The Boy Chums in the Forest Or, Hunting for Plume Birds in the Florida

Wilmer Mateo ElyProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 2.5

Word count: 374K words
Chapters: 38

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.The Boy Chums in the Forest; Or, Hunting for Plume Birds in the FloridaAuthor: Ely, Wilmer M. (Wilmer Mateo),Language: English, Class: PZ: Language and Literatures: Juvenile belles lettres, Release Date: Dec 18, 2008

Editor's review

This boys' adventure novel is set in the forests of Florida and centers on the hunt for plume birds, bearing clear marks of its era. As a public-domain ebook, its value lies less in refined literary craft than in offering a window onto late nineteenth- to early twentieth-century American juvenile reading: boys traveling together, wilderness survival, hunting, and moral tests interweave in a brisk, vividly staged narrative. Readers encounter both the tension and fun of forest adventure and the era's attitudes toward natural resources—the plume trade, seen today, raises ecological protection issues and makes apt material for then-and-now discussion. Suitable as light reading in the original English or for critical reading in youth nature-themed reading activities. Note that the language carries a period flavor, with some usages differing from present-day English; readers with some vocabulary foundation will find it easier going.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Upper-secondary students seeking light reading and vocabulary building through public-domain English originals
General readers interested in boys' adventure and wilderness survival themes
Teachers engaged in youth reading promotion who need nature-and-history contrast material
Researchers studying early American juvenile reading matter and serialized style

Not a good fit for

Adult fiction readers expecting modern pacing, complex characterization, and literary depth
Beginners with weak English who would struggle with nineteenth-century narrative cadence and archaic wording
Readers sensitive to historical content such as hunting and the plume trade who wish to avoid such depictions

Reading tips

Read one chapter first to get a feel for the language; note unfamiliar archaic words separately rather than looking up every one.
Read in three stages following the adventure's progress; after each stage, retell the plot in two or three sentences to check comprehension.
Compare the plume-bird hunting episodes with today's ecological protection views and write a short commentary.
For classroom use, select forest-scene passages for reading aloud, then discuss how the characters cooperate.

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

What English level is this book suitable for?

The narrative moves through action and dialogue, and sentences are not complex, but it carries early twentieth-century expression habits and archaic wording. Readers with a high-school English reading foundation who can tolerate some unfamiliar words will find it accessible; beginners are advised to use annotations or read selected passages rather than forcing a full read.

Is the hunting content unsuitable for children?

The work reflects a common theme of boys' adventure reading of its time, and hunting and the plume trade are part of its historical background. When reading today, adults can guide children to notice differences in ecological attitudes and use the hunting episodes as a starting point for discussing natural-resource protection, rather than as models to imitate.

What should I keep in mind when reading a public-domain ebook?

Public-domain ebooks are usually proofread and prepared by volunteers, with text-focused layout that may lack modern notes and introductions. Readers are advised to have dictionary tools at hand and, when encountering broken lines or archaic spellings, focus on following the plot rather than dwelling on edition details.

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

Wilmer Mateo Ely Author · American · 1874–1917

Wilmer Mateo Ely (1874–1917) was an American author of adventure fiction for young readers, best known for his "Boy Chums" series. Set largely in the Florida Everglades, coastal waters, and the Gulf of Mexico, these stories follow the adventures of a group of boys and were published between 1905 and 1916. Four of his works are held in the collection, including The Boy Chums Cruising in Florida Waters, The Boy Chums in the Forest, The Boy Chums in the Gulf of Mexico, and The Boy Chums in the Florida Jungle. Public information about Ely's life is limited; his writing centers on boyhood adventure, with plots grounded in Florida's distinctive natural landscapes, giving the books a strong sense of place and offering young readers of the time both entertainment and an outdoor spirit.