Howard R. Garis (1873–1962)
Author of Uncle Wiggily's Story Book
About the Author
Howard R. Garis was born in 1873 in Binghamton, New York. A popular author and journalist, he wrote many mystery and adventure books for children, as well as newspaper and magazine stories. His very first Uncle Wiggily story was published in The Newark News in January 1910, and was an immediate show more success. For the next fifty years, a new Uncle Wiggily adventure appeared almost daily, and the series was nationally syndicated. Howard Garis died in 1962 show less
Image credit: Howard R. Garis & Uncle Wiggly
Series
Works by Howard R. Garis
Tom Swift and His Airship; or, The Stirring Cruise of the Red Cloud (1910) — ghostwriter — 168 copies
Tom Swift and His Submarine Boat; or, Under the Ocean for Sunken Treasure (1910) — ghostwriter — 105 copies
Tom Swift in the Land of Wonders; or, The Underground Search for the Idol of Gold (1917) — ghostwriter — 95 copies
Tom Swift Among the Diamond Makers; or, The Secret of Phantom Mountain (1911) — ghostwriter — 93 copies
Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle; or, Daring Adventures in Elephant Land (1911) — ghostwriter — 80 copies
Tom Swift and His Photo Telephone; or, The Picture that Saved a Fortune (1914) — ghostwriter — 77 copies
Tom Swift and His Wizard Camera; or, Thrilling Adventures While Taking Moving Pictures (1912) — ghostwriter — 77 copies
Tom Swift and His Big Dirigible; or, Adventures Over the Forest of Fire (1930) — Ghostwriter — 37 copies
Tom Swift and His Chest of Secrets; or, Tracing the Stolen Inventions (1925) — ghostwriter — 35 copies
Two Wild Cherries;: Or, How Dick and Janet lost something, (His Two Wild Cherries series) (1924) 6 copies
Uncle Wiggily's Arabian Nights 3 copies
Uncle Wiggily and the Starfish 3 copies
Uncle Wiggily's Apple Roast 3 copies
Uncle Wiggily and the Black Cricket 3 copies
The Curlytops Touring Around 2 copies
Tom Swift and His Submarine Boat: The 2010 Rewrite (100th Anniversary Rewrite Project Book 4) (2010) 2 copies
Mostly Mary 2 copies
Uncle Wiggily at the beach 2 copies
Uncle Wiggily's Empty Watch 1 copy
Uncle Wiggily's Silk Hat 1 copy
Uncle Wigglily's Story Book 1 copy
Uncle Wigglily's Automobile 1 copy
Daddy Takes Us to the Circus 1 copy
The Moving Picture Game 1 copy
Uncle Wiggily's Surprises 1 copy
The Argosy for August 1 copy
The Argosy for November 1 copy
Uncle Wiggily's Library 1 copy
Uncle Wiggily's Big Bounce 1 copy
Uncle Wiggily's Egg Bag 1 copy
Uncle Wiggily's Funny Sail 1 copy
Uncle Wiggily's Snow Plow 1 copy
The Barber Shop 1 copy
Uncle Wiggily's Accident 1 copy
Uncle Wiggily and the Lemons 1 copy
Associated Works
Tom Swift in the City of Gold; or, Marvelous Adventures Underground (1912) — Ghost writer, some editions — 93 copies
Science Fiction by Gaslight: A History and Anthology of Science Fiction in the Popular Magazines, 1891-1911 (1968) — Contributor, some editions — 52 copies
Alternative Alices: Visions and Revisions of Lewis Carroll's Alice Books : An Anthology (1997) — Contributor — 41 copies
Flora Curiosa: Cryptobotany, Mysterious Fungi, Sentient Trees, and Deadly Plants in Classic Science Fiction and Fantasy (2008) — Contributor — 6 copies
The Space Annihilator: Early Science Fiction from The Argosy, 1896-1910 (2010) — Contributor — 4 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Garis, Howard R.
- Legal name
- Garis, Howard Roger
- Other names
- Appleton, Victor
Chadwick, Lester
Davidson, Marion
Hope, Laura Lee
Powell, Van
Sperry, Raymond (show all 7)
Young, Clarence - Birthdate
- 1873-04-23
- Date of death
- 1962-11-06
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Binghamton, New York, USA
- Place of death
- Amherst, Massachusetts, USA
- Places of residence
- East Orange, New Jersey, USA
Amherst, Massachusetts, USA
Binghamton, New York, USA - Occupations
- reporter
author - Relationships
- Garis, Lilian (wife)
Garis, Roger (son)
Garis, Leslie (granddaughter) - Organizations
- Neward [New Jersey] Evening News
- Short biography
- Howard R. Garis was a reporter for the Evening News in Newark, New Jersey. He, along with his wife, Lilian, also a writer and the first newspaperwoman in New Jersey, and their two grown children, wrote adventure stores under various names for juvenile literature syndicator Edward L. Stratemeyer. Fortune magazine dubbed then "The Writing Garises" in 1934. They wrote more than 500 titles, and all or part of a dozen series, including Tom Swift, The Bobbsey Twins, and Baseball Joe. E. M. Scudder asked Garis to write children's stories for the Evening News, and these became the Uncle Wiggily Longears series, which Lilian Garis continued after her husband's death in 1962. [adapted from Favorite Uncle Wiggily Animal Bedtime Stores, introduction (1998)]
Members
Reviews
Vintage small hardcover with paste-on cover. Beautiful, detailed illustrations on each page. Binding good. Finger smudges on margins expected on this book from 1922. Great Lang Campbell artwork! Endpapers intact. 12 books listed inside front of this series.
Originally, the stories were serialized in newspapers so parents could read them to children. The stories were popular enough that they were gathered into books and preserved. Each story still ends with "If this improbable situation doesn't happen, I'll tell you the story of" with the title of the next story. Once upon a time, when I was young, my grandmother read these stories (she had them in books) to my brother and me. My mother also shared her books with me when I was old enough to read them on my own.
This collection focuses on Uncle Wiggily and his search to find his fortune. Uncle Wiggily happens to be a rabbit who had served in the Great War (back when there was only one) and now has rheumatism and gets along with a walking stick. Uncle Wiggily makes many friends as he travels and helps those who need them. And those good deeds done unselfishly often result in help when he needs it: not a bad lesson to learn.
Suggested as stories read to children or as a trip down nostalgia lane.… (more)
This collection focuses on Uncle Wiggily and his search to find his fortune. Uncle Wiggily happens to be a rabbit who had served in the Great War (back when there was only one) and now has rheumatism and gets along with a walking stick. Uncle Wiggily makes many friends as he travels and helps those who need them. And those good deeds done unselfishly often result in help when he needs it: not a bad lesson to learn.
Suggested as stories read to children or as a trip down nostalgia lane.… (more)
The very first Tom Swift book, from 1910, is a bit of fun, but only a bit. It is a far cry from the science-fictional Tom Swift I read a few adventures of in the 1960s. Those books were from a later, much different second series. This book is very much grounded in 1910, and the setting (New York State) is quite interesting. Not so interesting is the book's casual racism as Tom meets up with a black man named Eradicate Sampson, who is called a "darky" numerous times and refers to himself as a "coon". Each time Tom meets him, he is sitting hopelessly while some machine or another fails to work, which Tom, of course, fixes quickly, leaving Eradicate marveling at how smart he is. Throughout the book, Tom is referred to as "the young inventor" or "our hero". Of course, this is hardly a book for adults. Kids are supposed to admire Tom for his intelligence and his industriousness, although he makes more than one mistake during the book that gets him into trouble (and prolongs the plot.) The plot itself is modern enough. A group of men, working for some unscrupulous lawyers, are trying to steal an invention from Tom's father, inventor Barton Swift. When reading a book like this, one knows it will have a happy ending, but dark clouds still loom ahead, as in the tradition of other books from the same publishing syndicate, the next adventure is introduced on the final pages. I can't say I didn't enjoy reading this, but it is definitely lacking the plotting and characterization of the best Hardy Boys books I remember from my youth.… (more)
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datrappert | Jul 19, 2020 | Lists
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Statistics
- Works
- 264
- Also by
- 9
- Members
- 4,241
- Popularity
- #5,930
- Rating
- 3.7
- Reviews
- 19
- ISBNs
- 530
- Languages
- 1
- Favorited
- 4
The airship in the third book in the orginal series, Tom Swift and His Airship, was named the Red Cloud. The dirigible is named the Silver Cloud.
Tom's father becomes ill early in the book. Mr. Swift, Tom's wife, Mary, and her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Nestor, are spending some time at a lovely hotel on Mount Camon. The fact that the surrounding forest is very dry is mentioned several times.
There are misadventures in the book. Tom takes his family and in-laws to the hotel in the house on wheels from book 32. On the way, they help a couple with a traveling marionette show whose van has overturned. The Notines go on to provide entertainment at the hotel on Mt. Carmon. Not long after that rescue, the house on wheels is caught in a disaster of its own.
The Silver Cloud runs into an interesting problem during one of its test flights, but the climax of the book involves a forest fire. (This is no spoiler. The original title of the book was Tom Swift and His Big Dirigible; or Adventures Over the Forest of Fire.) Tom and his employees have their work cut out for them to save some people who are trapped in that fire.
The only downside to this book is the way some characters are portrayed. Pietro and Maria Notine, the Italian (or Italian-American) marionettists, are merely passionate about their work. The Italian (or Italian-American) hotel gardener, Cosso Tobini, is described as 'evil-faced' as well as being less than sane when it comes to guests picking the roses. (Decades ago I knew a Red Cross volunteer who was retired military and Civil Service. He had been called 'Italian' when he was young, although I think he was born in Connecticut. He used to tell me that when he was young he was Italian, but now he's considered a WASP.) The Swifts' faithful African-American employee, Eradicate, speaks in stereotypical dialect for the era. So does the giant employee Koku. There's a dwarf named James Chock who is treated as a suspicious character. If you can hold your nose for those portrayals, this is an enjoyable read.… (more)