Kidnapping Mr. Tubbs

by Don Schellie

It wasn't that A. J. didn't like Mr. Tubbs. It was just that Mr. Tubbs was so old—nearly 100! And old people made A. J. nervous. They didn't seem to do anything but sit around and discuss their grandchildren, and talk about how good things used to be.
So A. J. couldn't really explain what he was doing in a battered old VW with Mr. Tubbs, a crazy girl named Eloise, and a basset hound named Gwendolyn. Why was he going on this wild goose chase to find a ranch north of Tucson which Mr. Tubbs hadn't seen in fifteen years?
It all began one Saturday when A. J. went to visit his grandfather in a nursing home in Tucson. Sharing the room with his grandfather was an old ex-cowboy, Mr. Tubbs, who was full of stories about life on the range and of the ranch up north where he used to work.
A. J. met Eloise (also known as Spence) in the home, too. Spence went there not because she had a relative to see—but because she actually liked to visit the old people! It was Spence's idea that she and A. J. smuggle Mr. Tubbs out of the home and drive him north to Flagstaff for one last look at the ranch he loved so much.
So there they were... with the car about to break down and nothing to guide them but Mr. Tubb's 1920s road map. And probably facing a charge of kidnapping too, thought A. J.
What happens when they finally reach Flagstaff, and what A. J. learns about himself—and about Mr. Tubbs—makes a funny and moving story.

182 pages, Library Binding

First published January 1, 1978

About the author

Don Schellie was an author, reporter and columnist. Schellie was born in Chicago and was a 1957 graduate of the University of Illinois.

From 1954 - 1957, he was a reporter for the ''Champaign News-Gazette''. Schellie was a reporter for the ''Douglas Daily Dispatch'' in Douglas, Arizona from 1957 -1958. After that, he worked for the ''Tucson Citizen'' where he was a reporter for two years and then moved on to have his own column - "Don Schellie". Schellie has also been a contributor to ''Arizona Highways''. A feature column writing award was also created in his name.

Schellie's first book, Vast Domain of Blood, was based upon some historical pieces he wrote for the ''Citizen'' about the Camp Grant massacre - an incident where peaceful Apaches were murdered by a party of Tuscon-area residents and Papago Indians. Vast Domain of Blood was an adult, nonfiction book, and his wife, a history teacher-turned-school librarian, felt the story should be made available to school-age readers. What developed from that was Me, Cholay & Co: Apache Warriors, a historical novel for young readers. He received an American Library Association notable children's book citation, 1978, for Kidnapping Mr. Tubbs .

Reviews

[Lenny Husen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book, read it as a teenager and never forgot it. One of the very few children's books that deals with Death honestly. Never forgot this book. About two kids who go on a road trip (no one gets "Kidnapped") with a resident of a Nursing Home, who is trying to make peace with his past. Moving and warm little story.

[Sarah Rigg · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't remember this book at all. I only know I read it in 1985 because I mention it in my journal from tha ttime.

[Katy Lovejoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have seen this book on our shelves for years.

I have often wondered what it was about.

The actual plotline never crossed my mind

[Rodney Haydon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this one, especially how the relationship between Mr Tubbs and A.J. developed.

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This must've come in a box from an auction. Two teenagers "kidnap" Mr. Tubbs from the nursing home and take him to visit his ranch. AJ didn't like Mr. Tubbs or old people (due to something from his childhood and his fear of death)and by the end of the book had changed. It was interesting.

[Leslie Jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book in middle school - it's very cute