Childhood nostalgia bookblogging - The Scratch Papers

Two weeks ago, I posted a bleg for the title of my 5th-grade reading workbook, which I had adored. Thomas Knapp provided the clue I needed in comments to find the title: The Scratch Papers.



It's out of print now, of course, but I managed to track down a gently-used copy via Academic Book Services.

So over the next few weeks (months, perhaps), I'll be posting artwork and excerpts from The Scratch Papers. You'll travel through time with Wilbur, Professor Scratch, and Howling Jack Wolfbane; you'll meet Prof. Scratch's arch-enemy, Moog the Merciless and his strange bubble-gum-like slaves, the Word Gobblers; and learn the history of the lost kingdom of Tabletenia, which sank into the sea in 1569.

And perhaps it will help you forget, just for a few minutes, about wars in the Middle East, our nascent police state, and the fact that we still have two and half more years of the Bush presidency to endure.