Try Again Or, the Trials and Triumphs of Harry West. A Story for Young Folks

Optic, Oliver, 1822-1897Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 2.7

Word count: 269K words
Chapters: 27

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.Try Again; Or, the Trials and Triumphs of Harry West. A Story for Young FolksAuthor: Optic, Oliver, 1822-1897,Language: English, Class: PZ: Language and Literatures: Juvenile belles lettres, Release Date: Jan 24, 2010

Editor's review

Try Again; Or, the Trials and Triumphs of Harry West is an English novel by Oliver Optic written for young readers and classified as juvenile literature; Project Gutenberg has made it available as a free ebook. As the title and subtitle suggest, the story follows the boy Harry West as he faces setbacks, keeps trying, and ultimately makes progress, giving it a clear coming-of-age and inspirational flavor. Nineteenth-century juvenile fiction of this kind tends to have straightforward plots and clear moral values, making it useful for observing the narrative style and moral education aims of English-language children's literature of that era. As a public-domain ebook, it is easy to obtain free of charge and to use for classroom extensions. There is no need to read it quickly; pay attention instead to how the protagonist chooses and changes when faced with failure. If used for English learning, excerpt sentences of dialogue and action description. Note that it is better suited as original English reading material or as a supplement to the history of juvenile literature than as a contemporary psychological guide for young people.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Young readers who want an original English coming-of-age story
English teachers who need public-domain juvenile literature materials
Readers interested in nineteenth-century English juvenile fiction
Learners who want to practice reading with simple English stories

Not a good fit for

Readers who only accept Chinese translations and do not want to read the English original
Parents seeking contemporary educational ideas or psychological guidance
Adult readers who prefer complex plots and modern narrative techniques

Reading tips

Read chapter by chapter and, after each chapter, retell in your own words the difficulties Harry encounters and the choices he makes.
Copy out sentences of dialogue and action description to build up English expressions.
Keeping in mind the Try Again theme in the title, write a short reading response after finishing.
If used in class, students can discuss in groups whether the protagonist's way of handling setbacks is reasonable.

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 age of child is this book suitable for?

The material shows that it is a juvenile book written for Young Folks, in English. There is no uniform standard for the specific age; judge by the child's English reading level: children who can independently read simple English chapter books can try it, while younger readers are better suited to reading together with a parent or reading selected passages.

What is the story mainly about?

Judging from the title and subtitle, the story tells of the boy Harry West going through various trials, persevering and trying again, and making progress; it belongs to the coming-of-age inspirational juvenile novel genre. The material does not provide more detailed plot information, so it is best to read the original to learn the specific events.

Is there a Chinese version of this book?

The available material only shows the English ebook provided by Project Gutenberg and does not mention a Chinese translation. If you need to read in Chinese, you can look for other editions yourself, or use it as English reading practice material.

How difficult is it as English learning material?

It is a nineteenth-century English juvenile novel, so its sentence structure is somewhat more formal than contemporary colloquial reading matter, but the plot thread is relatively clear. It is advisable to try one or two chapters first; if there are too many new words, read with a dictionary, focus on characters' actions and dialogue, and there is no need to look up every descriptive word.

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

Optic, Oliver, 1822-1897 Author

Oliver Optic (1822-1897), the pen name of William Taylor Adams, was a prolific nineteenth-century American writer of juvenile literature. Public information about his life is limited and many biographical details remain uncertain, yet the fifty-nine works held in this collection attest to the sheer volume of his output. He specialized in adventure and coming-of-age stories centered on young protagonists, with subjects ranging from sea voyages and military academy or army life to youthful enterprise and travels abroad. His plots are fast-paced and upbeat, and carry a pronounced moral and didactic tone. Representative works include Outward Bound, Freaks of Fortune, The Soldier Boy, and The Yacht Club, many of them belonging to his "Young America" series. His books circulated widely among young English-speaking readers in the latter half of the nineteenth century and left a lasting mark on later adventure fiction for boys.