Dreadful Future of Blossom Culp, The [Hardcover]

Richard Peck (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1983

Blossom, not the most popular member of her freshman class in 1914, travels ahead seventy years, and returns in time to make Halloween a memorable night for her classmates and teachers.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The further adventures of the early 20th century's most popular telepath. Ages 10-up.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

Irrepressibly funny, fast, and touching. -- Publishers Weekly --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 183 pages
• Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers (September 1, 1983)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385293003
• ISBN-13: 978-0385293006
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #949,601 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Richard Peck has written over twenty novels, and in the process has become one of America's most highly respected writers for young adults. A versatile writer, he is beloved by middle graders as well as young adults for his mysteries and coming-of-age novels. He now lives in New York City. In addition to writing, he spends a great deal of time traveling around the country attending speaking engagements at conferences, schools and libraries...Mr. Peck has won a number of major awards for the body of his work, including the Margaret A. Edwards Award from School Library Journal, the National Council of Teachers of English/ALAN Award, and the 1991 Medallion from the University of Southern Mississippi. Virtually every publication and association in the field of children s literature has recommended his books, including Mystery Writers of America which twice gave him their Edgar Allan Poe Award. Dial Books for Young Readers is honored to welcome Richard Peck to its list with Lost in Cyberspace and its sequel The Great Interactive Dream Machine...

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Dreadful Future of Blossom Culp, November 21, 2000

By 

Cy Korte (Wisconsin Rapids, WI United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dreadful Future of Blossom Culp, The (Mass Market Paperback)

BOOK BLURB: 14-year old psychic Blossom Culp isn't looking forward to life in high school. Thanks to stuck-up Letty Shambaugh, Blossom's not included in the class Halloween project, so she can't help transform Old Man Leverette's place into a haunted house. What's worse is, Letty has her sights set on handsome Alexander Armsworth. Wanting to get back at Letty, Blossom secretly explores the eerie house with Alexander.

Suddenly everything goes berserk, and Blossom's hurled from 1914 into a time warp. Through her psychic powers Blossom's found a new way into the future, where she's surrounded by Valley Girls and computers. But will those powers work in reverse?

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Tacky., August 2, 2003

By 

Rilchiam "Rilchiam" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Dreadful Future of Blossom Culp (Paperback)

I've read all four books in this series, and this is the one I like least.

I can see why Peck chose to follow up on "Ghosts I Have Been" (the best, in my and probably most others' opinion). Readers and his publishers were probably hounding him for a sequel...and that's the most likely explanation for why this is so poor! It must have been written under duress, is all I can figure.

The tone of the other three installments is lost here, crushed under the weight of slapstick and gratuitous .... (Blossom ogling Alexander at the swimming hole? P-lease!) The 1984 sequence doesn't stand out as an anomaly, the way it should: everything leading up to it has been a painfully obvious parallel. And Peck also cheaps out, in my opinion, by only showing the extremes of the '80s lifestyle.

When I first read this, it had just been released, and I was 14. As such, I could totally feel Blossom's pain when Alexander starts courting Letty. But now, at 33, I have to wonder if he's worth losing a minute's sleep over. In GIHB, he and Blossom were a year or so too young for any serious romantic leanings (although there was a bit of foreshadowing when a character points out that if Alexander gets caught in Blossom's room, he'll have some 'splainin' to do), but they were definitely friends. Now, I can understand that a year later, when he starts to Notice Girls, that he might be swayed by Letty, who is more conventional, but that doesn't excuse his extreme rudeness towards Blossom.

And not just rudeness. In one case, he's either a cold-hearted SOB or the most base coward ever. Throughout the 1984 sequence, I assumed that it would be one of those deals where Blossom would return to 1914 just a few seconds past the time she left. But the same amount of time elapsed in both eras: she was gone for a night and a day. Meanwhile, Alexander just took off as soon as she disappeared, which is bad enough, but when they meet up again, he never shows one iota of concern for what happened to her! No "Glad you're okay", not even "So what happened?" For all he knew, she might have never have come back at all. What a jerk.

I'd say skip this one, as it adds nothing to the series. The next one is okay, but only if you accept that Peck hit the reset button.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A little too cutesy and contrived, but enjoyable, September 24, 2008

By 

Backroads "Scatter-brained book fan" (Cache Valley, Utah) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Dreadful Future of Blossom Culp (Turtleback)

To be perfectly honest, I'm not always thrilled when writers pull the "time-travel" card into a story that already has plenty of fantasy. But, oh well. Peck had already established Miss Culp as the girl who randomly finds her way through time and space. Much more light-hearted than prior stories, Blossom's goal is to show up the rest of the student body at the freshman Halloween fund-raiser--due to age-old rivalries and subtle romantic tension between Blossom and Alexander. Still,the modern-aged bugged me. Aside from that, this has plenty of the personality I have come to expect from Richard Peck and his unique vision of old-school small-town America. Not only that, girls in that awkward age between kid and woman will certainly share Blossom's feelings--without the CW-type angst.