The New Tom Swift Jr. Adventures #2Grosset & Dunlap -- hc
New York -- ©1954 -- 208pp
illustrated by Graham Kaye
Boy genius, Tom Swift, invents an atomic-powered submarine and faces a new bunch of baddies.
#####
My sons sure have enjoyed my reading these 1950's books aloud to them at bed time. Not everything holds their interest (strangely, both The Hobbit and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland [two of my absolute favorites] have had them bored, but perhaps it's time for me to try those again), so I find it interesting that these books, which I find a tad dull, are still capturing young boys' imaginations.
What I find most interesting about the Tom Swift books is that the science seems a bit behind the times now, yet totally plausible, and yet was certainly ahead of the curve in the mid-1950's. Certainly all the ramifications of using atomic energy were not clear, as evidenced by Tom's lackidaisical use of uranium and atomic energy.
The chapters move along quickly, with great amounts of time passing in a single sentence. Nearly every chapter ends in a cliff-hanger, whish always had my kids asking for the next chapter, even though it was well past bedtime. I can't help but groan, though, when one a chapter ends and it looks like complete ruin, danger, or death for Tom and his buddy, Bud Barclay, and the next chapter starts with the "genius" slapping his forehead and saying something akin to: "Sheesh, Bud, I forgot to flip this switch!" In this book, both boys are about to be crushed to death by a giant squid, deep in the ocean. They try to shoot it with a special Tom Swift underwater ray gun, and nothing happens! The next chapter actually begins with Tom realizing that the ray gun's safety was still on.
And aside from his intellect, Tom relied quite a bit on circumstance to get him out of harms way.
A fun read, and judging by my sons' reactions, still a recommended read as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment