Trolling the Scholastic Flyer

Guess what...

Scholastic Memories

My two favorite days in school (not counting snow and vacation days) were when the Scholastic Book flyers would arrive and the books you ordered from them came in.  Okay, I liked Art day too, but that's beside the point.  Anyway, looking through those flyers always charged my imagination; they were like windows to undiscovered worlds.  I loved reading when I was a kid (I still do, although I seem to have less time than ever now).  I could hole up in my room with a book and not come out all day.

I found some Arrow Book Club flyers at an estate sale a while back and just recently scored a large lot of Scholastic Books at another estate sale, so I thought I'd match the flyers up with some of the books.  These flyers are from the late 1960's, so a little before my time.  A warning: this one is image heavy.

November 1968 Arrow Book Club News

Scholastic Horrors

When I was a kid, we had a couple books laying around in our "book box" (we didn't have any book cases) that both intrigued and frightened me.  They were both Scolastic/Arrow books of ghost stories.  It wasn't the content of the books that scared me, it was the covers themselves.  Those books were lost over the years, but I was able to find them at various sales.

Scholastic Memories

 I've written before of my fond memories of Scholastic Books and the two magical days in school: when the Scholastic Book Club order form would arrive and the day the books you ordered arrived.

I recently found a few more of these flyers.

Arrow Book Clubs was a division of Scholastic Books. These books were aimed at 4th through 6th graders.  There was also the T.A.B. Book Club (Teen-age Books) that were aimed at older students.

Scholastic Halloween

This October 1961 edition of "News Explorer" was published by Scholastic Books and is the standard flyer we all received in grade school plus some additional news and features.

Spooky Magic

When I was a kid, I believed magicians could actually perform magic – what they exhibited  weren’t tricks, but legitimate supernatural powers, and I longed to know their secrets.  Houdini was one of my heroes, almost mythical.  And when Scholastic Books would occasionally offer a privileged peek into the world of Magic, I would jump at the chance every time.  Sadly, I was  always disappointed in what they revealed.  These were simple tricks for simple minds – slight of hand and  misdirection.  They were holding out on me, or they themselves just didn’t know the *real* secrets.  Of course, I eventually I realized people like David Copperfield and Doug Henning really were just frauds, talented frauds, but shysters nonetheless, to use a term my German grandmother favored.  They weren’t cutting anyone in half.  They weren’t levitating.  And the only thing they ever made disappear was my wonder in magic.  Doug Henning’s “Spirits of Illusion” and “Wonder Whims” can get bent.

But I digress.  What was I talking about again?  Oh yeah.  Scholastic Books on Magic.  I found this TAB book at a garage sale last weekend.  TAB was Scholastic’s “Teenage Age Book” club.  From 1955, it’s “Spooky Magic” and a selection of their better tricks.  Maybe you can use them at your Halloween party.

Magic Secrets

I previously wrote about my childhood love of magic and magicians, my desire to learn its secrets and how Scholastic Books fed into that desire with doses of disappointment.  "Magic Secrets" was another book I bought as a child in the hope that maybe, just maybe, this one would finally come through.  It didn't.

It's About Time I Reviewed a Book

Whenever I shop garage or estate sales, I always make it a point to stop and go through the books.  Occasionally, you'll find a rare or old one, but usually just a good read and that's generally all I'm looking for.

One genre I like to collect is children's books, mostly the Scholastic books and their ilk you bought via monthly flyers.  Memories of pouring over those mini catalogs and the excitement when the teacher would open the box of newly arrived orders are some of my favorite of elementary school.

I've had the idea of doing a review of some of the books I've found and read for some time and having just completed one found book recently, I thought now was the perfect opportunity.

Now, given that lead up, I'll bet your expecting a Scholastic book?  Nope, I'm throwing you a curve; maybe even a bean ball.  But the series of coincidences in finding the book along with its content make for an interesting tale.

Webster Groves is a suburb of St. Louis.  My grandparents lived there and I spent many weekends and holidays with them.  In their final years, they enjoyed going to the local library and I would go with them weekly.  Occasionally, I like to drop back in for a visit and a recent remodel gave me an incentive to see what had changed.

Walking in the front door, I scanned the books for sale, as I always do.  One title caught my eye and at first I mistook it for the similarly titled book by one of my favorite authors, Jack Finney.  But the book, "It's About Time", was instead written by Bernal C. Payne, Jr.  Judging by the poorly drawn cover and the corny title, I knew it had to be a time travel story.

TV Time '79

If I couldn't be watching TV when I was a kid, the next best thing was reading about it.  I used to buy these books from Scholastic Publications which detailed new and continuing shows as well as interviewed the stars from them.  Kind of like their version of the TV Guide Fall Preview issue.

Dynamite Count Morbida Poster

This poster was included in an issue I picked up of Scholastic Books' "Dynamite Magazine", the "People" magazine for the 1970's and 80's prepubescent crowd.  Each month brought a celebrity spotlight along with jokes, cartoons, magic tricks, child psychology advice (I'm not kidding) and puzzles.  One of the featured puzzles was hosted by an insult-spewing vampire called "Count Morbida".  This poster features Morbida's girlfriend, "Horibella", his dog "Transylvester" and many of the Count's friends.  What may not be immediately evident is it also features Count Morbida himself among a host of bats, mummies and other critters hiding throughout the trees and sky.  I counted 9 bats, 2 mummies, and 2 witches and the Count.  Have fun finding them.

Count Morbida was drawn by Arthur Friedman, a Hasidic Jewish illustrator from Brooklyn. There's not much about him on the internet (except that he was a Hasidic Jewish illustrator from Brooklyn). He drew for a few children's educational books as well as illustrated the children's book "Hershel of Ostropol" about a Jewish folk hero.

Halloween Dynamite

This issue of Dynamite is a find from a while back. Amazingly, it's one I didn't have from my childhood days of reading Dynamite.

Have a Dynamite Halloween!

I've spoken before about my love for Scholastic Publications when I was a kid.  The day that flyer arrived along with the day the books I ordered came in made school that much more tolerable. 

Dynamite magazine was published by Scholastic and sold through those flyers.  It was aimed at elementary school students through 6th grade, but I read it (somewhat ashamedly) long after that.  It was edited by Jane Stine, wife of R. L. Stine who also occasionally worked on the magazine (known simply as Bob Stine at the time), so it should come as no surprise that it frequently highlighted monsters.

Halloween Revisited -- Dynamite Monster Bash

 

Enjoy a relaxing Sunday with Count Morbida and this re-post from 2016.

Dynamite was one of my staple orders from Scholastic Books when I was a kid.  And one of my favorite parts of the magazine was always Count Morbida.  This issue from 1975 dates a little prior to when I started reading it, but I was fortunate to come across it along with several other issues at an estate sale this summer.  It's issue number twelve and it devotes a large section to planning a Monster Bash.  Maybe you can use some of these for your Halloween party this year.

Dynamite Monster Bash

Dynamite was one of my staple orders from Scholastic Books when I was a kid.  And one of my favorite parts of the magazine was always Count Morbida.  This issue from 1975 dates a little prior to when I started reading it, but I was fortunate to come across it along with several other issues at an estate sale this summer.  It's issue number twelve and it devotes a large section to planning a Monster Bash.  Maybe you can use some of these for your Halloween party this year.

Magik Revisited

When I was a kid, I wanted to be a magician.  I asked for, and received, the Presto Magic kits with standard illusions and tricks such as the Multiplying Spots, Penetrating Vision, the Endless Water Vase, the Bullet trick and the Ball and Vase trick.  I learned to do the tricks, and learned others pouring over the included Adams' 101 Magic Tricks booklet and other magic books I bought from the Scholastic flyer, but they were all simple and most people knew how they worked.  I could never afford the professional magic tricks sold in dedicated magic shops.  I continued to pick up magic sets at sales over the years, but of course, I never became a magician.

This summer, my family vacationed in the Smoky Mountains in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.  As a surprise, my wife booked a visit to Evanswood Magic Mansion.  I had seen a Youtube video by Jacob the Carpetbagger doing a tour of The Magic Mansion and had mentioned to her it would be cool to see in person. The day before we left, my wife presented me with the tickets (well, at least an email with digital tickets).

The night of the tour, we pulled up to the house silouetted in darkness.  Well, actually, the tour started at 7:00 p.m. and it was still light out, but "silouetted in darkness" sounds better.  Below is a photo I took when we left.