For some reason the Library at Boiling Springs Elementary school, had a excellent book case full of what you could refer to as Nerd Fuel!
One shelf was full of 60’s era Marvel comics in large hard bound volumes.
Directly below that was a shelf of thin orange and black hard backs called the Crestwood Monster books.
I loved these books , I’d read them over and over again.
while they weren’t without inaccuracies (The pic on the cover of the Wolf Man book was actually from Werewolf of London).
For a movie obsessed kid growing up in rural North Carolina they were everything.
Originally published from 1977 to 1987 , they covered the history of horror films from the early 1930’s to the mid 1960’s.
From the Black and White Universal classics , to the Hammer Horror films of England and the Giant Monster movies of Japan.
However they didn’t just teach you about the most well known monster movies.
I knew the entire plot to the Deadly Mantis, years before I was able to watch it.
They were like graduate school for Monster Kids.
I checked these books out of the school library on a loop, I’d return one and check out another.
My actual education may has suffered a bit ( it definitely did ! ).
I might be terrible at math, but I can tell you which actors played the fiendish Dr. Fu Manchu ….
And to be fair nowadays all cell phones come with a calculator , so does it really matter?
Judging from the high price they sell for online, I wasn’t the only kid informed and inspired buy the Orange and Black Monster books!
-Lee
Right on!! I did the exact same thing in elementary school. I checked these books out of the library in rotation. I too, suck at math.. So you may be on to something about our educations suffering. This post made my day!