April Kane and the Dragon Lady

by Milton Caniff

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

248 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1942

Reviews

[Faith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a story based on a 40s comic strip about a boy during WWII.
The plot revolves around Terry and his sweet Southern girlfriend in China as they get caught up in the Dragon Lady's plans to stop the Invaders. (the Japanese)
The Dragon Lady really is cruel and evil, but when her cause is good and on the side of the allies, the main characters find they must help her, or be captured by the Axis Invaders.
Unfortunately, the ending was incomplete. :(
At the end the Dragon Lady was captured by the Japanese, and justice came at last to her; and Klang, the leader of one of the companies was flung over the cliff.
But the part that was incomplete was when, after Terry's friend Pat rescued April from death, and she rescued him in return,
April and Pat were going back to the rest of their friends, they never got there in the book, and I did not find out if their British friend lived or not.
I also would have liked seeing the reunion of Terry and April. They were so cute. :)

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Whitman children’s book is based on a comic strip from the thirties which was written and illustrated by Milton Caniff.
I had never heard of this newspaper series but was intrigued enough by the cover to purchase it at a Minneapolis bookstore. Afterwards I inquired about it in a FB group of which I am a member. Someone replied that it was the first violent book she had ever read as a child and that it had given her nightmares. So I had my misgivings about my purchase.
As I decided which book to read, I recalled her warning but then I thought, hey, I am an adult and that even as a child I read, and enjoyed, horror magazines.
This book is more violent than Nancy Drew. Shots are fired and blood is shed. There are skirmishes, and literal cliff hangers. It reminded me of action movies that even preteens go to these days. The only difference is that these are the scenes are written out.
There were some slower laughable parts but all in all it was entertaining enough to make me want to find the original comic strip. This is part of a series after all.

[Michael P. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Turgid and padded prose mar this predictable story.

[Sally · Rating 2 out of 5]

I only gave this two stars, but it shows what sort of stuff kids were reading at the beginning of the war. Based on the the comic strip Terry and the Pirates, the novel focuses on Terry, his sort of girlfriend April Kane (who speaks a sort of southern baby talk), the hero Pat Ryan, Deeth Crispin, and the two Chinese servants, Connie (who speaks dreadful pidgin English) and Big Stoop, a tall, strong, and mute man who reminds me of the Indian servant of Daddy Warbucks. The gang get mixed up with the Dragon Lady who is leading Chinese guerrillas against the Invaders ( never called Japanese). The Dragon Lady is often ruthless (Big Stoop was originally her servant and she had his tongue cut out), but brave in fighting not only the Invader, but also also Chinese mercenaries that are allied with the Invader. Lots of fighting, torture, starvation, and action with a cliffhanger ending.