The Boy Scouts at the Battle of Saratoga: The Story of General Burgoyne's Defeat

Herbert CarterProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 2.5
Word count
311K words
Chapters
32

Tags

English Originals War and Military FictionChildren's Literature Adventure JourneyMilitary CommandersHeroismComing of AgeYouth 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.The Boy Scouts at the Battle of Saratoga: The Story of General Burgoyne's DefeatAuthor: Carter, Herbert, active 1909-1917,Language: English, Class: PZ: Language and Literatures: Juvenile belles lettres, Release Date: Oct 3, 2014

Editor's review

This English-language boys' adventure novel is set against the Battle of Saratoga and tells of Boy Scouts living through General Burgoyne's defeat; it is a public-domain eBook in the juvenile literature category. Its appeal lies in embedding a historical battle in a boys' adventure framework, with fast-moving plotting that can spark young readers' interest in Revolutionary War history. The language is accessible and the chapters are short, making it suitable for extensive English reading. Note that the book dates from the early twentieth century, and its treatment of war and race reflects the limitations of its time; read it with a critical eye. It works well for family reading or as a classroom supplement, but not as rigorous history.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Not a good fit for

Reading tips

  1. Learn the basic outline of the Saratoga campaign first; the story reads more smoothly afterward
  2. After each chapter, note one historical detail and one fictional episode to separate fact from invention
  3. In family reading, discuss the book's period limitations to build critical reading

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

FAQ

What age is this book suitable for? As a boys' adventure novel, its language difficulty is moderate, making it most suitable for English readers in the upper elementary to middle school years, though the child's English level should also be considered.
Are the historical events in the story real? The Battle of Saratoga and Burgoyne's defeat are real historical background, but the young protagonists' adventures are fictional. Compare with history books while reading to distinguish the two.
Why is it said to have period limitations? The book was written in the early twentieth century, and its portrayals of war, race, and heroism reflect the attitudes of that era. Modern readers should approach it critically.

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

Herbert Carter Author · American

Herbert Carter was an American author whose dates and biographical details are unknown, and public information about him is very limited. According to reliable sources, this name was a pseudonym used by the prolific writer St. George Henry Rathborne, chiefly for the "Boy Scouts" series published by A. L. Burt between 1913 and 1917. Twelve of his works are held in this collection, including The Boy Scouts in the Rockies, The Boy Scouts in the Blue Ridge, and The Boy Scouts at the Battle of Saratoga. These novels follow the young members of the Silver Fox Patrol through camping, tracking, and adventure in wilderness and historical settings; their tightly plotted stories stress courage and cooperation and are classed as inspirational coming-of-age reading.