Alice B. Emerson

One of a churned out series from the 1910s and 20s. It rather hastily written with precious little character building and just runs from one improbably adventure to the next but enjoyable all the same. The note on the dust jacket telling parents they needn't worry because this publisher just published books suitable for young girls is both funny and rather horrifying. Heavan forbid the little darlings should expand their minds!

Ever since Applewood Books began reprinting the original Nancy Drew books (the ones from the 1930s), I have had an interest in vintage children's series from the early part of the 20th century. So when this title, the first in the Ruth Fielding series, came through work, I decided to give it a try.

One of many series produced for the Stratemeyer Syndicate, the Ruth Fielding books began publication in 1913, and include 30 titles. They relate the adventures of the eponymous Ruth Fielding, a show more worthy young orphan who comes to stay with her gruff and miserly great Uncle Jabez Potter at his Red Mill in upstate New York. This initial title follows Ruth as she settles into her new home, befriends the Cameron twins, and helps to solve the mystery surrounding the disappearance of her uncle's strong-box.

The story was pleasant enough, though not brilliant. There were times at which I found myself thinking that the writing produced by anonymous series ghost-writers was far better then than what we see today. My main objections were the occasional insipidity of Ruth, and the obnoxious (though thankfully brief) inclusion of a black "Mammy" character, complete with stereotypical speech patterns. I had encountered this before in the original versions of the Bobbsey Twins, but assumed that this was owing to the Southern setting of that series. Apparently the trend was far more widespread in children's literature of the period. I don't know why that would surprise me. show less

This was TERRIBLE. I'm used to old series being un-PC and often downright racist (I've developed a high tolerance to get to the enjoyable old-timeyness), but this particular Ruth Fielding book is even worse than a lot of the Bobbsey Twins I've read. Yikes. Now I remember why I avoid books set in the South....the dialect, characterization of African Americans, and romanticized nostalgia for the antebellum South is nauseating. The only reason I slogged through all this crap was for plot show more continuity with the rest of the series. Thank goodness Ruth headed back North to (hopefully) less overt social commentary.

Also, the plot in this one is a little weak. Would have been boring even without being totally offensive. show less

Ruth Fielding in the Saddle by Alice B. Emerson is the twelfth in the Ruth Fielding series. It's one of five books I purchased years ago at Cliff's Books in Pasadena.

Ruth Fielding is one of those early to mid twentieth century book series for teenagers, written under a pseudonym. Think of it as an early example of YA. In this case, Ruth has been attending an all girls school and is now attending college.

In a previous book, Ruth Fielding in Moving Pictures, she sold a silent movie script and show more now on spring break has a chance to sell another one. There's just one catch, she and her classmates (one of them is a budding actress) must make their way to rural Arizona. Although the area mentioned is completely fictionally, it's approximately at the western edge of the Navajo Nation.

I bring that up because it's a big part of the problem with the book. In the other Ruth Fielding book I read (and since I've only now read two, I can't if it's normal or not for the series as a whole), Ruth was a plucky, level headed, young woman who was willing and able to make friends with anyone, while helping those in need with their problems. Here, though, in the outer reaches of Arizona, there's a tone of racism and sexism that just wasn't in the Moving Pictures book.

Ruth and company need to hire a guide to take them to the shooting location. They end up meeting the man's daughter, who by her description is probably the daughter of a prospector and either a Navajo, Hopi or Zuni — though by her attire, I'd say Navajo. Rather than taking this fact in stride (as the daughter initially seems to), Ruth and company are horrified, frightened and completely put off by the circumstances of their guide's existence.

So much of the book is spent not on the mystery of the gold mine (really, a gold mine?) or on the movie shoot, but on the sad state of the guide and her "tragic" back story. Here she is living a self sufficient life and at the appearance of a few out of towner college girls, she goes completely to pieces, wishing for dresses and girlie things. Ugh. show less