Beloved Benjamin Is Waiting by Jean E. Karl

When I was growing up I was a voracious reader – a hobby I try to keep up with to this day. I went to the library regularly to check out everything from astronomy books to young adult novels.

One day I remember hunching down in the H-K author section looking for S.E. Hinton books and whatever else caught my eye. With the title, Beloved Benjamin Is Waiting, this book definitely caught by attention. Then I read the jacket flap and was intrigued. I took the book home and read it (I think I got it out a lot!) and have never forgotten it.

Over the last few years I became obsessed with the idea of reading this book again and I finally bought it used through Amazon last month. It is out of print, so used is the only way to get it now. I was really wondering if it was as clinically awesome as I remembered it being. If I re-read books that I found great as a kid I usually find them oddly lamer than I recalled. I guess that’s the sophistication of being grown up. And the true genius you must employ to be a young-adult novelist. But this book is still completely amazing!

Quick plot synapsis from the Amazon page for this book: Hounded by a gang of kids after her mother’s disappearance leaves her on her own, Lucinda hides in the abandoned caretaker’s house in the local cemetery where she makes contact with intelligent beings from another galaxy.

This leaves out the fact that Lucinda is only 11 years old. This book always haunted me, and after reading it I think I know why. The ending leaves you wanting more. You want to know more about what becomes of Lucinda, what becomes of her family, what becomes of the caretakers house… everything.

This novel was originally published in 1978. And, by the way – I’m not the only one who enjoyed this book so much they remembered it into adulthood. Just look at the comments on the Amazon page! And check out this book if you get a chance (haha- get it? check out this book)- I highly recommend it. English Major Approved!

Today in… 1987

9th Grade English Class Journal, October 26, 1987:

Hellro. I want to go home. Jennifer is skipping. Homecoming was awesome. Halloween is Saturday. B-O-R-I-N-G. Baseball is awesome no matter what anyone says. I want to go home. The dance was ok, the game was fun… I want to go home. Gotta stop (go?). C-ya later. P.S. – I want to go home!!!!!!!!! Coyotito’s head got blown off – isn’t that gross? OK – now I gotta stop (go) C-ya. I want to go home! I can’t wait ’till math. I want to go home!

God, I sound insane in this entry! I’m not sure, but I think I wanted to go home?

 

 Jennifer never skipped. I don’t know where that came from or why I wrote it. We were probably fighting or somthing.

“Coyotito” is a character in the John Steinbeck novella The Pearl, which we were reading in this class. You can buy this book and learn more about it here, on its Amazon page.