Into the Archives: Two Tiny Tomes

Catholic Tales and Christian Songs (1918), by Dorothy L. Sayers (This edition 2015; a mere 33 pages)

I had this volume on Kindle, but the way it was laid out annoyed me. Then when I got this actual book on Thursday, I opened it and saw it was laid out the same way, every verse bunched up into a paragraph instead of laid out as a verse as Sayers intended. I imagine the company just printed the Kindle edition. This is why you should read the reader reviews on Amazon. The poetry is very good, however; I must still be on the lookout for a better reading copy.

 

Matthew Looney’s Voyage to Earth (1961), by Jerome Beatty, Jr. (An Avalon/Camelot Book; this reprint 2019; 133 pages)

“Matthew Looney is the title character in a series of four science fiction books for children by Jerome Beatty Jr (1916—2002). Matthew's sister Maria Looney is the title character in Beatty's three subsequent books. The entire Looney series is illustrated by the renowned cartoonist Gahan Wilson.” – Wikipedia.

This is the one volume in the Matthew and Maria Looney series that I am absolutely sure I read back in the 4^th Grade (1972-1973); by then it had been at least a dozen years and we had actually gone to the Moon in the meantime, a fact that was woven into subsequent Looney books, I understand. Until now I had only had Matthew Looney and the Space Pirates (1972) bought at Half Price Books many years later, and which I have never read for fear of ‘spoilers’ on the middle Matthew books. I may now read it soon. I already have the 2^nd book, Matthew Looney and the Invasion of Earth, on order, and I’m not sure but I seem to have vague memories of reading it. The proof will be in the pudding. I will probably stop when I have all the Matthew books but may get the Maria books at a later time. This 2019 reprint has amazingly large margins, at least an inch wider all around than the old editions.

I spent all Friday taking a break from reading Maurice Baring Restored and spent the time breezing through Voyage on a nostalgic journey. I have written elsewhere how the Looney books were one of the three science fiction series that I read before Star Trek happened to us (the other two were the Sprockets and Mushroom Planet books). As I read, old synapses were sparked into life, old memories emerged, and my literary thoughts were brought to bear on a vanished form of writing for children.

Part of these delights were the illustrations by Gahan Wilson, who in 1961 was not quite as ‘renowned’ as he would become. But even then, his simple designs were masterpieces of showing emotion and character. His Moon people are rather like a cross between Charlie Brown with Gidney and Cloyd from Rocky and Bullwinkle,

or Quisp,

another product of Jay Ward’s animation. I remember they also recalled to me the Tang mascots at the time,

Moon people who were popular in the wake of the powdered orange drink’s voyage to our satellite. We had a little ‘ramp walker’ prize from a Tang jar, like this but yellow, and the flag had a stars and stripes sticker.

Oh, the story. Matthew Looney gets the job as cabin boy on his Uncle Lucky’s expedition to Earth. There is quite a bit of business explaining how the Moon people live. They think that because Earth has so much deadly, deadly sunshine, water, and oxygen, that life as they know it is unlikely there. If it exists, it must be in the cooler polar regions, which is where they visit. Matthew smuggles his pet ‘murtle’ (basically a long-tailed turtle) along with him which gets him into trouble. But the murtle’s actions when he escapes from Matthew prove that the planet may not be as barren as they think.

Here are all the Looney books, in order of publication. You can see all the covers elsewhere in this blog by searching 'Matthew Looney'.

• Matthew Looney's Voyage to the Earth (1961)
• Matthew Looney's Invasion of the Earth (1965)
• Matthew Looney in the Outback (1969)
• Matthew Looney and the Space Pirates (1972)
• Maria Looney on the Red Planet (1977)
• Maria Looney and the Cosmic Circus (1978)
• Maria Looney and the Remarkable Robot (1978)