Edward StratemeyerCríticas

The second book in a series, The Minute Boys of Bunker Hill is an exciting historical tale for boys and girls which chronicles the events of the American Revolution through the experiences of a young patriot named Roger Morse. Boys and girls who read this story will be entertained by a harmless escape into exciting historical adventure. They will be informed not only of American Revolutionary War history, but also of the importance of such virtues as love of liberty, bravery in the face of tyranny, courage against overwhelming odds, fierce determination and loyalty to country, family and friends. The author's upbeat and light hearted style will delight readers of all ages. This kind of fiction is the best way to foster a more intimate understanding of our American Heritage.

This was the sequel to The Rover Boys at School, the first book in a long series (25 or so titles). I'm not sure why I read it. I guess I had a need to find out what happened next, after I finished up the first book. I think I'm now cured from that sickness and will leave the Rover boys to languish in the obscurity they deserve.

To be fair, the Rover boys series of books are geared toward 11-year old boys. So there's lots of adventure, good guys against bad guys, guns, sailing, fires, storms at sea, etc. Jumping to unmerited conclusions is ok because you can always tell the bad guys by the way they look. The writing is truly bad. What it reminded me of was the stories Penrod was writing. The Penrod books themselves are reasonably good, having been penned by a competent author, Booth Tarkington. But occasionally, we find Penrod, the 11-year-old hero of the books, hiding out in the barn and scribbling some kind of lurid adventure. So, that's kind of what the Rover boys comes out being, a lurid adventure written by an 11-year old. A competent author would do better, but Stratemeyer, the author, was an entrepreneur, not an author. Apparently, he actually wrote the Rover boys books himself. Many of his other series, e.g. the Hardy boys, were farmed out to free-lancers who had little time to polish their works. Even so, it seems to me that the Hardy boys books I've read in the last couple of years, were not nearly so lame as these two Rover boys books I read in the past month.

Still, it could be worse. There was adventure and lots of action, so at least things didn't get boring. Just incongruous and irresponsible.

In reading something about the author of the Hardy Boys series (Lesley something or other, a Canadian), I got interested in Edward Stratemeyer, who masterminded a number of popular youth series, including the Hardy Boys, Tom Swift, Nancy Drew, the Bobbsey Twins, and the Rover Boys. Well, I'd never read any Rover Boys, which seemed to be Stratemeyer's first series and one he largely penned himself. Many of the others he outlined and then farmed out the actual writing to others, for a fixed price and no royalties. The poor bastard who wrote the Hardy Boys only made about $100 for a volume, which then went on to sell to several generations of boys over several decades.

Anyway, the Rover Boys is short and active. There's always something going on. Lots of youthful hijinx, scary adventures, e.g. being attacked by a rampaging snake, robbed by a hobo, choked on a moving train, etc. There are also lots of moral teachings, so as to instruct boys as to how to grow up to be proper men, lots of foreshadowing, and of course a summary of the story which pitches the next one in the series. Since the book leaves a number of questions up in the air, e.g. will the rich widow be bamboozled into marriage by the malevolent, former schoolmaster, one must, naturally, immediately go out to buy the next adventure in the series. So, perhaps I shall.

An interesting bit of Zeitgeist -- a slice in time, the mores of a not so distant past that seems centuries away from this time. A pretty lame story, by the way.

Published in 1909 to take advantage of the reports that both Cook and Perry had reached the pole, the book is noteworthy more for the depictions of polar exploration at the time than for the rather thin plot line. It is noticable that Stratemeyer knew more about the preparation for such a trip that about the travel itself.½

54. The Rover Boys on Snowshoe Island, by Arthur Winfield (read in 1939) This is a book from the second series, having the sons of the original Rover boys as actors. I never liked the second series as well as the first, but I would not think of not reading the book when I had access to it.

53. The Rover Boys on the Farm, by Arthur Winfield (read fall of 1939) When I got into the sixth grade I was in a different room and the library books there included this title, which I read as soon as I could. I know I absorbed it with glee.

69. The Rover Boys in New York, by Arthur Winfield (read in fall of 1940) I think this and The Rover Boys in Alaska were the last Rover Boys books I read--not because I realized they were poorly written, but simply because no other such books were able to be found by me.

The library we had in the seventh grade book had this book on its shelf and as soon as I got to seventhgrade I read it with enjoyment, since Ihad read other Rover Boy books.

4. The Rover Boys at Big Bear Lake by Arthur Winfield (read about 1939) Any Rover Boy book I saw I read. This is in the second series, which I thought inferior to the first.

3. The Rover Boys at College by Arthur Winfield (read about 1939) This is another book I greatly enjoyed, not knowing any better.

1. The Rover Boys at School by Arthur Winfield (read in 1939) I did not think this as good as The Rover Boys on the Great Lakes, but know I read it avidly.

2. The Rover Boys on the Great Lakes by Arthur Winfield (read in 1936 or 1937) I think this is the first Rover Boys book I read and I know that I thought it was the greatest. and I read every Rover Boys book I could get my hands on after that. Fortunately, I was not able to find very many of these.

Read this one by way of research. In many ways a typical school story - sporting events, a bully to deal with, a mean teacher and a damsel in distress. Very much of its time though, in the moralising tone of the author, who isn't afraid of putting his own opinions into the story. He also had a rather annoying habit of blatantly promoting the next books in the series.

This book is valued at $17.00 according to www.ABEBOOKS.com