Lloyd Alexander Lives On

Why photo-realistic for the third book!?

Somewhere, in a box, are my copies of Lloyd Alexander’s Westmark trilogy. Unfortunately, I don’t know where that is. The other day, in lieu of television or games, I made my boys sit down and listen to me read. I was going to read to them from this series.

No problem, I thought, I’ll just buy an ebook version from Amazon.

Nope.

It’s not available for digital download.

I’m not clear why Penguin wouldn’t put this book out in a digital format.  Afterall, we’re talking Lloyd Alexander. Westmark alone was the winner of the American Book Award, ALA Best of the Best Books for Young Adults, and a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year. I grant, that was back in the heady, salad days of 1981, but still!

I saved a kingdom once.
But I did it with my shirt buttoned!

I ended up reading to the boys from The Treasure of Alpheus Winterborn by John Bellairs—he of The House with the Clock in its Walls fame.  But in the back of my mind was the desire to make certain that I had copies of Westmark, The Kestrel, and The Beggar Queen.

This meant only one thing: I would have to hunt for new copies of the books.

Hunting books is one of my favorite kinds of hunting. In this case, I was first going to settle for the reasonably cheap and easy to find covers that I remember from my youth. Then, I found that there were hardcovers.

Cue the salivating.

The first edition hardback books were released in a lovely artistic style that lines up well with the story. I still have a fondness for my paperback versions, and I love the cover art there as well, but I suspect those books will turn back up, so I’ll have two wonderful versions on my shelf.

 What’s a favorite book from your childhood/youth that you’d love to have in hardback? Tell me in the comments below!