Every once in a while, especially around Christmastime, I think about a funny little elf named Juniperperper. The thought of him brings back memories of one childhood Christmas when the Daily New-Record published a serial story about him during the weeks leading up to Christmas. My memory is foggy, but I guess Mom probably read the story to Danny and me each day. Even though I have forgotten the details of the story, I remember Juniperperper fondly to this day.
This year, as you can probably guess, I found Juniperperper on the internet! He happened to pop into my mind while I was sitting at my desk, and of course, I Googled him. There's not much to find, but with a little work, I was able to piece together The Elf Who Couldn't Do Anything Right, by Bob Boyle, in its entirety.
If you would like to read Juniperperper's story, you can find it piece-by-piece in the following links. Most of the links will take you directly to the article, but for a few you will need to navigate to the story yourself.
- Chapter 1
- Chapter 2
- Chapter 3
- Chapter 4
- Chapter 5
- Chapter 6
- Chapter 7
- Chapter 8 - Navigate to page 7 (newspaper page 13).
- Chapter 9
- Chapter 10
- Chapter 11 - Navigate to page 17 (newspaper page 33).
- Chapter 12
Thank you, Bob Boyle, for this story. Thank you, newspapers, for publishing it. Thank you, Mom, for reading it to us kids. And thank you to whoever put all those old newspapers on the internet. I enjoyed reading Juniperperper's story, as well as bumping into other childhood memories in the process: Roses, Ralph Sampson, Ronald Reagan, and the 1984 Redskins (who won their division the year this story was published). Merry Christmas, y'all!
8 comments:
Woohoo! was trying to track down this serial story and finally remembered Juniperperper's name which made it easier. Thanks for posting this!
THANK YOU for this. I have been looking forever. I loved your blog- have you switched domains or just not blogging anymore- thanks and cheers!
Thank you!!! I was just thinking about Juniperper and remembering my dad reading a section each day from the newspaper. I am going to print this and send sections to my granddaughter for my daughter to read to her. Thanks for making my Christmas special.
I read this story in our hometown newspaper as a child ( Times Herald Forrest City, Ar. ) I have thought of it often and remembered the elfs name. An online search and here it is ! I will reread this next year during the holidays ! Thank you so much for your work and effort to find this and share it ! God bless.
It was published in the Fitchburg-Enterprise 12/1984. I read it nightly to my 6 year old twins. This year one of the twins ask about it. I had clipped it and stored it with our decorations all this time. GLB
My fourth grade teacher, Mrs.Idol read this to us and as you did I could remember his name and Google helped with the rest!!
Thanks for posting this. I remember reading this as a kid in the Bridgeport Post.
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