William T. Adams

Don't bother reading or listening to this children's book from the early 1900's. It was a very short book, however the author managed to devote half of it to a moralising sermon that blended Christianity and capitalism. This was boring; what was worse was ending a story about a party, with a poem about a dead sibling.
The past is indeed a different world.

Dnf. This is the story of three young slaves who escape from their master in America’s mid 1800’s. The author wrote the book both as an adventure story for young readers and to garner sympathy for the plight of slaves.
I only read four chapters of this book and for me it was akin to entering a different world. Even though the author aimed to promote understanding, in my modern eyes the book still seems very racist. One of the things that bothered me was the assertion that slaves of full show more African descent could bear the trials of slavery, such as a whipping, with ease and nonchalance. Whereas a slave with Anglo Saxon blood could not. His white ancestry meant that he felt things more deeply and would fight back.
I found this idea both strange and offensive, and not being an American hard to understand. So I did a little googling and came across this article. It references the time period in which this book was written and explained why the author chose to depict two of his young slaves as being so white. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2107458/The-white-slave-children-New-Orl....
I’m undecided about whether or not to return to this book. The topic is a difficult one and the author writes in a rather pompous tone. show less

I got conned into reading some Oliver Optic because Optic's works figured in a previous book I had read, Brewster's Millions. It seems that Oliver Optic was the pen name of a stalwart Massachusetts' Puritan from the Victorian era, William Taylor Adams. Adams wrote rather a number of works for youth, and said works involved high jinx and adventures, but salted with high moral content. Sounds like the kind of stuff that would fit in the comfort zone of a repressed, elderly Calvinist such as I. show more

So, we have Earnest Thornton. I think he's about 12, but perhaps 15. Anyway, he lives with his Uncle Amos and two servants. None of them talk to Earnest much, especially Uncle Amos. Somehow, Earnest grows up to be mostly honest and moral anyway. The one thing Uncle Amos does do for Earnest is not stint when it comes to money. So, Earnest had a nice sailboat, the Splash, which he sails all over the lake in front of their house.

Earnest also goes to a school known as the Parkville Liberal Institute, which is run by a petty tyrant, one Mr. Parasyte. Mr. Parasyte believes what he wants to believe and has no problem taking sides in an issue regardless of the actual facts of the matter.

So, it happens that Earnest gets into a bit of a tiff with one William Poodles. Mr. Parasyte takes Poodles narrative of the issue as being true, despite a number of differing accounts that would corroborate Earnest's account of the situation. Mr. Parasyte insists that Earnest apologize to Poodles, and probably do some other stuff. Earnest, being all straight and true, can't apologize because to do so would involve him in telling a lie, and he's way too moral to tell lies.

So, Earnest decides to "break away" in his boat. Many of the other students go with Earnest and they set up a Camp Fair Play on an island in the lake where they live (somewhere in upstate New York?). Well, things go back and forth and eventually some of the Parkville adults become involved and Mr. Parasyte is sent packing and Earnest is brought back into the fold so to speak. show less

The first book I downloaded to my smart phone as an experiment. Super saccarine and moralistic; Katy struggles to conquer false pride as she works to support her destitute and ill mother.