Ned, Bob and Jerry at Boxwood Hall; or, The Motor Boys as Freshmen

Young, ClarenceProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 2.2

Word count: 291K words
Chapters: 30

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.Ned, Bob and Jerry at Boxwood Hall; Or, The Motor Boys as Freshmen by Author: Young, Clarence, Language: English, Class: PZ: Language and Literatures: Juvenile belles lettres, Release Date: Jan 30, 2016

Editor's review

This is a campus story from Clarence Young's "Motor Boys" series, telling of Ned, Bob and Jerry's experiences as freshmen at Boxwood Hall. An American boys' adventure book from the early twentieth century, it moves briskly and centers on campus life, friendship and growing up, carrying the enterprising spirit typical of juvenile fiction of its day. It is no literary classic, but an interesting sample of early English-language popular reading for boys: readers can glimpse American campus life a century ago, the way young people got along, and how boys' books of the time shaped courage, honesty and teamwork. The public-domain Project Gutenberg edition is easy to access at any time, making it suitable as light reading and for anyone curious about the history of children's literature, English extensive reading, or old-fashioned boys' adventure tales. There is no need to look for deep meaning; treat it as a pleasant trip back in time.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Intermediate English learners looking for light English reading practice
Readers interested in early twentieth-century boys' adventure fiction
Enthusiasts studying the evolution of Anglo-American children's and juvenile literature
Families looking for public-domain English campus stories for children

Not a good fit for

Serious fiction readers seeking complex literary structure and profound themes
Young readers used to the narrative pace of contemporary YA literature
English beginners, for whom the old-fashioned language may be an obstacle

Reading tips

Read a chapter or two first to get a feel for the language before deciding whether to finish the whole book.
Don't look up every unfamiliar old-fashioned expression; follow the plot first.
Read alongside other volumes in the series to see how the characters' relationships continue.
After finishing, jot down period campus details reflected in the book for future reference.

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.

FAQ

Which volume in the series is this, and must it be read in order?

This is the volume in the "Motor Boys" series centered on freshman campus life. The plots of the volumes are relatively independent, so reading it alone will not hinder comprehension, but reading in series order gives a better sense of how the characters' relationships build up.

How difficult is the English, and what level is it suitable for?

On the whole it is narrative text aimed at young readers, with short sentences and direct plotting, but it contains early twentieth-century usage and campus slang. It suits readers with intermediate English reading ability who can accept old-fashioned expressions.

What are the features of the Project Gutenberg edition?

This is a free public-domain ebook released by Project Gutenberg, easy to download and read across devices. The text is the original work without modern annotations, so readers who want background information must look it up themselves.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Young, Clarence Author

Clarence Young was one of the representative American writers of juvenile adventure fiction in the early twentieth century, though reliable public information about his true identity and life remains limited. He is best known for the "Motor Boys" series, in which young protagonists travel by motorcycle, aircraft, or boat and encounter mysteries and conflicts on the border, along the coast, and in the air, with tight plotting and a brisk pace. The collection here contains twenty-two of his works, including The Motor Boys in the Clouds, The Motor Boys Over the Rockies, and The Motor Boys on the Atlantic, as well as school and ranch stories such as Jack Ranger's Western Trip. Centered on courage, friendship, and the spirit of exploration and classified as inspirational coming-of-age fiction, these books reflect the publishing fashion of American juvenile literature of the time, which emphasized adventure and character formation.