Ned Wilding's Disappearance or, The Darewell Chums in the City

Chapman, AllenProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 2.2
Word count
247K words
Chapters
25

Tags

English Originals Children's Literature City EncounterAdventure JourneyFriendship GroupMystery SolvingComing of AgeLight ReadingSeries StoriesAmerican CityBoyhood AdventureYouth Reading

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 Wilding's Disappearance; or, The Darewell Chums in the City by Allen ChapmanAuthor: Chapman, Allen,Language: English, Class: PZ: Language and Literatures: Juvenile belles lettres, Release Date: Oct 9, 2011

Editor's review

This is one volume in Allen Chapman's "Darewell Chums" series, a typical early twentieth-century boys' adventure novel. It centers on the disappearance of the boy Ned Wilding in the city, prompting his companions to set out in search of him and to solve the mystery. The pace is brisk, and the plot moves through friendship, courage, and on-the-spot judgment, carrying the simple morality and city-adventure appeal characteristic of juvenile fiction of that era. Its value lies mainly as a sample of genre fiction and as original English reading material: the language is straightforward and the chapters short, making it a bridge for English learners moving from textbooks to full-length reading, and a quick read for those interested in the tradition of American juvenile adventure fiction. Read it as light entertainment, focusing on character relationships and suspense rather than expecting deep social analysis or complex literary technique.

Who it's for

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Reading tips

  1. Read the contents and first chapter first, confirm the character relationships, then read continuously to avoid confusing characters midway.
  2. Record new words chapter by chapter rather than looking up every word, so the plot stays coherent.
  3. After finishing, retell the main line of the disappearance and search in a few sentences to check comprehension.
  4. Read alongside other boys' adventure series to observe common patterns in similar narratives.

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

Is this book suitable for English beginners to read directly? It suits learners with some foundation. Sentences are short and the plot moves directly, but it is still a full English novel. Build basic vocabulary first, read chapter by chapter, and guess before looking up new words to avoid frequent interruption.
Do I need to read the other books in the series in order? The available information does not say reading in order is required. This book centers on Ned Wilding's disappearance and is relatively self-contained, though character relationships continue from the series setup. To understand the companions' background better, learn about the series characters first, then read this volume.
Where does the difficulty of this book lie? Mainly in the period background and old-fashioned expressions rather than sentence length. The city-adventure plot depends on details of life at the time, and some usages are uncommon today. Read for the plot first, then revisit details; do not aim for complete understanding from the start.

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About the author

Chapman, Allen Author

Allen Chapman is an author of English-language juvenile fiction about whom little is publicly documented; his nationality, dates of birth and death, and true identity remain unclear. Judging from the twenty-five works held in the collection, he wrote mainly adventure and coming-of-age stories for young readers, often set against railroads, school life and winter camps. Representative works include the "Ralph" series, such as Ralph, the Train Dispatcher and Ralph of the Roundhouse, which follow a railway boy's work and adventures, and the "Tom Fairfield" books, such as Tom Fairfield's Pluck and Luck and Tom Fairfield's Schooldays, which explore school friendship and tests of courage and reputation. The narratives are brisk, suspenseful and uplifting, portraying diligent, upright and responsible boys and lending themselves to themes of duty and friendship.