Mystery Of The Long Walk

I've been collecting first edition Richard Bachman books of late. These usually go for anywhere from $50-75. I found an interesting copy of the Long Walk recently. It is a first edition, rebound for school use ($30, ebay). The interior librarians markings indicate that it was entered into the school library in 1981. Of course, it wasn't revealed that King was Bachman until 1985, when he was writing Misery to be released as a Bachman.

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Now this is interesting because:

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1. I didn't know Bachman was popular enough to be appearing in schools.

2. This book is unusually dark, not something I would expect to find in a school..

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Required Reading?

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This is a softcover book that's been turned into a small hardcover. With this kind of binding, it is not the kind of book schools simply drop in its library book shelves. Schools do this (at least my school did) for distribution to students as required reading. They don't have the money to turn every paperback on their shelves into a hardback. But for class required reading, these cheap paperback books were rebound as hardcovers by our school so that they wouldn't get destroyed by students carrying them around in their million pound backpacks. (Remember those?)

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Just causes me to wonder: Was The Long Walk required reading at Memorial High School in Newark, California? That would be irony, wouldn't it! King gets banned from schools, but Bachman slips in as required reading!

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Even if it wasn't required reading, it's still noteworthy that at the very time King was being kicked out of school libraries, Bachman was walking right in the door! And the really nutty thing, I would consider Bachman much less "school" worthy than most King books. However, dark Mr. Bachman seems to strike a chord with high school students. He is, after all, Stephen King "on a really bad day."