Riddler

Riddler by Henry A. Bamman and Robert J. Whitehead (1967) This is the 2nd book in the “Checkered Flag Series”—which are from Field Educational Publications, schoolbooks for young readers—I’m not sure of the age—I probably thought I was too old for them when I first read them, but now I’m 64, still reading them—so does it really matter? The one thing you’re not old enough to do is drive, when you might read these in school—but anyway, they stuck with me. Since I’m writing something about a road rally, I was trying to find some old books for inspiration—and I read this one while on vacation at my brother’s house—it’s specifically about a rally where there are riddles that reveal the next checkpoint, and then the teams are to get there in an indicated time—not too slow, but also not too fast. Of course, there’s some element of mystery and wrongdoing going on, involving one of the contestants, for increased drama. Good car stuff—I think each of the books focuses on different cars. I used to love cars. When I was a little kid, I wanted nothing as much as (after I became resigned to the fact that I wasn’t going to get a horse) a Stutz Bearcat, for some reason, and one book of the series is called Bearcat. The other nice thing about these books are their distinctive checkered flag covers, and the excellent, stylized, somewhat impressionistic illustrations by James Andrews. Which is maybe one of the reasons my brother collected them. It really is worth owning the books for the illustrations alone.

9.17.24