Air Service Boys in the Big Battle Or, Silencing the Big Guns

Charles Amory BeachProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 2.7
Word count
246K words
Chapters
25

Tags

English Originals War and Military Fiction TeamworkMilitary StrategyBoy HeroHeroismCourage and ResponsibilityAerial CombatSeries Stories

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Air Service Boys in the Big Battle; Or, Silencing the Big Guns by BeachAuthor: Beach, Charles Amory,Language: English, Class: PZ: Language and Literatures: Juvenile belles lettres, Release Date: Sep 1, 2004

Editor's review

This is a long juvenile adventure novel in Charles Amory Beach's Air Service Boys series; the title signals the Great War setting and the mission of "silencing the big guns," making it a typical early juvenile military adventure. The narrative follows the experiences of the Air Service boys, moves at a brisk pace, emphasizes courage, teamwork, and completing the mission, and is written in relatively plain language, making it suitable as transitional material for graded English reading. Its value lies not in literary depth but in presenting the narrative modes and period imagination of early twentieth-century juvenile adventure fiction, allowing readers to observe how war-themed stories for young readers were written at the time. As a public-domain eBook, it suits interest-driven light reading or English extensive reading practice; enter with the mindset of understanding genre fiction rather than demanding complex characterization. While reading, note the aviation descriptions and how missions are advanced to appreciate the pacing of genre fiction.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Not a good fit for

Reading tips

  1. Read the chapter titles first to grasp the mission's progression, then read the main text to reduce comprehension burden.
  2. Record unfamiliar words in three categories—aviation, military, and everyday—for focused review.
  3. After each chapter, retell the plot in two or three sentences to check extensive reading comprehension.
  4. Read alongside other volumes in the series to observe how characters and narrative patterns continue.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25

FAQ

What age group is this book suitable for? Judging by subject matter and language, it is better suited to upper-secondary and older young readers and adults with some English reading ability. Younger readers interested in aviation adventure are advised to read with adult guidance and to discuss the war depictions appropriately.
Does it need to be read in series order? This is one volume in a series, but juvenile adventure novels usually have relatively self-contained plots per volume. Reading this book directly generally does not hinder understanding of the main storyline; to become more familiar with character relationships and background, one may read earlier books in the series first.
How difficult is the English in this book? The style is relatively plain, the narrative driven mainly by action, and the sentences are not complex; overall it is easier than classic literary originals and suitable as English extensive reading material. Aviation- and military-related vocabulary will still appear; it is advisable to keep a glossary while reading rather than looking up every word.
Are the war depictions in the book suitable for students? The work is early juvenile adventure fiction, and war is mostly framed through missions and courage with relatively limited intensity, though it still bears the marks of its era. When used for student reading, teachers or parents are advised to guide discussion of the historical background and narrative stance to help form a critical understanding.

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About the author

Charles Amory Beach Author

Charles Amory Beach is not a real person but a collective pen name used by the American Stratemeyer Syndicate for its "Air Service Boys" series of novels published between 1918 and 1920. The series recounts the adventures of American teenage pilots during World War I. Five titles are held here, including Air Service Boys Flying for Victory, Air Service Boys over the Atlantic, and Air Service Boys in the Big Battle, with plots centering on aerial combat, bombing missions, transatlantic flights, and reconnaissance against enemy spies. Aimed at young readers, the books are notable for their tense mission plots and aviation detail, reflecting how American juvenile popular fiction of the period imagined and depicted the air war. Beyond the pen name's attribution and the series titles, public information on the actual authors and their lives is limited.