Tom Slade at Temple Camp

Tom Slade #2

by Percy Keese Fitzhugh, Karen L Black (Editor), Walter S. Rogers (Illustrator)

Tom Does it the Hard Way. Instead of doing the sensible thing and taking the train to faraway Temple Camp, Tom Slade decides to get there on his own, first by canoe and then on foot. Accompanied by fellow scouts Roy Blakeley and Pee-wee Harris, Tom braves fire, flood, mystery, an escaped convict, possible murder, and even faces down a lawyer. First published in 1917, this book is a classic boys' adventure by Percy Keese Fitzhugh, and has delighted generations of readers. It is imbued with the can-do spirit of the time, when nothing seemed impossible (and nothing was impossible) to a boy with stalwart friends and the courage of his convictions. This is the second book in the nineteen-volume Tom Slade series.

156 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1917

About the author

Percy Keese Fitzhugh (1876-1950) was an American author. His first known work, The Goldenrod Story Book was published in 1906. The bulk of his work, having a Boy Scouting theme, revolves around the fictional town of Bridgeboro, New Jersey. Characters included Tom Slade, Pee-wee Harris, Roy Blakely, and Westy Martin. Fitzhugh's Scouting based books were very popular with children and adults. His characters became so real to his readers that it was not uncommon for Percy to receive fan mail addressed to the characters themselves. In the 1930's, he began writing the Hal Keen Mystery Series (10 titles) under the pseudonym Hugh Lloyd. They were followed by another mystery series - Skippy Dare - (3 titles). Neither of these series achieved the popularity of his Scout work.

Reviews

[Pop Bop · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tom Slade, A Hero For Our Time

This is the second book in the brilliant "Tom Slade" series, which ran to 19 books between 1915 and 1930, and ended up spinning off numerous series featuring other Boy Scout characters from Tom's Bridgeboro Troop, such as Pee-Wee Harris.

The first book in the series was actually a novelization of a 1915 silent movie titled "The Adventures of a Boy Scout". It seems the movie was produced, at least in part, by the Boy Scouts of America, (which had just been established in 1910), and it appears that the Scouts approached Fitzhugh to pen a Tom Slade series, in part because Fitzhugh had already written a few successful Boy's Own style adventure books.

Anyway, the first book is the weakest of the Tom Slade books because it had to follow the movie plot and feels like it was written before Fitzhugh got a handle on the Slade character. The next two books in the series are the most Scoutish; as Slade got older his stories drifted into World War I heroics and then post war adventures and mysteries. The spin-off books stayed focused on Scouting, and, indeed, Pee-Wee Harris appears in Boy's Life comics and features to this day.

This second Slade book may well be the best of the Scouting books. Be patient, it starts a bit slowly, with a bunch of mishegoss about a troop election to see who should head out to camp early to help set it up. Once that is out of the way and Tom and his pal Roy and goofy Pee Wee hit the trail, then the adventure really begins. There is some cracking action and nice plot twists. The book fairly neatly divides between the road trip to camp and then events at camp, so it's rather episodic, which breaks the book up well for a younger reader.

All of the Slade books are worthwhile. Tom Slade is not a magical, golden, super-Scout, (that's Roy Blakely). Slade grew up hard in the slums of Barrel Alley and always retained an odd combination of toughness, grit, determination, and humility. His good intentions and good deeds are often misunderstood, (a major recurring theme throughout the series), and he suffers a fair share of unjust hard knocks. Sometimes the stories feel like an unlikely combination of Horatio Alger striving and juvenile noir in which good intentions and bad breaks mingle, although justice does always win out in the end.

The books also include ripping adventure, realistic outdoor and camping scenes, and gentle, joshing humor. There are surprisingly insightful conversations and thoughtful dialogues. (A discussion of whether a good deed is a good deed if it also causes the deed-doer pleasure, is practically Socratic.) Interestingly, the girls who appear are smart, feisty, and vocally dismayed that they don't get to do the boy things that the Scouts enjoy. Not generally what you might expect from a book published in 1915, and the sort of aspect that elevates the Slade books above mere escapism.

So, whether you are looking for just a Kindle freebie/cheapie, or a Scouting book, or just a change of pace, this is an interesting find.