.
Too right! Somehow in the many moves I've done over the yeas, some of my vintage C Smith volumes are MIA. Very sad, but I see there are newer printings available on amazon
I remember the Tripods BBC TV series from when I was a child in the 80s. I loved it. I read the books later and I think it must have been some of the first science fiction I ever read.
I loved the White Mountain books. Also, The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, The Phantom Tollbooth, Where The Red Fern Grows, The Once and Future King, E. Nesbit and of course Roald Dahl.
Tripods Trilogy would have been my pick! Keep meaning to re-read them to see how time and distance might change how I see them. In particular, the prequel story was kinda horrifying to me as a kid.
The Green-Sky trilogy by Zilpha Keatley Snyder. It is out of print now but in the 80s it was popular enough to spawn a video game. The books were called Below the Root, And All Between, and Until the Celebration. They were marvelous.
Didn’t know it was a book until recently, but my friends and I were obsessed with the Below The Root video game. We actually made rules and turned it in to a TTRPG.
Oh, this is excellent! I am coming out of a massive reading slump + might track these down. I loved the Egypt Game and it never occurred to me that she might have written other things. Thank you! 📌
Yay for completely different! As I dig my toes into writing (part of the genesis of the reading slump lol) I am in awe of people who finish ANYTHING, let alone good things that are completely different! 😂
Mine too! There are so many details that stick with me. . .she's a great example, IMO, who takes her young readers seriously. (Also I would happily just sit and watch my brother play the computer game--unlike the unwinnable Alice in Wonderland from the same company, lol)
haha I can hear the tinny, vaguely melancholy music from the Apple IIc in my head now. Seek the wise child in the garden! Find D'ol Neshom in the clouds! Uh-oh, you bumped into someone with the emotion of avarice!
Thanks for reminding me about the Tripods trilogy. I bought a copy at Half Price Books yesterday and read most of it last night. I wanted to revisit my 9 year old self to see why I was fascinated with these books.
I had to get those at the library because my family left Utah around that time (late 1800s) after traveling all the way from Norway to join Brigham Young. Hilarious reason, but it made want to read them more because they were "forbidden" at home.
I just got @thephilfoglio.bsky.social to sign my copy of his graphic novel adaptation!
They're excellent stories all around, and I strongly recommend them to anyone interested in playing lower-powered D&D as character-building inspiration.
My contribution: The Nargun and the Stars
I loved this book.
But I was not so wild about the tv series that was made? But I even got a copy a few years back so I could occasionally reread.
the Archangel Series by Sharon Shinn! a teen series, but a terrific world with biblically-flavored names where angels are an elite class who fly & sing to control the weather, & must marry humans. there's some soulmate trope, & as the series progresses, it reveals great twists about the setting 👌
The books inspired by monsters of Greek mythology by Bernard Evslin - they were wonderfully written young adult novels that took the basics from mythology and really expanded on them. Cerberus was my favorite.
Oh, nice, man. Great call. I'm really glad to see someone else remembers and has good memories of those books. I want to say the town was Adenville, Utah? Right around the turn of the century. I got introduced to the first one in class in maybe fourth grade. From there, I got all the rest.
I made a hand drawn movie poster for this in elementary school. I printed and pasted the credits. I thought it looked so rad. My teacher was not impressed.
Just remembered this series. Feral, immortal street kids at war with the cops, the rat-like Rumbles and each other. Like a Socialist Anarchist version of The Borrowers.
I really hope people are still reading John Bellairs. This one(forget the movie), The Curse of the Blue Figurine, The Treasure of Alpheus Winterborn. He did horror and mystery for kids with just the right touch. The guy was a magician.
YES! Was going to post this same thing. I borrowed all these from the library as a kid, and absolutely loved them. I especially remember all the amazing Edward Gorey illustrations.
The Nazis were such incompetent clowns that the German communists refused to unite with liberals to defeat them, figuring they would spend a few years breaking things, & then the communists could sweep in & be greeted as saviors.
My sixth grade teacher Mr. Bledsoe read the entire trilogy to us in class. It was magical time. He inspired a lot of my reading habits. I will never forget that.
Based on the publication date, apparently I wasn't as young as I thought I was when I read it, but I loved The Downsiders. I suppose it's also reminiscent of the Gregor the Overlander series (which I think is still read today?)
I loved The Borrowers. I think the BBC made a children’s tv series out of the books & there is some sort of anime derivation too. But I simply love the Borrower stories as a child. I’ve named one of my cats Arrietty. Nobody gets the reference, which is sad.😢
I remember watching the BBC series. I used to have a huge crush on Daniel Newman (Wulf from Robinhood Prince of Thieves)who played Dreadful Spiller in the series.
I read the Borrowers books aloud to my Millennial/Gen Z cusp kids. (Our bedtime ritual long after they were reading independently). We were remodeling our c. 1900 house, so I was able to show them what the backside of a lath & plaster wall looks like, and how Pod could climb it like a ladder.
I loved John Christopher's Tripods series! I read and reread them. I've never met anyone else who even knew about them. Another little-known book I loved is Allan Eckert's Song of the Wild, about a boy who can transfer his consciousness into any animal to experience what they experience.
I've only read Jonathan Strange, twice actually, but both times was disappointed...there _was_ potential in it, but what would have made it interesting (to me) was basically skipped over...hinted at but never explored / realised.
My grandmother read us "Snow Treasure" when my sister & I spent time with her & my grandfather on Cape Cod in the mid-60s. I think it was being read to that left such an impression on me.
I’ve been trying to find this for a long while, having forgotten both title and author (I was very small)! So, this one, with thanks for helping me find it again.
Does anybody remember the Hardy Boys knock-off series, The Three Investigators “presented by Alfred Hitchcock”? I read a *lot* of those in between bouts of Commando comic consumption. Also, a book, since memory-holed, called “Fattypuffs and Thinifers.”
The Tom Swift series. One of my friends belonged to a book club where he got one new Tom Swift book per month (early 1960’s) and he would lend them to me when he was done reading. Loved those books!
I think this was the first book series I read on my own that had a villain who was truly, irredeemably evil. He's just a pure sadist who wants to end the universe because it feels good. That was...a lot to process at that age.
I read some of the first book when it was serialized in Boys’ Life magazine* in the late ‘80s and then finally read the trilogy about 20 years ago. I still think about the caps — esp. in light of the internet
* Now called Scout Life, it was/is the monthly magazine of the Boy Scouts of America
Didn’t discover them until I was an adult and now give them out to any kid I know who likes adventure books. Each book is so good! Taran is probably my all-time favorite book character.
Time Cat is WONDERFUL. Also remember liking the Akkadians, but not as much. Prydain was formative for me. Just recently my sister sent me a photo of gold glowing gingko leaves, captioned "bauble leaves!". 😂
Comments
How many creatives unknowingly do this?
There someone called the Zombie King, and he is nothing like what you expect with that title.
https://bsky.app/profile/oraknabo.bsky.social/post/3lbuqks37j22i
The Sideways Stories from Wayside School books were a lot of fun.
We have Capped people in this world, too...only the caps are red and say MAGA on the front.
I thought a LOT about that when I first read it.
As a schoolchild, Cities of Gold and Lead made a deep impression on me - especially the relationship between the main protagonist and his master.
The TV series wasn't great and taught me a lifelong TV adaptation rule: Always read the book first to bag your own mental images and emotions.
I wasn't a Boy Scout but most of my friends were; IIRC there was a serialized comic strip adaptation in the official Scouting mag, along with the books being in every school library in the country (probably).
But the novels or the comic strip from Boy's Life?
I don’t know ANYONE who read it. And I loved it so much.
In my teenage years I got into reading the Bantam Books reprints of Doc Savage. I always regret not getting the whole series.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taran_Wanderer
I just remember she was always blushing "to the roots of her sandy blonde hair" and Jim got her an orchid corsage for a school dance.
Did I imagine this series?
"I wish I was older" fulfillment and fun
He also wrote The Death of Grass - which wasn't a kids' book, but *was* a banger.
? ? ?
Hitchcock's sole involvement was a licensing deal that used his name for promotion, though he appeared in the books as the boy detectives' patron.
Oh wow! Someone tracked him down 20 years ago to interview him about these covers!
This is one of those times the Internet is just freaking awesome. This is what having all human knowledge in your hand is supposed to be like.
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1387666423i/969131.jpg
None of the CIA Paul Linebarger stuff, just the Cordwainer Smith works.
I have a feeling you don't mean the New England Fishermen's Stewardship Association.
Thanks for the introduction. Sadly never heard of him, until now. But a quick read and now will def dive.
Thanks for reviving the memory.
Together we shall persevere. 💗
2. Dan Frontier
https://web.archive.org/web/20181215041013/https://www.weeklystandard.com/stefan-beck/kiddie-con-man
https://bsky.app/profile/magadizer.bsky.social/post/3lbvoovem4k25
That closing line of the trilogy haunts me.
I just got @thephilfoglio.bsky.social to sign my copy of his graphic novel adaptation!
They're excellent stories all around, and I strongly recommend them to anyone interested in playing lower-powered D&D as character-building inspiration.
But looking back, that kid was a bit of an asshole 😀
Philip Jose Farmers Riverworld & "World of Tiers" series'.
And especially Roger Zelazny's "Chronicles of Amber", which I now realize has gone too long since being reread.
I loved this book.
But I was not so wild about the tv series that was made? But I even got a copy a few years back so I could occasionally reread.
It's interesting that day of the triffids which is of a similar era has been rebooted but not this
Fantastic author up to his passing.
https://amzn.to/4fLBXQb
I got to find a copy now that I have the title once more.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Chronicles_of_Prydain_set.jpg
The “Sword of the Spirits” trilogy is even better than the Tripods books, imo.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrietty
https://bsky.app/profile/thepeterbriggs.bsky.social/post/3leg5bzrvgc2n
It was reading those books that lead me to read the trilogy by John Christopher featured in the original post.
I read this series in the 60s in grade school. I didn't even know it was a series until I started reading it.
* Now called Scout Life, it was/is the monthly magazine of the Boy Scouts of America
From John Dennis Fitzgerald.
The Martian Chronicles is also my teenage favorite.