THE Book

THE BOOK is the one you read when you were a kid. You then lost track of it, or sight of it, or much memory of it. As an adult, you remembered how very good or terrible or scary it was, but you never forgot it. The problem is you can’t find it. It’s out of print. The subject matter is no longer popular. Teaching methods have been “corrected,” or history has been straightened out. Or kids just stopped enjoying it. But you would give a lot to lay hands on THE BOOK. 

Thanks to a wonderful school librarian, I had a lot of books like that. But for me, THE BOOK related the story of Elstrid, a daughter of King Alfred the Great of Wessex—famous for burning the cakes or maybe not burning them. I never forgot the title or the author—A Journey for a Princess by Margaret Leighton. It relates the story of the youngest daughter, a young teenager who is shy, awkward, untidy, and in despair of ever living up to her accomplished older sister. That sister is the golden child who has made an excellent marriage and has her own household to run. Elstrid, somehow and without trying to, attracts the (unwanted!) attention of a Viking prince who visits her father, and the King conveniently sends her off on a pilgrimage to Rome to protect her from a rather unwise proposal of marriage.

The rest of the story is a coming-of-age novel, mid-twentieth-century girl’s style. A royal journey from Britain to Rome in the ninth century was an arduous undertaking involving weeks or months of travel on the road, countless baggage wagons, large amounts of money that had to be guarded by hordes of knights and men-at-arms, and such inconveniences as rain, snow, bedbugs, high altitude climbs, dubious inns, and of course robbers and the ubiquitous Danish Vikings. Elstrid seems to manage with no great difficulty, and gets a sound education in religion, military strategy and tactics, horse husbandry, and most importantly, the politics of her era. While in Rome, the beloved aunt who was her chaperone takes a chill and dies, and Elstrid becomes the ranking royal on the trip. She also learns that delightful friends are not always as nice or as trustworthy as they appear to be. 

The book has an unexpected ending, which I will not spoil. Elstrid herself becomes mature, thoughtful, and gracious. She also ends up betrothed to a distant relative who is only a little bit older than she is and who happens to be the king of Flanders. 

I found THE BOOK only a day or two ago as the result of an animated THE BOOK discussion on Facebook initiated by Caroline Cartier. The participants, all JAFF readers or authors, each had their own precious choice for THE BOOK, and several were helped by other participants. I had been searching for years, because A Journey for a Princess has long been out of print. I found it on the Internet Archive available for borrowing, and another group member sent me a PDF from another source. I was able to read it in a leisurely day between breakfast and dinner. 

It gave me a lot to think about, and most especially the idea that kids’ and young adults’ literature has its own sets of tropes, and while the settings and situations have changed over the years, the conventions probably remain the same. When I was a girl, these conventions were different for girls and boys. Girls were tomboys or hoydens, but they grew up to become wives and mothers in happy marriages. Boys got to venture out. I hope this has changed in modern fiction for girls.

Among the books mentioned by other participants in this wonderful discussion were: 

• A family of children in Ireland. The book includes a big dog and a land agent. 
• Spirit Flyer series by John Bibee. Recently received as a Christmas gift from Mother. 
• What appears to be the “Childcraft” series, often sold as an adjunct to World Book Encyclopedia. Recently found in a thrift shop.
• “The book where I got the name Amarantha that all my siblings mocked me for loving?”
• The Little Leftover Witch. “It was my Harry Potter.”
• Watership Down. Also The Westing Game.
• A Journey for a Princess. Is THE BOOK for two people, Anne and Elaine.
• An adult book given inadvertently to a poster when she was ten that caused her a great deal of shock and horror. Titled Bad Blood, she just wants to confirm that someone wrote, and someone else published, something so horrible. 
• A book that takes place in England during a new Ice Age. 
• Freckles by Gene Stratton-Porter. 
• While Mrs. Coverlet Was Away. 
• The Incredible Umbrella by Marvin Kaye
• An autobiography of two sisters who survived internment in Auschwitz. And a second book, Michele Remembers. 
• Anarchist Cookbook
• A story set in Italy about a girl, Simone, and a boy, Michael. 
• A French family moves to Haiti and has many adventures. The girl consults a voodoo priest about an unwanted birthmark on her face, and he makes it disappear. A snake is somehow involved. 
• Changeling by Zilpha Keatley Snyder. Found on Thriftbooks. 

That’s the end of our comprehensive list from the discussion. If any of these rings a bell, let me know and I will contact the person who posted. 

A couple of very helpful hints: Thanks first of all to poster Lori, who points out that there’s a Reddit sub. Of course there is: r/whatsthatbook. Also, to poster Bronwen for the reminder about Thriftbooks. You can also find a lot of good out of print books on the website of Better World Books. Finally, this is an area where AI can really shine. Use Google’s AI or fire up whatever you’re using at the moment, and try describing your Book.

And finally, thanks to Caroline for thinking up this wonderful conversation and sharing it with us!

What are your own memories of “THE BOOK?”  If you can’t find it, maybe someone from the discussion can help.