Related Research Articles
Tom Swift is the main character of six series of American juvenile science fiction and adventure novels that emphasize science, invention, and technology. Inaugurated in 1910, the sequence of series comprises more than 100 volumes. The first Tom Swift – later, Tom Swift Sr. – was created by Edward Stratemeyer, the founder of the Stratemeyer Syndicate, a book packaging firm. Tom's adventures have been written by various ghostwriters, beginning with Howard Garis. Most of the books are credited to the collective pseudonym "Victor Appleton". The 33 volumes of the second series use the pseudonym Victor Appleton II for the author. For this series, and some later ones, the main character is "Tom Swift Jr." New titles have been published again from 2019 after a gap of about ten years, roughly the time that has passed before every resumption. Most of the series emphasized Tom's inventions. The books generally describe the effects of science and technology as wholly beneficial, and the role of the inventor in society as admirable and heroic.
The Stratemeyer Syndicate was a publishing company that produced a number of mystery book series for children, including Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, the various Tom Swift series, the Bobbsey Twins, the Rover Boys, and others. They published and contracted the many pseudonymous authors doing the writing of the series from 1899 through 1987, when the syndicate partners sold the company to Simon & Schuster.
The Hardy Boys, brothers Frank and Joe Hardy, are fictional characters who appear in several mystery series for children and teens. The series revolves around teenagers who are amateur sleuths, solving cases that stumped their adult counterparts. The characters were created by American writer Edward Stratemeyer, the founder of book packaging firm Stratemeyer Syndicate. The books were written by several ghostwriters, most notably Leslie McFarlane, under the collective pseudonym Franklin W. Dixon.
Howard Roger Garis was an American author, best known for a series of books that featured the character of Uncle Wiggily Longears, an engaging elderly rabbit. Many of his books were illustrated by Lansing Campbell. Garis and his wife, Lilian Garis, were possibly the most prolific children's authors of the early 20th century.
Clarence Young was a house pseudonym used by the Stratemeyer Syndicate for series of books for boys, the most well-known being the "Motor Boys" series.
Edward L. Stratemeyer was an American publisher, writer of children's fiction, and founder of the Stratemeyer Syndicate. He was one of the most prolific writers in the world, producing in excess of 1,300 books himself, selling in excess of 500 million copies. He also created many well-known fictional book series for juveniles, including The Rover Boys, The Bobbsey Twins, Tom Swift, The Hardy Boys, and Nancy Drew series, many of which sold millions of copies and remain in publication. On Stratemeyer's legacy, Fortune wrote: "As oil had its Rockefeller, literature had its Stratemeyer."
The Bobbsey Twins are the principal characters of what was, for 75 years, the Stratemeyer Syndicate's longest-running series of American children's novels, written under the pseudonym Laura Lee Hope. The first of 72 books was published in 1904, the last in 1979, with a separate series of 30 books published from 1987 through 1992. The books related the adventures of the children of the upper-middle-class Bobbsey family, which included two sets of fraternal twins: Bert and Nan, who were twelve years old, and Flossie and Freddie, who were six.
Charles Leslie McFarlane was a Canadian journalist, novelist, screenwriter, and filmmaker, who is most famous for ghostwriting many of the early books in the very successful Hardy Boys series, using the pseudonym Franklin W. Dixon.
Margaret Penrose was a house pseudonym used by the Stratemeyer Syndicate as the author of three girls' book series published by Cupples & Leon.
Victor Appleton was a house pseudonym used by the Stratemeyer Syndicate and its successors, most famous for being associated with the Tom Swift series of books.
Andrew E. Svenson was an American children's author, publisher, and partner in the Stratemeyer Syndicate. Under a variety of pseudonyms, many shared with other authors, Svenson authored or coauthored more than 70 books for children, including books for the Hardy Boys, Bobbsey Twins, Tom Swift, and Honey Bunch series. He wrote the series The Happy Hollisters using the pseudonym Jerry West and The Tolliver Family as Alan Stone.
The Ted Scott Flying Stories was a series of juvenile aviation adventures created by the Stratemeyer Syndicate using the pseudonym of Franklin W. Dixon and published almost exclusively by Grosset & Dunlap. The novels were produced between 1927 and 1943. The principal author was John W. Duffield, who also contributed to the Don Sturdy and Bomba the Jungle Boy series. As "Richard H. Stone" he also launched a second Stratemeyer aviation series, the Slim Tyler Air stories (1930–1932). Duffield was a conscientious student of aeronautical technology, and long passages in the Ted Scott books can be traced to such sources as Aviation, the New York Times,Aero Digest, and Science.
Bomba the Jungle Boy is a series of American boys' adventure books produced by the Stratemeyer Syndicate under the pseudonym Roy Rockwood. and published by Cupples and Leon in the first half of the 20th century, in imitation of the successful Tarzan series.
Lilian C. Garis, born Lilian C. McNamara, was an American author who wrote hundreds of books of juvenile fiction between around 1915 and the early 1940s. Prior to this, she was the first female reporter for the Newark Evening News in New Jersey. Garis and her husband, Howard R. Garis, were possibly the most prolific children's authors of the early 20th century.
Frank V. Webster was a pseudonym used by the Stratemeyer Syndicate. A total of 25 novels in The Webster Series For Boys were published by Cupples & Leon between 1909 and 1915. Titles were reprinted in 1938 by Saalfield Publishing.
Roger Carroll Garis was an American writer. He wrote for magazines and also writer The Outboard Boys series of books. In addition to his writing of books for children and adults, he contributed to the Waterbury, Connecticut Republican and wrote for the stage and for television.
Weldon J. Cobb was a Chicago writer, reporter and newspaper editor. From 1877 through 1880 he sold fifteen stories to Nickel Library, and from 1891 through 1895 Cobb regularly contributed stories to Golden Hours.
A. L. Burt was a US book publishing house from 1883 until 1937. It was founded by Albert Levi Burt, a 40-year-old from Massachusetts who had come to recognize the demand for inexpensive reference works while working as a traveling salesman. The company began by reprinting home reference works and reprints of popular and classic fiction, before expanding into the field of children's works, particularly series books.
Dave Dashaway was a series of juvenile aviation novels written for the Stratemeyer Syndicate by Weldon J. Cobb, using the pseudonym of Roy Rockwood. The series was published by Cupples & Leon from 1913 to 1915. The hardback books had a picture printed onto the front cover, plus a black and white frontispiece illustration.
References
- 1 2 James D. Keeline, Stratemeyer Snyndicate web page
- ↑ Axe, John All About Collecting Boys' Series Books, pages 14-15, Hobby House Press, 2002
- ↑ James D. Keeline, Stratemeyer Snyndicate web page
- ↑ Erisman, Fred Boys’ Books, Boys' Dreams, and the Mystique of Flight, pages 55 - 58, Texas Christian University Press, 2006
- ↑ Syracuse University - Howard R. Garis papers
- ↑ Westfahl, Gary, Science Fiction, Children’s Literature, and Popular Culture, page 19, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2000
- ↑ Lupoff, Richard, Master of Adventure, page 184, Bison Books, 2005
