When I was a boy, I read two books that I really enjoyed... but I can't now remember the title or author of either.
I read these books somewhere around 1975 - checked them out from my elementary school library. Based on these admittedly sparse details, can you offer any suggestions?
1. Sci-fi book about a young man who can cross over into another dimension "like turning a corner". The "other side" was a place that drove people mad, except for this young man. It seems to me that I recall he could walk a short distance on the other side, and when he crossed back over to this reality (ours) he had traveled much farther. It also seems his parents were somehow involved in the story (scientists?). I don't know. That's about all I'm sure of.
2. Sci-fi/fantasy book about a boy who spends the night in a museum. After dark the museum comes to life. Something about an Egyptian Mummy. I remember the line where the kid comments that he "made love in a sarcophogas"... but those were more innocent times and that phrase was not as risque as it is now. This book is the one that started this quest for me, because I was reminded of it by the movie "Night at the Museum". When I located the book version of that movie, I realized it could not be the book I was thinking of (because of the copyright dates - "Night at the Museum" is too recent to be the same book I remember from my childhood).
Any hints or ideas appreciated!
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
quote:1. Sci-fi book about a young man who can cross over into another dimension "like turning a corner". The "other side" was a place that drove people mad, except for this young man. It seems to me that I recall he could walk a short distance on the other side, and when he crossed back over to this reality (ours) he had traveled much farther. It also seems his parents were somehow involved in the story (scientists?). I don't know. That's about all I'm sure of.
It sounds a lot like The Talisman, especially "when he crossed back over to this reality (ours) he had traveled much farther." The part about the other side driving people mad is the only one that doesn't quite match up.
Posted by aiua (Member # 7825) on :
I don't think it's The Talisman. The thing about the alternate universe is not that it drives people mad, but that "twinners" exist, or parallel characters on the other side. And his parents are either dying or were already killed by the evil dude.
As for what either of them could be, sorry, I've got nothing.
Posted by Nighthawk (Member # 4176) on :
According to Wikipedia, Night at the Museum is based on a 1993 children's book by Milan Trenc.
quote:He wrote and illustrated The Night at the Museum, a children's book set in the New York Museum of Natural Sciences and published in 1993 by Barrons Juvenile. The book was produced as a feature film in 2006 and subjected to a novelization by Leslie Goldman.
Posted by Yozhik (Member # 89) on :
The first book is Alan Nourse's The Universe Between. I read it as a kid too.
I'll work on the second one.
Posted by Sala (Member # 8980) on :
I loved the book The Universe Between. I read it around 1975 too, and searched and searched for it until I finally found it again and bought it (probably either ebay or amazon). I was always fascinated by the purple-eyed girl and I always wanted to slip "around the corner" into the universe between. Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
Your description of The Universe Between kind of reminds me of the way Chrestomanci-as-a-child can go between worlds.
Posted by Ray Edwards (Member # 11815) on :
Brilliant, Yozhik! THAT is the book! I am so grateful you have solved one of these mysteries for me.
BTW, the "museum" book is not the one from 1993... because I read it probably 20 years before that.
Thanks all for your input.
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
Here is a wikipedia article that gives a better summary of the book's plot.
Posted by Stephan (Member # 7549) on :
Second one is definitely based on the older Night at the Museum. They changed it dramatically for the film, but that is it What you found in the store was probably the movie novelization (written based on the movie's script), and not the original one.
Posted by Miro (Member # 1178) on :
I've never understand writing a novelization of a movie based on a book. It's like a game of telephone. One day, they'll make a movie based on the novelization of a movie which was based on book. And of course that movie needs a novelization, too.
Posted by Ray Edwards (Member # 11815) on :
Konigsburg's book looks interesting, but that's not it.
An @Stephan... it is definitely NOT based on the older Night at the Museum. That book is too recent (1993) -- my "museum book" was published in the 70's at the latest, perhaps much earlier.
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