Frank Merriwell's Backers Or, The Pride of His Friends

Standish, Burt L., 1866-1945Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 2.5
Word count
396K words
Chapters
40

Tags

English Originals Children's Literature Campus SportsBond of FriendshipBoy HeroInspirationYouthful VibeSeries 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.Frank Merriwell's Backers; Or, The Pride of His Friends by Burt L. StandishAuthor: Standish, Burt L., 1866-1945,Language: English, Class: PZ: Language and Literatures: Juvenile belles lettres, Release Date: Apr 12, 2012

Editor's review

Frank Merriwell's Backers; Or, The Pride of His Friends is an installment in Burt L. Standish's Frank Merriwell series, a classic of boys' adventure and school-sports fiction. The series centers on Frank Merriwell's integrity, courage, and team spirit; the title's "backers" and "pride of his friends" signal a story built around friendship, trust, and collective honor. As a public-domain ebook, it preserves the narrative pace and values of early twentieth-century American juvenile fiction: brisk plotting, clear-cut good and evil, and an emphasis on sportsmanship and character formation. For today's readers its value lies chiefly as a specimen for literary history and popular-culture studies, offering a window into the thematic formulas and moral education of juvenile fiction of the period. Read it in its historical context, enjoying its brisk narrative energy while noting its possible period limitations.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Not a good fit for

Reading tips

  1. Familiarize yourself with the basic setup of the Frank Merriwell series first; the character relationships will then be easier to follow.
  2. Read it as a period specimen, noting how sportsmanship, friendship, and moral instruction are woven into the plot.
  3. The English original is moderate in length; read a chapter or two a day, guessing period expressions from context before checking them.
  4. After reading, compare it with other juvenile adventure novels of the same era to observe similarities and differences in formula and values.

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
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40

FAQ

Can I read this book without having read others in the series? Yes. Installments in the series usually revolve around relatively self-contained events, and this book can be read on its own. Still, knowing the basic character setup and series style of Frank Merriwell will make the relationships and narrative conventions easier to follow.
What English level is this book suitable for? The original is in English with generally brisk narrative language, but it contains early twentieth-century expressions and period usage. Intermediate English readers will find it suitable; beginners may need notes or reference tools.
What are the main attractions of this book? Its main draws are the themes of friendship, trust, and collective honor within a school-sports and adventure framework, along with the brisk pace and moral formation typical of early American juvenile popular fiction. It is also a literary-historical sample for observing the formulas of juvenile fiction of the time.

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About the author

Standish, Burt L., 1866-1945 Author

Burt L. Standish (1866–1945) is an author in this Chinese-language book database whose identity records are limited: his real name and biographical details remain unconfirmed, and the library holds 21 of his works. These works are mostly classified as inspirational coming-of-age fiction, centering on young people's experiences in school and on the playing field and emphasizing courage, honesty, friendship, and self-discipline. Representative titles include Frank Merriwell's Pursuit Or, How to Win, Frank Merriwell's Bravery, Frank Merriwell's Chums, Frank Merriwell's Reward, and Lefty Locke Pitcher-Manager. His writing often carries series characters across volumes, with brisk plots and an emphasis on readability and positive guidance for young readers. Because public information is limited, a full account of his life and oeuvre awaits further verification, yet the existing works already reflect his sustained engagement with and influence on inspirational coming-of-age fiction.