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Last Look
A strange new girl comes to a small school in a vacation village and then mysteriously disappears
81 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1979
28 people want to read
About the author
Clyde Robert Bulla
104 books101 followersBorn to be a Writer
Almost as far back as he can remember, Clyde Robert Bulla wanted to write. Born on a farm in a small town in Missouri, Mr. Bulla's first school was a one-room country schoolhouse. One day his teacher asked each first grade student what he or she would do with a thousand dollars. Young Clyde answered that he would buy a table. His classmates laughed heartily, and his teacher was puzzled. “What I really meant,” says Mr. Bulla, “is a desk or other flat surface on which to write my stories!”
First Stories
Mr. Bulla's first piece of writing was titled, “How Planets Were Born.” The ambitious opening sentence was, “One night old Mother Moon had a million babies.” All through school, Mr. Bulla continued to write stories mostly, but plays and poetry, too. After years of gathering editor's rejection slips, Mr. Bulla sold a magazine story, then several more. Soon after, Mr. Bulla wrote a novel and a publisher accepted it.
The Difficult Years
In the excitement of publishing a novel, Mr. Bulla wrote two more books. Unfortunately, no one wanted to publish them. His luck took a turn for the worse when the publisher of his first book went bankrupt. For several years, he worked at a local weekly newspaper where he struggled with linotype, kept books, collected bills, and wrote a weekly column.
Success!
A couple of Mr. Bulla's weekly columns caught the attention of a well-known author and illustrator of children's books. She wrote to Mr. Bulla, suggesting that he try writing a children's book. He immediately sent her a manuscript for a children's book he'd written a year before. Within one week, an editor of a New York publisher read the manuscript,and it was accepted. The book was The Donkey Cart, published in 1946. Since then, Mr. Bulla has written over twenty books for children, as well as the music for several children's song books.
About The Chalk Box Kid
“When I was young,” explains Mr. Bulla, “I sometimes found it hard to cope in new surroundings, and I was apt to get off on the wrong foot. This is the story of a boy who got off on the wrong foot in a new school and how he tried to cope.” In describing the chalk garden, Mr. Bulla says, “I gave Gregory something I've always wished for: a big, blank wall that I could cover with my own drawings.”
Almost as far back as he can remember, Clyde Robert Bulla wanted to write. Born on a farm in a small town in Missouri, Mr. Bulla's first school was a one-room country schoolhouse. One day his teacher asked each first grade student what he or she would do with a thousand dollars. Young Clyde answered that he would buy a table. His classmates laughed heartily, and his teacher was puzzled. “What I really meant,” says Mr. Bulla, “is a desk or other flat surface on which to write my stories!”
First Stories
Mr. Bulla's first piece of writing was titled, “How Planets Were Born.” The ambitious opening sentence was, “One night old Mother Moon had a million babies.” All through school, Mr. Bulla continued to write stories mostly, but plays and poetry, too. After years of gathering editor's rejection slips, Mr. Bulla sold a magazine story, then several more. Soon after, Mr. Bulla wrote a novel and a publisher accepted it.
The Difficult Years
In the excitement of publishing a novel, Mr. Bulla wrote two more books. Unfortunately, no one wanted to publish them. His luck took a turn for the worse when the publisher of his first book went bankrupt. For several years, he worked at a local weekly newspaper where he struggled with linotype, kept books, collected bills, and wrote a weekly column.
Success!
A couple of Mr. Bulla's weekly columns caught the attention of a well-known author and illustrator of children's books. She wrote to Mr. Bulla, suggesting that he try writing a children's book. He immediately sent her a manuscript for a children's book he'd written a year before. Within one week, an editor of a New York publisher read the manuscript,and it was accepted. The book was The Donkey Cart, published in 1946. Since then, Mr. Bulla has written over twenty books for children, as well as the music for several children's song books.
About The Chalk Box Kid
“When I was young,” explains Mr. Bulla, “I sometimes found it hard to cope in new surroundings, and I was apt to get off on the wrong foot. This is the story of a boy who got off on the wrong foot in a new school and how he tried to cope.” In describing the chalk garden, Mr. Bulla says, “I gave Gregory something I've always wished for: a big, blank wall that I could cover with my own drawings.”
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
March 2, 2020
“The Ghost Of Windy Hill’s” creepy, serious atmosphere have impressed and thrilled me since I was a little girl, partly thanks to ink artist, Don Bolognese. I lucked out by discovering “Ghost Town Treasure”. That adventure is perfect for my nephew, a toddler presently. My nephew and niece would love both stories. When I happened upon this 1979 teenaged story by Clyde Robert Bulla, I imagined it would be gold. Alas, the creator of some of our favourite literature can produce a lemon. On this story, the majority agrees. However, I will give him a break. He wrote since he was a kid and lived until 93!
Broad readers have seen it before. There are occasions in which it is clear authors had their minds set on a certain mood or scene but failed to factor in logical behaviour and reasoning. Rhoda is a new pupil of summer classes in a cottage community. No vacationing family would agree to those, for starters! I gave two stars because it was nice to give consideration to a girl with attention issues from an actress Mother but that is about all I could commend. On the topic of fitting in, Rhoda was assertive about introducing herself to Monica’s friends and Monica asked her picky pals to give her a chance.
Clyde’s goal breaks down when Rhoda holds a grudge, over the one time Monica politely declined an offer to go on an excursion. The moral was that she was at fault for being reticent to a new friendship. Actually, Monica was more patient and fair than anyone. Never declining invitations is the wrong message. Monica was a model of courtesy and needed no lesson. Rhoda’s extreme behaviour was rightfully subjected to therapy; one thing handled correctly. “Last Look” was a senseless, empty tale.
Broad readers have seen it before. There are occasions in which it is clear authors had their minds set on a certain mood or scene but failed to factor in logical behaviour and reasoning. Rhoda is a new pupil of summer classes in a cottage community. No vacationing family would agree to those, for starters! I gave two stars because it was nice to give consideration to a girl with attention issues from an actress Mother but that is about all I could commend. On the topic of fitting in, Rhoda was assertive about introducing herself to Monica’s friends and Monica asked her picky pals to give her a chance.
Clyde’s goal breaks down when Rhoda holds a grudge, over the one time Monica politely declined an offer to go on an excursion. The moral was that she was at fault for being reticent to a new friendship. Actually, Monica was more patient and fair than anyone. Never declining invitations is the wrong message. Monica was a model of courtesy and needed no lesson. Rhoda’s extreme behaviour was rightfully subjected to therapy; one thing handled correctly. “Last Look” was a senseless, empty tale.
June 30, 2022
I read this short, simple book when I was in kindergarten and absolutely adored it -- I found it haunting and magical and right on the edge of pleasantly creepy where it was almost too creepy but not quite.
Reading it now as an adult, I can see how all the things that made me feel that way, but I am also struck by how sad it is.
Interesting, but I am not sure I need to read it again.
Reading it now as an adult, I can see how all the things that made me feel that way, but I am also struck by how sad it is.
Interesting, but I am not sure I need to read it again.
September 22, 2022
Well, I didn't know how this was going to play out! A quick read but suspenseful.
December 15, 2020
Last Look
Plot: Three friends are walking together to school. (Monica, Fran, and Aubrey), and Monica tells them that Diane (a friend of theirs?) is moving to Switzerland. This means there will be a new girl moving in and attending Madame Vere’s school. When they get there, the new girl is already there and is introduces as Rhoda. At lunch, she comes over, sits with them, and asks what their names are. . They exchange some small talk about just being part-time residence and knowing who Rhoda’s grandmother is and where she lives (by a haunted house). Rhoda wants to be down with their “club” but they tell her they’re just good friends. They all tell her they live close together, and she says that’s good. They can walk together. They all look at each other like *this girl*. So, after that she starts walking with them.
.
Fran and Aubrey get fed up with this pretty quickly, and tell her Rhoda has got to GO! Monica says she’s not thrilled about it either, but it’s what Madame wants. She says things might change and to give it another week.
Monday they’re all discussing weekend plans and Rhoda suggests they start a club. They don’t agree or disagree. They get a chance to walk home alone (because Madame wants to talk to Rhoda) and Fran and Aubrey are talking about how fed up they are with Rhoda’s tall tales and her being a bug-a-boo. But she catches up to them and starts shows them a picture of her mother that Madame gave her (They can barely make it out). She offers to show them betters ones at her house. They don’t say anything. When they get to Fran’s house, Monica plays Last Look with Fran and wins. She explains to Rhoda that Last Look is a game that If you can make the person turn around and look and you don’t look back then you win. Rhoda thinks it’s childish.
The next day Madame announces they’re going to do the play Beauty and the Beast. Everyone picks Monica as Beauty (as she’s the prettiest), and she accepts the role. But shady Rhoda says they need to have tryouts to be fair. Monica really doesn’t want to but let’s Madame talk her into it. Rhoda's audition is amazing. Monica’s is terrible. Everyone picks Monica and someone says Rhoda should be the beast She later tells them when they’re she didn’t want the part. She was just teaching Madame a lesson. The other two get to their houses. Rhoda is hardly speaking to Monica. Monica feels guilty but can’t think of anything to say to Rhoda so she does the last look thing and runs in the house and leaves Rhoda screaming HELP ME behind her.
The next morning, she goes out to breakfast with her father (Monica), and when she gets back Rhoda’s grandmother is at the door. Rhoda never showed up at home. She tells her if she sees her tell her to call. The Grandmother says she must have run away back to her mother and not to worry . Monica starts to worry, but her parents just tell her her imagination is running away with her and she’s probably with her other. Neither Fran, Aubrey, or even Madame seem to be worried. The only one who seems to be worried is Monica. When Monica goes to sleep the night, awakens to a sound and finds a note that says Rhoda is in danger and to go to the haunted house Tuesday at midnight alone. They decide to call the police (Hal) but he brings up a time when three little girls decided to play around in the haunted house with candles and could have burned the house down so he leaves and doesn’t take Monica seriously. Monica gets angry and says she shouldn’t have told either of them and should have just gone herself. Her mother tells her the police may not have believed her but he took the note, and she thinks he’ll look into it. She sends her to bed. The next day Monica avoids her friend's questions and goes to visit Rhoda’s grandmother later. She again tells her Rhoda is with her mother and shows her old pictures of (Rhoda, her mother, and father who just disappeared). She leaves abruptly and tells her she’ll be back when Rhoda returns. When she gets home her mother tells her the police talked to Rhoda’s grandmother and again they think she went back to her mother. The police even check out the haunted house but no ones there. Monica isn’t convinced because the night said for *HER* to be there.
Monica finds another note the next day that tells her to come to the haunted house at midnight and that this is her final chance to save Rhoda. She gets to the house and a voice says “This way!” A figure in a mask leads her to a garden. It’s Rhoda whose been hiding out in her grandmother’s attic all this time. Rhoda gives her the I hate you because you have everything and I have nothing speech and pushes her into a well. Only she falls in with her. Rhoda and Monica both apologize. Monica is able to get Rhoda out by lifting her up but when she gets out she puts the top on the well and leaves. The Sheriff finds her. Her mother found the note in her room and then she and the sheriff saw Rhoda running out of the garden. They confronted her and she finally told them where Monica was. The sheriff started to get suspicious and called Rhoda’s mother (who didn’t know where she was). She told them she was going to leave her down there forever but she did it because she felt threatened. Then again Monica starts to feel guilty because deep down she knew she wasn’t a friend to her. But the Sheriff and her Mom just say she’s still in shock. The next day she walks to school with her friends (who don’t ask questions). When they get to school Madame tells them Rhoda went back to New York and there’s a new girl (Martha). She looks at Monica and smiles. Monica wonders what she’ll be to her.
My Thoughts: This is full of SO MUCH INSANITY! When I first read this I found it disturbing because of it’s dark edge. First of all, there was something off about this girl from the jump. How she just MADE herself a part of the group and she kept bringing up a club. Ain’t no telling *what* club she was trying to start. One that had her making sacrifices where she leads girls to empty houses, blindfolded them, and then pushed them down the well and sacrificed there souls to a evil spirit or something. Rhoda was so full of CRAZY. And she clearly does NOT know a thing about how actors are picked. “That’s not the way it’s done?’ Rhoda’s grandmother may not have a tv, but I know her mother does. At first, I didn’t see why she picked Monica. But then do crazy people really need a reason? They CRAZY!. Instead of putting her in a girl’s summer school, they need to put her in an insane asylum. Because YEAH I REALLY believe that she was eventually gonna let Monica out of that well. I kinda think this was trying to lead us to believe that the reason Rhoda was the way she was (was) because *maybe* her mother didn’t give her enough attention. Clearly, she didn’t know *where* her daughter was when they called and asked. She probably just dropped her off at the Grandmothers and went on with her life trying to get her little two seconds of fame. But this story *was* kind of interesting, I give it that. I knew it wouldn’t but I was kinda hoping it would go 100 percent dark and the new girl not have replaced Rhoda but Monica and Monica would have taken Monica’s place in the clique as Monica. Maybe she would have smiled at the new girl like “Your next!”IT definitely gives a good message about you never know who you let in your circle. So be CAREFUL!
Rating: 7
Plot: Three friends are walking together to school. (Monica, Fran, and Aubrey), and Monica tells them that Diane (a friend of theirs?) is moving to Switzerland. This means there will be a new girl moving in and attending Madame Vere’s school. When they get there, the new girl is already there and is introduces as Rhoda. At lunch, she comes over, sits with them, and asks what their names are. . They exchange some small talk about just being part-time residence and knowing who Rhoda’s grandmother is and where she lives (by a haunted house). Rhoda wants to be down with their “club” but they tell her they’re just good friends. They all tell her they live close together, and she says that’s good. They can walk together. They all look at each other like *this girl*. So, after that she starts walking with them.
.
Fran and Aubrey get fed up with this pretty quickly, and tell her Rhoda has got to GO! Monica says she’s not thrilled about it either, but it’s what Madame wants. She says things might change and to give it another week.
Monday they’re all discussing weekend plans and Rhoda suggests they start a club. They don’t agree or disagree. They get a chance to walk home alone (because Madame wants to talk to Rhoda) and Fran and Aubrey are talking about how fed up they are with Rhoda’s tall tales and her being a bug-a-boo. But she catches up to them and starts shows them a picture of her mother that Madame gave her (They can barely make it out). She offers to show them betters ones at her house. They don’t say anything. When they get to Fran’s house, Monica plays Last Look with Fran and wins. She explains to Rhoda that Last Look is a game that If you can make the person turn around and look and you don’t look back then you win. Rhoda thinks it’s childish.
The next day Madame announces they’re going to do the play Beauty and the Beast. Everyone picks Monica as Beauty (as she’s the prettiest), and she accepts the role. But shady Rhoda says they need to have tryouts to be fair. Monica really doesn’t want to but let’s Madame talk her into it. Rhoda's audition is amazing. Monica’s is terrible. Everyone picks Monica and someone says Rhoda should be the beast She later tells them when they’re she didn’t want the part. She was just teaching Madame a lesson. The other two get to their houses. Rhoda is hardly speaking to Monica. Monica feels guilty but can’t think of anything to say to Rhoda so she does the last look thing and runs in the house and leaves Rhoda screaming HELP ME behind her.
The next morning, she goes out to breakfast with her father (Monica), and when she gets back Rhoda’s grandmother is at the door. Rhoda never showed up at home. She tells her if she sees her tell her to call. The Grandmother says she must have run away back to her mother and not to worry . Monica starts to worry, but her parents just tell her her imagination is running away with her and she’s probably with her other. Neither Fran, Aubrey, or even Madame seem to be worried. The only one who seems to be worried is Monica. When Monica goes to sleep the night, awakens to a sound and finds a note that says Rhoda is in danger and to go to the haunted house Tuesday at midnight alone. They decide to call the police (Hal) but he brings up a time when three little girls decided to play around in the haunted house with candles and could have burned the house down so he leaves and doesn’t take Monica seriously. Monica gets angry and says she shouldn’t have told either of them and should have just gone herself. Her mother tells her the police may not have believed her but he took the note, and she thinks he’ll look into it. She sends her to bed. The next day Monica avoids her friend's questions and goes to visit Rhoda’s grandmother later. She again tells her Rhoda is with her mother and shows her old pictures of (Rhoda, her mother, and father who just disappeared). She leaves abruptly and tells her she’ll be back when Rhoda returns. When she gets home her mother tells her the police talked to Rhoda’s grandmother and again they think she went back to her mother. The police even check out the haunted house but no ones there. Monica isn’t convinced because the night said for *HER* to be there.
Monica finds another note the next day that tells her to come to the haunted house at midnight and that this is her final chance to save Rhoda. She gets to the house and a voice says “This way!” A figure in a mask leads her to a garden. It’s Rhoda whose been hiding out in her grandmother’s attic all this time. Rhoda gives her the I hate you because you have everything and I have nothing speech and pushes her into a well. Only she falls in with her. Rhoda and Monica both apologize. Monica is able to get Rhoda out by lifting her up but when she gets out she puts the top on the well and leaves. The Sheriff finds her. Her mother found the note in her room and then she and the sheriff saw Rhoda running out of the garden. They confronted her and she finally told them where Monica was. The sheriff started to get suspicious and called Rhoda’s mother (who didn’t know where she was). She told them she was going to leave her down there forever but she did it because she felt threatened. Then again Monica starts to feel guilty because deep down she knew she wasn’t a friend to her. But the Sheriff and her Mom just say she’s still in shock. The next day she walks to school with her friends (who don’t ask questions). When they get to school Madame tells them Rhoda went back to New York and there’s a new girl (Martha). She looks at Monica and smiles. Monica wonders what she’ll be to her.
My Thoughts: This is full of SO MUCH INSANITY! When I first read this I found it disturbing because of it’s dark edge. First of all, there was something off about this girl from the jump. How she just MADE herself a part of the group and she kept bringing up a club. Ain’t no telling *what* club she was trying to start. One that had her making sacrifices where she leads girls to empty houses, blindfolded them, and then pushed them down the well and sacrificed there souls to a evil spirit or something. Rhoda was so full of CRAZY. And she clearly does NOT know a thing about how actors are picked. “That’s not the way it’s done?’ Rhoda’s grandmother may not have a tv, but I know her mother does. At first, I didn’t see why she picked Monica. But then do crazy people really need a reason? They CRAZY!. Instead of putting her in a girl’s summer school, they need to put her in an insane asylum. Because YEAH I REALLY believe that she was eventually gonna let Monica out of that well. I kinda think this was trying to lead us to believe that the reason Rhoda was the way she was (was) because *maybe* her mother didn’t give her enough attention. Clearly, she didn’t know *where* her daughter was when they called and asked. She probably just dropped her off at the Grandmothers and went on with her life trying to get her little two seconds of fame. But this story *was* kind of interesting, I give it that. I knew it wouldn’t but I was kinda hoping it would go 100 percent dark and the new girl not have replaced Rhoda but Monica and Monica would have taken Monica’s place in the clique as Monica. Maybe she would have smiled at the new girl like “Your next!”IT definitely gives a good message about you never know who you let in your circle. So be CAREFUL!
Rating: 7
July 5, 2020
I read this book when I was seven or eight, and I thought it was the most amazing book in existence. I think it was the first book I read that had a twist, and it blew my mind. A few years later, I read it to my little brother. Although it was a little silly to me by then, my brother and I really enjoyed reading it together. And it was very pleasing to me when it blew his mind, just like it did with me.
October 20, 2022
Found a vintage hardback from '79 second hand for less than fifty cents and boy was this a great find what with Halloween approaching!
I did find almost all the characters annoying or incompetent to some degree but I guess there are worse ways to create tension.
Definitely a fun quick read with lots of twists even if I was able to predict what was gonna happen.
I did find almost all the characters annoying or incompetent to some degree but I guess there are worse ways to create tension.
Definitely a fun quick read with lots of twists even if I was able to predict what was gonna happen.
October 31, 2011
No matter what, Clyde Robert Bulla always produced stories that were completely appropriate for their intended age group. Parents then and now have never had to be afraid of putting any of his books in the hands of even their youngest children, because Clyde Robert Bulla was an author who knew how to create interesting stories without straying into territory that could be deemed questionable by even the most stringent parents. His writing speaks to adults and kids with equal perceptivity and effect, leaving behind a legacy of juvenile novels that could never be replaced by the work of another author.
Monica and her best friends Fran and Audrey, all three of them sixth-graders, are regarded highly by both teacher and peers at the school for girls which they attend. Good students with friendly, outgoing personalities, Monica and her two friends quickly attract the notice of the new girl in class, Rhoda, when she moves to their neighborhood from New York. Rhoda tries to fit in with the three other girls who are already tight friends, but her presence seems to cramp the way that the others relate to each other, and this causes some tension. Rhoda is a good example of still waters running deep, with a family life that offers her little personal support or direction. Her grandmother, whom she lives with since the move, has frequent episodes of mental wandering. Her mother, still living back in New York, is a famous stage actress, and apparently never really had time for the demands of a child in her busy life. Rhoda's father left when she was born, and never returned. There's a lot of sadness etched in Rhoda's past, and not a lot of hope for things to get better anytime soon unless a dramatic shift occurs.
Then Rhoda abruptly goes missing, and though her grandmother seems unconcerned by the unexplained absence, Monica is worried. She knows that kids nowadays just don't go off on their own with no explanation. Her fears that something bad may have happened seem to be confirmed when an unknown person slips her a note in disguised handwriting while Monica is asleep one night. The message states that Rhoda is in danger, and that only Monica can save her by agreeing to meet at an abandoned house on their street, a house that has long been reputed to be haunted. Could there be more to this odd arrangement than meets the eye, though? Might Monica, herself, be the one in real danger if she chooses to go off on her own to rescue Rhoda?
Last Look is a surprisingly realistic, almost gritty story that pulls no punches in examining the results of the damage to a kid who hasn't been cared for her whole life, and how such a kid's friends can make the situation either much better or substantially worse, depending on how they choose to react to a new kid coming into their social circle. It's definitely something to think about carefully, and this book could offer some very relevant lessons to those of us who struggle with reaching out and making new friends among others who may be just as shy and reluctant to risk their feelings as we. As always, Clyde Robert Bulla has written a thoughtful, meaningful book, and I'm glad to own it.
Monica and her best friends Fran and Audrey, all three of them sixth-graders, are regarded highly by both teacher and peers at the school for girls which they attend. Good students with friendly, outgoing personalities, Monica and her two friends quickly attract the notice of the new girl in class, Rhoda, when she moves to their neighborhood from New York. Rhoda tries to fit in with the three other girls who are already tight friends, but her presence seems to cramp the way that the others relate to each other, and this causes some tension. Rhoda is a good example of still waters running deep, with a family life that offers her little personal support or direction. Her grandmother, whom she lives with since the move, has frequent episodes of mental wandering. Her mother, still living back in New York, is a famous stage actress, and apparently never really had time for the demands of a child in her busy life. Rhoda's father left when she was born, and never returned. There's a lot of sadness etched in Rhoda's past, and not a lot of hope for things to get better anytime soon unless a dramatic shift occurs.
Then Rhoda abruptly goes missing, and though her grandmother seems unconcerned by the unexplained absence, Monica is worried. She knows that kids nowadays just don't go off on their own with no explanation. Her fears that something bad may have happened seem to be confirmed when an unknown person slips her a note in disguised handwriting while Monica is asleep one night. The message states that Rhoda is in danger, and that only Monica can save her by agreeing to meet at an abandoned house on their street, a house that has long been reputed to be haunted. Could there be more to this odd arrangement than meets the eye, though? Might Monica, herself, be the one in real danger if she chooses to go off on her own to rescue Rhoda?
Last Look is a surprisingly realistic, almost gritty story that pulls no punches in examining the results of the damage to a kid who hasn't been cared for her whole life, and how such a kid's friends can make the situation either much better or substantially worse, depending on how they choose to react to a new kid coming into their social circle. It's definitely something to think about carefully, and this book could offer some very relevant lessons to those of us who struggle with reaching out and making new friends among others who may be just as shy and reluctant to risk their feelings as we. As always, Clyde Robert Bulla has written a thoughtful, meaningful book, and I'm glad to own it.
November 1, 2013
I love books by Clyde Robert Bulla. He was writing books for kids when I was born. They are usually short with simple plots about ordinary things. This story is about two girls involved in a childish game which is taken too far by one of them.
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