This is what I like about the Internet.

[spatch]

I get a vague flash of a name in my head.
Skinny Malinky.
Skinny Malinky.
Where the heck have I heard that name before? It's not one of my creations. I must've read it in a book.
Yeah, a book. Tall skinny redheaded kid with freckles. Who led a gang of kids in a school rebellion, if I remember correctly.
Yeah. Yeah. I read it in 7th grade, which was probably the most perfect time to read such a thing.
What was its name?
I Google for Skinny Malinky. And I find the book.
The War Between The Pitiful Teachers and the Splendid Kids. By Stanley Keisel.
Dunno who the author is, but doesn't that title just make you wanna jump right out and read it?
It's actually quite dark.
The kids rise up against their oppressive teachers, sides are drawn, a formal Declaration Of War is made, and wartime conditions ensue.
There's no killing; the teachers just try to force the kids into a Status Quo Solidifier to make them perfect Young People (YPs.)
But near the end of it, society breaks down and it's all very strange.
Some kids go underground, literally, to get away from everything so they can just hole up and read. Bookworms.
Oh yeah. I so remember this. I gotta get it.
Five minutes later, I've found the book had a sequel which I never read.
And ten minutes after that, I've bought both from online used booksellers.
One of the books is, as they say, "inscribed by author."

The Internet is truly wonderful. I know full well that tomorrow someone will display furry Star Trek pregnancy-fetish art and I'll have to write angry shouty words IN ALL CAPS, but for now I'm going to just happily bask in the moment of true serendipity.

Comments

[she-parser.livejournal.com]

DATA CANNOT CARRY A CHILD TO TERM

[infinitehotel.livejournal.com]

That book, and a few others like it, is one of the reasons I still read (and occasionally write) YA. A cute cover, a funny title, and the vague suggestion that authority always wins in the end, but the rest of the book was a subversive gobsmack, one of the weirdest things I can remember reading as a kid.

What's the title of the sequel? My paperback copy of the first book is pretty loveworn as well...

[ron_newman]

Amazon's page on this book has a link labelled "This is item 1 in The Skinny Malinky Series."

Following that link leads you to a book called Skinny Malinky Leads the War for Kidness.

(I'd never heard of either book until today.)

[sokmunky.livejournal.com]

Both are worth reading. I've worn out 3 copies of Pitiful Teachers.