Tom Slade, Motorcycle Dispatch Bearer

Fitzhugh, Percy Keese, 1876-1950Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.0

Word count: 224K words
Chapters: 23

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.Tom Slade, Motorcycle Dispatch Bearer by Percy Keese FitzhughAuthor: Fitzhugh, Percy Keese, 1876-1950,Language: English, Class: PZ: Language and Literatures: Juvenile belles lettres, Release Date: Oct 8, 2006

Editor's review

This is a boys' adventure novel by Percy Keese Fitzhugh, one of the series of stories featuring Tom Slade. The story revolves around the experiences of a motorcycle dispatch bearer; it moves at a brisk pace and emphasizes courage, responsibility, and quick thinking, with the strong flavor of early boys' fiction. As a free Project Gutenberg e-book, its value lies first in accessibility: readers can encounter, at no cost, a sample of early twentieth-century American boys' adventure literature and learn about the narrative tastes and values directed at young readers of the time. Read it in its historical context, note how courage, teamwork, and growing up are portrayed, and you may also use it as English-learning material, building vocabulary and feel for the language through the pull of the plot. It suits reading in fragments during commutes or travel, or as an entry point to public-domain boys' literature.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Young readers who enjoy adventure and coming-of-age stories
Learners who want to practice reading with a brisk English original
Readers interested in early twentieth-century American juvenile literature
General readers looking for free public-domain e-books

Not a good fit for

Readers who prefer complex literary structure and deep psychological portraiture
Readers expecting modern suspense pacing and strong plot twists
Younger readers sensitive to the values of early juvenile fiction

Reading tips

Skim the chapter titles first to grasp the plot direction, then read chapter by chapter to ease the pressure of the English original.
Mark unfamiliar words without interrupting your reading; look them up and note them after finishing a section.
Learn a little about early motorcycles and dispatch communications to make the scenes more immersive.
After finishing, retell the main storyline in three to five sentences to check your understanding of character motives and cause and effect.

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

Is this book suitable for English beginners to read directly?

You can try, but it is an English original shaped by the language habits of early juvenile fiction, so its sentences and word choices may not fully suit contemporary beginners. It is better to read it after building a basic vocabulary, or to use it alongside annotated or bilingual materials—first for plot comprehension, then for language details.

Is this book connected to the author's other Tom Slade stories?

This book is one of the juvenile stories featuring Tom Slade, with continuity in character and style, but each volume can usually be read independently. If you like this character's way of having adventures, you can look for other books in the series and read them by interest rather than in strict order.

What should I keep in mind when using the Project Gutenberg edition?

This edition is a free public-domain e-book, easy to download and read across devices, but its layout and notes are usually plain and it may lack a modern introduction. You can pair it with a dictionary or background materials as you read, and note the differences in file formats across platforms so as to choose the version that suits your device.

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About the author

Fitzhugh, Percy Keese, 1876-1950 Author

Percy Keese Fitzhugh (1876–1950) was an American author of children's literature, best known for his two boys' series featuring Roy Blakeley and Tom Slade. The collection here includes twenty-six of his works, among them Roy Blakeley: His Story, Roy Blakeley's Bee-line Hike, Roy Blakeley's Motor Caravan, Tom Slade on Mystery Trail, Tom Slade, Motorcycle Dispatch Bearer, Tom Slade at Temple Camp, Tom Slade on the River, and Roy Blakeley's Adventures in Camp. These books are generally classified as inspirational coming-of-age stories. Set around boys' experiences in camping, hiking, cycling, and outdoor adventure, they portray friendship, courage, and responsibility in a light, humorous tone and stress honesty, mutual help, and self-reliance. Public information about his life is limited, but the series show his skill in creating lively, upright boy characters whose stories stay close to young readers' lives, giving him a representative place in early American juvenile fiction.