GOOD DETECTIVE – Aaron K. Thompson’s search for a copy of his favorite book – Wait and See – was long, but his determination eventually paid off.

“The Sackville Tribune Post was happy to put my article on the front page of their newspaper in September, 1992.”

Perseverance Pays Off

(Editor’s Note: The following story was written by Aaron Thompson)

     Do dreams really come true? On Thursday, September 3, a long-awaited dream came true for fifteen-year-old Sackville resident Aaron K. Thompson.

     The whole story behind Thompson’s dream started back in 1986, when he was at a shopping mall in Lower Sackville, N.S. He bought a book called Wait and See. Within several days, he read the 350-page book and declared that it was the best book he had ever read.

     Several weeks later, Thompson decided to have a yard sale. He had many older books he wanted to get rid of. Unfortunately, Wait and See had been placed in with the books, and was accidentally sold. Thompson was devastated, but also determined to somehow get the book back.

     He made his first attempt by finding out who bought the book at the sale. When he contacted the person and offered to buy the book back, the person had already misplaced the book.

     Thompson decided to keep searching for another copy of the book. He went to a local bookstore and tried ordering it. Several weeks later, word came back that the book had recently gone out of print. He then tried the local library, but they had no copy of the book either.

     Thompson decided to broaden his search, so he wrote the American Library Association. Two months later a reply came back saying the book was still out of print.

     By this time, about four years since he had last read the book, Thompson was nearly at the end of his wits.

     He then contacted the Library of Congress, with no luck. They said they didn’t know where he could find the book. Several months passed with little attempt to locate the book.

     Finally, Thompson decided to write to the publisher of the book. He was prepared for the worst, and it was a good thing he was: the book was still out of print. Thompson thought he would never get the book back.

     For another year, Thompson once again searched for the book. He could not find a copy of it in any bookstore. People told him to give up searching for it, because he would never find it. Thompson decided not to listen to them, and he continued his search.

     In late June of this year, Thompson sent a fax to Zebra Books in New York City inquiring about the book. Once again, bad news. The book was still out of print. At this point, Thompson was just about ready to give up. A part of him wanted to continue searching for the book, and another part wanted to give up. Thompson went with instinct, and decided to make one last attempt at finding the book. He would write the author – Ruby Jean Jensen.

     Thompson had no idea what Jensen’s address was, so he wrote to her care of the publisher. He politely asked her for a copy of the book, after he told her about his search. He mailed the letter with little hope. He thought the letter wouldn’t even get to her, but somehow it did.

      A month later there was a parcel in the mail for Thompson. He couldn’t believe his eyes when he opened it and discovered a letter from the author and a copy of Wait and See. The book was autographed by the author and the inscription read:

     “Best wishes to Aaron Thompson. This was my last copy, as you can see, other than the one in my personal collection. I hope you will keep it, always. Ruby Jean Jensen.”

     He was never so delighted in his life when he read this. He finally had what he had been searching for during the past six years.

     Thompson is now trying to collect the rest of Jensen’s books. So far he has managed to collect nine out of the 27 books the author has written. He finds her books a challenge to get.

     “I wrote to the author with little hope, but the book came nonetheless,” Thompson said. “This taught me two valuable lessons. One, perseverance is essential when looking for an out-of-print book, and two, patience is a virtue in all matters, big and small.

NOTE: Letter from Ruby Jean Jensen was dated Aug. 28, 1992

http://www.geocities.ws/rubyfan/purpose.html

Let me begin by welcoming you to the official Ruby Jean Jensen website! My name is Aaron K. Thompson and I am the webmaster of this site. Ruby authorized the creation of this website in January of ’97. It is an honor for me to maintain this website for her and I hope it is of benefit to other Ruby Jean Jensen fans online.

Let me tell you a little bit about my interest in Ruby Jean Jensen. In 1986 I purchased my first Jensen book entitled Wait And See. The book was absolutely fantastic and – within a matter of days – I read the entire thing! Several weeks later, I decided to have a garage sale. Wait And See was accidentally placed into a box of books I was selling, and was sold. I was very angry at myself for allowing this to happen, but I immediately took action by visiting a local bookstore. To my sheer horror, I was informed that the book had gone out-of-print. This began my extensive search for Wait and See. Little did I realize that my search would last for six long years!

1992 came along and I still hadn’t managed to obtain a copy of Wait and See. In desperation, I decided to send Ruby Jean Jensen a letter c/o Zebra Books. I honestly didn’t expect to obtain a response…

Approximately one month later, I arrived home from school to find a parcel from Ruby Jean Jensen waiting for me. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the manila envelope. My heart began to palpitate, and I gently opened the envelope. Inside was a brand new copy of Wait and See, with a complete list of Ruby’s works. This copy of Wait and See was one of Ruby’s last copies. The novel was signed with the following inscription:

I was so pleased with how everything turned out regarding Wait and See that I decided to write an article about my search for Ruby Jean Jensen’s out-of-print novel. The Sackville Tribune Post was happy to put my article on the front page of their newspaper in September, 1992. The article can be accessed here.

Shortly after the newspaper article was printed, CBC radio called me to request a radio interview. I willingly complied, and the interview was set to go live in a few days. I was quite nervous, but things turned out fine. Click here for a segment from the interview.

Through the list that Ruby sent me I discovered that she had written numerous books which I had never heard of before. So, I set about finding them! Most of the books which I didn’t have were from the 1970s. They were very difficult to find, and it took me approximately two and a half years to find them all! I had to write to over 500 used bookstores to locate these old paperback horror novels. Here is where I managed to find Ruby’s out-of-print books from the 1970’s:

UPDATE: On July 23, 1999, I enjoyed a lovely visit with Ruby Jean in her Arkansas home. She was very hospitable and the visit is something I shall always remember… Ruby was even kind enough to provide me with an autographed copy of an article she had written for “True Confessions” magazine back in the late 70s. I was not even aware that this existed!