The Story of a Bad Boy

Ten years ago, roughly, my grandfather gave me this book for Christmas. He told me that it was his favorite book as a young boy. For whatever reason, it just didn't appeal to me. Why should I care to read about a bad boy? When I learned that it was set right about in 1850, my minimal interest dwindled even more. I never read it. But that changed this week, as I have just completed the book. And I am certainly glad I did so. It's cliche to use the term I am about to use, but Thomas Bailey Aldrich really does seem to be a "poor man's" Mark Twain. The protagonist of The Story of a Bad Boy is very similar to the character Tom Sawyer. What's more, Bad Boy was published first, making Twain's Tom Sawyer a knock-off of "Tom Bailey" if anything. While Aldrich is by no means quite as good a storyteller as Twain, he's absolutely no more than a tier or so below the much more celebrated novelist to whom I dare to compare him. I wouldn't tell anyone that this book is must-read material, but then again, I seldom tell anyone that any book is must-read material. It was solid from start to finish, and certainly managed to make me nostalgic for my own boyhood a time or two. Books like this one are what drive the Back-Blogged project; sometimes you don't need to go out of your way to enjoy a good book, as one may be right under your nose all along.