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The Radio-Phone Boys #1
Curlie Carson Listens In
"Curlie?" says the voice in the receiver. "Got a bad case -- extra bad. Fellow's sending 600-meter waves, with enough power to cross the Atlantic." "Six hundred!" exclaims Curlie. "Why, that's what they use for S.O.S. at sea! That's criminal! Endangers every ship in distress. Get him, can't you?" "Can't. That's the trouble. Every time I think I've got him spotted, he seems to move." "To move? I'll be up right away!" Curlie is most at home when surrounded by wire-wrapped frames, coils, keys, buttons, switches, motors, dry-cells, and storage batteries -- all the odds and ends that equip the most perfect listening-in station in the world.
108 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1922
1 person is currently reading
12 people want to read
About the author
Roy J. Snell
197 books8 followersRoy Judson Snell wrote more than 84 novels for young adults under his own name and also using the pseudonyms David O'Hara, James Craig and Joseph Marino.
His tales were mostly directed at boys, though he wrote at least one series of mysteries for girls. He also wrote some animal fantasy tales for younger children and they began with 'Little White Fox and His Artic Friends' (1916). He was later to say that he sold the book for "the great sum of $6.24".
He also wrote a series entitled 'Radio- Phone Boys', which began with 'Curly Carson Listens In' (1922).
Born in Laddonia, Missouri, Snell moved to the Sycamore area and there he learned his father's trade of erecting windmills. He entered Wheaton academy after his 19th birthday, graduated, and then worked his way through Wheaton College, finishing with the class of
1906.
His brother's death led to him entering the ministry and he accepted the pastorate of a small church in rural Southern Illinois. After only a year he became principal of a church supported
school in the Cumberland Mountains of Kentucky. "A person could just as
likely get shot as not there," Snell once remarked, and he added, "It was a constant struggle to see who would
take over the school — the big boys or me." He eventually won and gained the respect of his students and their parents alike.
He then spent two semesters' graduate study at Harvard, after which he went as a Congregationalist missionary to Alaska. While there he was responsible for over 350 Eskimos and 2,500 reindeer. He returned to
the area the following year, and afterwards he earned his B.D. degree at Chicago Seminary and his master's degree from the University of Chicago.
He briefly served in France with the Y.M.C.A. during World War 1, service which interrupted his new-found writing
career. Once he returned to the United States he began to write in earnest.
A dozen books flowed from his pen, most of them on adventure and mystery themes for youngsters, and then the author began lecturing and for the following 30 years he gave illustrated talks about his many travels.
He had a lengthy career as a novelist, claiming that he often wrote 2,000 words per hour, and was later to say, "You have to develop a second personality to write. It's a hard thing to do. Oftentimes I felt like giving up the whole business."
He continued, "I had all the luck on my side. If I were a young man today, I'd hesitate going into a writing career. I wouldn't know where to start. Kids don't read as much today with TV and movies. No I've had my day and I got out of it just what I wanted."
Readers also got what they wanted for as a testimony to his skill, more than one and one-half million copies of his books were sold.
He died in Wheaton, Illinois.
His tales were mostly directed at boys, though he wrote at least one series of mysteries for girls. He also wrote some animal fantasy tales for younger children and they began with 'Little White Fox and His Artic Friends' (1916). He was later to say that he sold the book for "the great sum of $6.24".
He also wrote a series entitled 'Radio- Phone Boys', which began with 'Curly Carson Listens In' (1922).
Born in Laddonia, Missouri, Snell moved to the Sycamore area and there he learned his father's trade of erecting windmills. He entered Wheaton academy after his 19th birthday, graduated, and then worked his way through Wheaton College, finishing with the class of
1906.
His brother's death led to him entering the ministry and he accepted the pastorate of a small church in rural Southern Illinois. After only a year he became principal of a church supported
school in the Cumberland Mountains of Kentucky. "A person could just as
likely get shot as not there," Snell once remarked, and he added, "It was a constant struggle to see who would
take over the school — the big boys or me." He eventually won and gained the respect of his students and their parents alike.
He then spent two semesters' graduate study at Harvard, after which he went as a Congregationalist missionary to Alaska. While there he was responsible for over 350 Eskimos and 2,500 reindeer. He returned to
the area the following year, and afterwards he earned his B.D. degree at Chicago Seminary and his master's degree from the University of Chicago.
He briefly served in France with the Y.M.C.A. during World War 1, service which interrupted his new-found writing
career. Once he returned to the United States he began to write in earnest.
A dozen books flowed from his pen, most of them on adventure and mystery themes for youngsters, and then the author began lecturing and for the following 30 years he gave illustrated talks about his many travels.
He had a lengthy career as a novelist, claiming that he often wrote 2,000 words per hour, and was later to say, "You have to develop a second personality to write. It's a hard thing to do. Oftentimes I felt like giving up the whole business."
He continued, "I had all the luck on my side. If I were a young man today, I'd hesitate going into a writing career. I wouldn't know where to start. Kids don't read as much today with TV and movies. No I've had my day and I got out of it just what I wanted."
Readers also got what they wanted for as a testimony to his skill, more than one and one-half million copies of his books were sold.
He died in Wheaton, Illinois.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 14, 2024
No, go on home and go to bed. I'll take the rest of the shift. I want to think. I think best when I'm alone; when the wires sing me a song; when the air whispers to me out of the night; when the ghosts of dead radio-men, ghosts of operators who joked with death when the sea was reaching up mighty arms to drag them down, come back to talk to me. That's when I think best. These whispering ghosts tell me things. When I sit here all asleep but my ears, things seem to come to me.
Roy J. Snell was a prolific author of books for young adults, including the eight-book Radio-Phone Boys series, of which this title is the first. Published in 1922, it is full of excitement about the amazing new world of radio, a world the teen-aged Curlie Carson guards from a secret tower as a member of the radio secret service. This adventure finds him hunting for clues in the car he hand-built from a wreck, researching rare maps to figure out where treasure hunting crooks might be headed, and chasing a plane over the Atlantic in a millionaire's yacht. A fun read.
Roy J. Snell was a prolific author of books for young adults, including the eight-book Radio-Phone Boys series, of which this title is the first. Published in 1922, it is full of excitement about the amazing new world of radio, a world the teen-aged Curlie Carson guards from a secret tower as a member of the radio secret service. This adventure finds him hunting for clues in the car he hand-built from a wreck, researching rare maps to figure out where treasure hunting crooks might be headed, and chasing a plane over the Atlantic in a millionaire's yacht. A fun read.
January 22, 2020
3.5 stars
An adventure with a mystery to it. I enjoyed the tidbits about the early days of “radio phones” which seem to have been an early version of amateur/ham radio. I loved the hints of amazement at being able to wirelessly speak across the airwaves to someone in the 1920s and the details about how a young radio operator could help the government police the airwaves.
Well narrated on Librivox.
An adventure with a mystery to it. I enjoyed the tidbits about the early days of “radio phones” which seem to have been an early version of amateur/ham radio. I loved the hints of amazement at being able to wirelessly speak across the airwaves to someone in the 1920s and the details about how a young radio operator could help the government police the airwaves.
Well narrated on Librivox.
January 17, 2025
This is a cute YA novel filled with young love, daring do and sea adventure. Tom Penn on LibriVox does a magnificent job of narration.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews