This month's book reviews

You can read this book about Batman
before or after you see the movie

You may already know that a book or a movie that continues a story from a previous book or film is called a sequel. A book or movie that tells of events that happened before those in an existing book or film is called a prequel. "Batman Returns, the Junior Novel" is a prequel to other Batman adventures, since it tells how Batman became the superhero in the first place. It won't be the best book you ever read, but, if you are a Batman fan you might enjoy reading it.

When the story begins, wealthy playboy Bruce Wayne finds himself in a rat-infested prison in a distant land. He's there because he had gone searching for some purpose to his life and to escape terrible memories from his past. While there in the prison, he meets a dark figure called Ducard, who, after speaking to Bruce, manages to get him set free. Bruce is to pick a rare flower and carry it to the top of a nearby mountain.

Bruce finds a monastery at the top of the mountain, where Ninja-type monks are waiting to teach him superhuman skills that can be used for either good or evil. While there, he relives the terrible memories from his childhood. Once, as a boy, he had fallen into a dark pit filled with bats that clawed and bit him. Later, when with his beloved parents, he witnesses them being murdered by a vicious robber. As he is troubled by his past memories, he continues to be trained as a killer-warrior.

Interestingly, it is the evil Ducard who helps turn the troubled Bruce Wayne into the larger-than-life figure who was to become Batman. Sometimes, it is not clear during this stage whether Bruce would become a powerful force for good or would become a terrible criminal figure, as was Ducard's intent.

We breathe a sigh of relief when Bruce Wayne returns to Gotham City and the old Wayne Mansion. Alfred, the old family butler is still there to assist Bruce in using his wealthy family's assets to fit himself out as Batman, so he can save Gotham City from the savage criminals that Ducard was to unleash on the city. In fighting his first battle, Batman is to ally himself with an honest police sergeant who turns up in later Batman adventures as Commissioner Gordon. As Batman handily wraps up this, his first adventure into crime-fighting, a new criminal force appears on the scene - the Joker.

 

A young burglar takes his trade to new heights
in the London of 1875

A young burglar fell through a factory's skylight window while fleeing from pursuers. He was severely injured not only by the fall but by the grinding machine that he fell on. His injuries had lead to his being taken to a teaching hospital rather than directly to prison. A young doctor at the hospital saw an opportunity to make himself famous, if he could keep the young criminal alive and repair his multiple injuries. And so he did. He took his patient to medical society meetings and showed its members what he had been able to accomplish though his innovative operations.

The young burglar was given the name "Montmorency" because that was the brand name on the bag of tools he had with him when he was captured. Montmorency was surprised when he was paraded before the scientists at the medical meetings to show off his scars and operation stitches. On the other hand, it did get him out of prison for a while.

He was able to listen to other scientists' presentations as he waited his turn to be exhibited. One of them described the new sewer system under the streets of London. There was also a large poster which was a diagram of the complicated underground system. Montmorency, who was a lot more clever than his captors suspected, committed the diagram to memory.

Although he had many scars, Montmorency healed and became as strong and athletic as he had ever been. He had to serve out his prison time, but while he was there he learned new things from the other prisoners. Upon his release, as an unsavory character named "Scarper," he put into action the plans he developed while imprisoned. As Scarper, he stole just enough to rent a room in the poor part of London. As Scarper, he learned how to get around in the sewer system and burglarize homes of the rich, fancy jewelry stores, and other places where valuable loot could be found. After all, he could just slip down a manhole and escape from the crime scene in any part of London.

After he had accumulated some money and could dress as a gentleman from the upper class, he rented another set of rooms in a wealthy section of the city. As an apparent aristocrat named Montmorency, he was able to sell off his loot to buyers who would not question where he obtained it. He liked being a gentleman and eating in upscale restaurants. He went to the opera and came to enjoy it. Figures in high society came to know him and to issue him invitations to their clubs and homes.

Montmorency had become two different people. Although he lived a double life, he came to hate the way in which he financed his new upper class life. He wanted to cease being Scarper, the criminal, and become a productive and honest citizen, if he could just figure out a way. There is a surprising and happy ending to the story, but you need to read the book to find out the unusual way that Montmorency turned his life around.

 

An orphan girl tells of life with
her elderly aunt and uncle in West Virginia

Summer lost her mother when she was only six. She was passed among aunts and uncles in Ohio for short periods of time; none of them wanted to keep a little orphan girl. When an elderly aunt, named May, and an uncle, named Ob, visited from West Virginia, they knew that Summer was the little angel daughter they thought they would never have. They took her back home to Deep Water, in Fayette County.

Home was only a rusty old trailer stuck on the side of a mountain, but to Summer it was paradise. May and Ob were obvious in their love for each other, and they showed their love for Summer right from the beginning. Small as the trailer was and poor as the old couple may be, their home was the perfect spot for a little girl.

Among other things, her Uncle Ob made whirligigs, parts of which would spin in the wind. Stored inside the trailer were his idea of a thunderstorm, of heaven, of fire, of love, of dreams, even of Aunt May. All of them would spin when the electric fan was turned on overhead. They were magic to a little girl. And the trailer was always stocked with food. "Anything you want that isn't here, Summer, your Uncle Ob will go down to the store and get it for you. We want you to eat, honey."

Uncle Ob had been wounded in the war - World War II. He and May lived on his veteran's pension. May was overweight, but she was active around the trailer and spent a lot of time in her large garden outside. She grew pole beans, green cabbages, carrots and other practical vegetables.

For six years, life was perfect for Summer. When Summer was twelve, though, Aunt May was working in her garden when they found her dead among her beloved vegetables. Of course, both Ob and Summer were filled with grief; they spent months doing little more than missing May. Gradually, Summer came to realize that, if something wasn't done, she was going to lose her Uncle Ob also.

Help for Summer came in a strange form - that of Cletus Underwood. He was the strangest boy in school. But when Uncle Ob started to believe he could feel May trying to contact him from beyond the grave, Cletus was the only one around who believed it was possible. Cletus might be wierd, but Uncle Ob became more like his old self when Cletus and he talked about going to the city to visit a spiritualist medium who might put them into contact with Aunt May. Summer was skeptical, but how could she object when Uncle Ob was so excited about his life again.

There is humor and sadness in Uncle Ob's mission. The trip to the city didn't turn out as Cletus and Ob had hoped, but changes occured in their lives, and Uncle Ob came back from the trip ready to face life and the world once again. The route to a happy ending to this story was complex, but well worth reading.