DAY 13 - Back to the Drawing Board, The Secret Hide-out

John Lawrence Peterson is perhaps best remembered as the author of The Littles, a children’s book series popular in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s. But Peterson also wrote and illustrated books for young boys. Two of note are  The Secret Hide-out (1965, Four Winds Press, later reprinted by Scholastic) and Enemies of the Secret Hide-out (1966, Scholastic). 

The first book tells the story of 2 brothers who find the secret logbook of a 1940s or 50s-era boys’ club called The Viking Club in their grandmother’s basement. The book provides instructions for gaining membership as well as the location of the club’s secret hide-out, a small cave located nearby. 

I first “heard” this book, this story, as it was read to our second-grade classes during our end-of-year “Going Through the Gate'' ceremony. That evening we walked under a rose trellis in front of our moms and dads, going (symbolically) on to next year’s grade. During intermissions, and while our classes waited in a classroom for our turn to participate in this momentous event, a teacher read the book aloud. I was totally captivated by the story!

The next day, the first day of summer break, I folded several sheets of 8.5” x 11” notebook paper in half to make a book. Then I wrote down everything I could remember from the night before -- which was actually a lot. Peterson’s story made a long-lasting impression on my very young mind.

This drawing is a loose rendition of Peterson's original illustration showing the location of the hide-out. Peterson not only wrote the story, but he also created the illustrations printed in the first edition of the book.