My love of writing. . .

. . .was probably the product of my love of being read to when I was a little kid, and, of course, of my love of reading on my own, ever since I got good at it.  The first "books" that I read were comic books.  I loved all the Walt Disney and Looney Tunes comics, and remember reading them with a flashlight under the covers of my bed when we lived in an apartment behind my grandmother's house in Penfield, NY.   Dating it until then, means I was reading my first comics when I was 3 or 4.  I think the first novel I read was the Hardy Boys' mystery, THE SIGN OF THE CROOKED ARROW.  Believe it or not, that book, which must be about 52 or 53 years old, sits with 11 of its brother Hardy Boy Books, on a shelf in our front hallway. 

     There is an equally good chance that the first novel I read was called LASSIE AND THE MYSTERY OF BLACKBERRY BOG.  It was a tv show tie-in book back when Lassie was teamed up with Jeff.  This was before the Lassie and Timmy days.  (You have to have been alive, a kid,  and cognizant in the 50's to know what I'm ranting about.)  I don't remember anything about the story.  There must have been a bog in it and a collie.  I do remember, though, that it was published by the Whitman Company.  I had a bunch of Whitman books.  They had colorful cardboard covers and sold for about 59 cents, which wasn't bad for the middle to late 50's. Hardy Boys books cost a buck each then.  Now, Hardy Boy books were sold in bookstores, while Whitman books were sold in 5 and Dime stories, making them the poor relatives of  50's kid lit.  I loved those Whitman books, and all that I owned are gone, save for ANNETTE AND THE DESERT INN MYSTERY.  This is sad, because even though Annette was hot to 10 and 12 year old guys then, I'm sure I didn't buy this book.  I bet it was my sister's.  Until a few years ago, I had a copy of a Gene Autry Whitman book, THE MYSTERY OF GHOST RANCH, or something.  Somehow it has disappeared, but I'm still looking.  After all I never finished reading it.  It was too scary, so I never got past Chapter 3.  That was when the ghost appeared.  I remember he wore a sombrero.

     So, what today's post leads to is the fact that I am now collecting Whitman books.  I just started and finding good ones isn't easy.  In Little Falls, I found two Whitman's in an antique shop.  I paid 6 bucks each for what once cost 59 cents.  The titles:  POLLY FRENCH TAKES CHARGE and DONNA P{ARKER AT CHERRYVALE!  Two more girl books!  So I have Annette, Polly, and Donna on my shelf.  In a Cape Cod shop, I found one:  THE MYSTERY OF THE DOUBLE KIDNAPPING, A Power Boys Adventure.  I had never heard of the Power Boys, but at least it was a boy book.  I checked the copyright date.  1966!!  Lord, I was in college then.  This wasn't a Whitman book of my youth.  I should have guessed because the cover art was dull and crappy.  Whitman must have been selling out.  I bought it anyway.  It cost $4.75.  Today, I bought two Whitmans at the Sullivan Library used bookstore.  Check it out.  It's a great place!  They were "classic" Whitmans.  Really!  They were editions of the classic LITTLE WOMEN and the classic LITTLE MEN.  Three bucks for the women and 4 bucks for the men.  My collection remains heavy in chick lit.

     So, to search I will continue for Whitman books that really are like I remember them.  Westerns, adventures, tv tie-in books and such.  And I accept the fact that they will cost more than 59 cents.