Way Back Wednesday - 'Salem's Lot

'Salem's Lot is a 1975 horror novel written by Stephen King, and was his second published novel. The title King originally chose for his book was Second Coming but he later decided on Jerusalem's Lot. The publishers eventually shortened it to the current title, thinking the author's choice sounded too religious.

Ben Mears, a successful writer who grew up in the (fictional) town of Jerusalem's Lot, Maine (or “The Lot”, as the locals call it), has returned home following the death of his wife. Ben plans to write a book about the Marsten House, an abandoned mansion that gave him nightmares after a bad experience with it as a child.

The Marsten House has been purchased by Mr. Straker and Mr. Barlow, a business pair who plans to open an Antique Mall, even though Straker is the only one who is ever seen in public. The arrival of this pair in town coincides with the disappearence of a local boy, Ralphie Glick, and the suspicious death of his brother Danny.

Over the course of the book, the town is slowly taken over by vampires, reducing it to a ghost town by day as they sleep.

King has stated that during a high school class he taught, he was inspired by Bram Stoker's Dracula and wondered what would happen if Dracula lived in 20th century America. King originally wrote of Jerusalem's Lot in a short story which was eventually published in the collection Nightshift. He is said to have also drawn heavily from the works of H. P. Lovecraft.


The novel has been adapted into a television mini-series twice, first in 1979 and then in 2004. The novel was also adapted by the BBC as a seven part radio play in 1995.

Way Back Wednesday - A Wrinkle in Time

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle, is the first science fantasy novel I ever read, starting my love of sci-fi. First published in 1962, this book won a Newbery Medal, Sequoyah Book Award, and Lewis Carroll Shelf Award, and was runner-up for the Hans Christian Andersen Award. It is the first in the Time Quartet books - the other 3 books are: A Wind in the Door (1973), A Swiftly Tilting Planet (1978) and Many Waters (1986)

The book begins with the infamous line,

"It was a dark and stormy night."

Teenage Meg Murry has a bad-temper; her family recognizes her problem as a lack of emotional maturity but think she can do great things. The family includes her mother - a scientist - her scientist father - who is missing in action - her five year-old brother Charles Wallace — a nascent super-genius — and her 10-year-old twin brothers, Sandy and Dennys.

During the stormy night the Murrys are visited by Mrs. Whatsit - and we later meet Mrs. Who and Mrs. Which - who tells an already perplexed Dr. Murry that

"there is such a thing as a tesseract."

A tesseract is the fifth-dimensional analog of a cube refers to a scientific concept Meg's father was working on before his mysterious disappearance. It is explained as a fifth-dimensional phenomenon similar to folding the fabric of time and space.

The 3 ladies W transport Meg, Charles Wallace, and their friend Calvin, through the tesseract, to find Mr. Murry. This begins a wild trip through time and space.

This was one of my favorite books when I was 10 years old, and another book I bought when my children were younger. This is the book cover my children remember, although I remember the cover noted with the 1at photo. The 2nd photo is the original cover from 1962.

This is a great read-aloud book and would be good for a class read, giving teachers math and science to incorporate with reading time.

Way Back Wednesday - Go Ask Alice

I'm interrupting Way Back Wednesday this week with a book I just re-read over the weekend. My local public library - Mercer County Public Library - just acquired a new copy of this book and it practically jumped off the shelf and into my hands. Talk about a blast from the past.

Go Ask Alice

Reading level: Young Adult
Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1416914633
ISBN-13: 978-1416914631

Go Ask Alice is a book I read when I was an early teenager and it scared the beegeezees out of me! It was years later before I realized this was a work of fiction - not a true teen diary by Anonymous as it was marketed.

Work of fiction or not, it is an interesting read into the teenage drug world of the 1960s. Although dated, I think this would be a good book for adults to read before they have "the drug" talk with their children.

The book begins with a 15 year old named Alice who is living in a perfectly normal home with two parents and a younger brother and sister. She had everything, but like most teenagers, she didn't realize it until it was gone.

Supposedly tricked into taking LDS when offered a laced Coke at a party, this work of fiction depicts Alice's downward spiral into drugs and her eventual climb back out the other side.

Written in "diary" form, it is a quick read and can easily be read in one night. Although continued to be touted as a true story, be aware that the truth of this book's origins was debunked many years ago. However, this doesn't stop it from being a good read.

*****Warning*****
Just a note to parents: This book is ranked very high on many of the banned books lists in the USA. If you care concerned about your children reading "banned" books, this many not be the book for your family.

Way Back Wednesday - Snowbound With Betsy

Snowbound With Betsy by Carolyn Haywood was the first book in the Betsy series I read as a child and it remained one of my favorite books until I reached adulthood.

The week before Christmas, a terrific snowstorm hits, and Betsy, Star, and their parents are snowbound, much to the girls' delight. There are snowmen to be built, Christmas presents to be made, and a tree to be decorated.

Not only was Betsy's family snowbound, but that also took in a mother and her little boy who became stranded in the neighborhood.

I can remember making birdfeeding cups out of orange rinds and peanut butter just like Betsy and Star. I laughed so hard reading about the popcorn they tried to "dry out" in the oven, only to have popped corn all over the kitchen. I also remember making snow angels for the first time after reading how Betsy and her friends made them.

And when Christmas finally arrived, everyone received homemade gifts because it was impossible to get to the store to buy gifts. The children made new objects out of old objects they found in the attic. This has always been my inspiration for making homemade gifts every year for the holidays.

Snowbound with Betsy was written the year I was born 1962. When my older girls were little, I bought the newer "paperback" version of this book, but I really missed the original cover. When my youngest daughter was four, I was able to find a vintage copy of Snowbound on eBay - with the cover I remembered and loved.

Way Back Wednesday - Betsy's Little Star

Betsy's Little Star by Carolyn Haywood was first published in 1950.

One of my favorites of the entire series, it was difficult to find a "vintage" cover of the book I remember. Betsy's Little Star has been out of print for many years, but the newer paperback books are still readily available.


This story features Betsy's little sister - Star - who at four years old is too young to go to school. Illustrated with black and white drawings by the author, Star has to deal with her emotions of being much younger than Betsy. But soon Star will turn five years old and will be heading off to kindergarten.

Way Back Wednesday - "B" is for Betsy

When Carolyn Haywood (1898 - 1990) published "B" is for Betsy in 1939, she probably didn't think that 70 years later, several generations of children would have enjoyed - and are still enjoying - a little girl named Betsy. I loved Betsy - she is the reason I love to read because I got started with all her books. Betsy lived a very normal life, and I tried hard to mimick her very action.


In this first book, Betsy is scared about going to first grade, but it turns out school is a great place. She learns about tadpoles and the true meaning of Thanksgiving, makes new friends, and has more fun than she'd ever imagined.


I was 7 years old and in the second grade when my favorite librarian, Miss Gash, recommended "B is for Betsy". After I finished the book, I proceeded to check out the other books in the series. Even though the stories are slightly outdated, the appeal of Betsy and her friends transcend time. I read these books to my daughters, and I plan to read them to my grandchildren as well.