I bought ‘The Ghost on Saturday Night’ at a book fair in
1978. I can pinpoint the germ of many of my obsessions to the moment I finished
this book. My fascination with post civil war America, séances and
spiritualism, hucksters and snake-oil salesman all began here, a fact that
never occurred to me until I pulled this book off my shelf today.
Published in 1974 by the prolific and quirky Sid Fleischman, who was part of A great late 60s and early 70s renaissance of
innovative kids book writers. If you dig Fleischman, check out the work of
Daniel Pinkwater, Tomi Ungerer, and Barbara Emberly.
The Ghost on Saturday Night is the tale of young Opie who
lives with his curmudgeonly Aunt Etta. Opie has his heart set on saving up for
a saddle for a horse his aunt will provide once he has the dough. Opie has
carved out quite a niche for himself in Golden Hill, California. Seems his
elevated olfactory and aural skills come in quite handy in a town plagued by
sight reducing fog. One night a Professor Pepper comes to town bringing his ghost-raising
act for one night only. In exchange for leading him to his hotel after a
haircut Professor Pepper gives him and Aunt Etta free tickets to see him raise
the ghost of the nefarious Crookneck John from the nether world.
I am not going to spoil the ending for those of you who want
to seek out this spooky classic.
Read it for yourself, or turn on the 7 to 12 year old in
your life to a great ghostly tale.
Love it! So cool!
ReplyDeleteHi Greg, great to discover your blog. I found you from traffic coming to my blog at Garage Sale Finds, thanks for linking! I bought this book from Scholastic when I was in 5th grade and loved it. I still have it and enjoy getting it out every once in a while. You might want to check out "Mr. Mysterious and Company" another Fleischman/Von Schmidt book.
ReplyDeleteThanks Tom! I love your blog. I actually have a project going where I am going through your TV Guide posts and matching dates with events in my life. Sounds like we bought The Ghost on Saturday Night at the exact same time. Also really enjoyed your Fat Albert board game post. I spent many a summer playing that. Next time I am home I am going to see if I can find my Six Million Dollar Man and Sigmund and the Sea Monsters game. Cheers!
Delete>I actually have a project going where I am going through your >TV Guide posts and matching dates with events in my life.
DeleteThat sounds great! Looking forward to reading it.
I'd love to find that Sigmund game. I've never seen it.