Tom Swift and His Flying Boat

Tom Swift Sr. #26

by Victor Appleton

Vintage children's book

Genres: Fiction, Science Fiction

212 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1923

About the author

Victor Appleton was a house pseudonym used by the Stratemeyer Syndicate and its successors, most famous for being associated with the Tom Swift series of books.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_...

The character of Tom Swift was conceived in 1910 by Edward Stratemeyer, founder of the Stratemeyer Syndicate, a book-packaging company. Stratemeyer invented the series to capitalize on the market for children's science adventure. The Syndicate's authors created the Tom Swift books by first preparing an outline with all the plot elements, followed by drafting and editing the detailed manuscript. The books were published under the house name of Victor Appleton. Edward Stratemeyer and Howard Garis wrote most of the volumes in the original series; Stratemeyer's daughter, Harriet Stratemeyer Adams, wrote the last three volumes. The first Tom Swift series ended in 1941.
In 1954, Harriet Adams created the Tom Swift, Jr., series, which was published under the name "Victor Appleton II". Most titles were outlined and plotted by Adams. The texts were written by various writers, among them William Dougherty, John Almquist, Richard Sklar, James Duncan Lawrence, Tom Mulvey and Richard McKenna. The Tom Swift, Jr., series ended in 1971.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Swift

Reviews

[Roy Owen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slow start, but finished as a good story that is 95 years old.....

[Rex Libris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tom creates a sea plane that he uses to rescue Mr. Damon and Mr. Nestor (his girlfriend Mary's father) from a glacier off of Greenland.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

After inventing vehicles that travel on the land, on the water, under the water, and in the air, it is not surprising that Tom Swift would invent a vehicle that could perform in three of those four modes of travel. His flying boat implies two modes by its name. It can also land on and take off from land.

The story begins with multiple threads that eventually come together. Tom wants to develop a flying boat, despite Barton Swift’s usual skepticism. Mr. Damon wants Tom to accompany him to Iceland where Mr. Damon expects to inherit a large sum of money from a man whom Mr. Damon helped in their youth. Mr. Nestor, Mary Nestor’s dad’s, is suffering from a mysterious illness, and is expecting an expert diagnostician to arrive from abroad. This foreign doctor declares that Mr. Nestor must go to a cold climate to be cured. So he, not Tom, travels with Mr. Damon to Iceland. Tom stays home and continues to invent his flying boat, which proves to be vitally important to Mr. Damon and Mr. Nestor later in the book.

As with other Tom Swift books, there are things that you need to simply accept, such as what disease is cured by exposure to a cold climate. The book does not specify. Also, there are technical aspects of the flying boat that are not fully explained. There are coincidences throughout the book, especially at the end. You can be assured of a happy ending. Also, at the end, Mary Nestor will express her happiness with Tom. The Tom Swift books follow a formula, beyond always having exactly 25 chapters.

Prior to this book, I read the first 25 Tom Swift books in digital format as converted by a group of volunteers. This time, I read a physical book that I believe was part of the first printing, almost 100 years ago. The pages were somewhat brittle, and the cover was coming off. I had to be very careful when reading. Of course, any Tom Swift book is worth careful handling.

Tom Swift and His Flying Boat is not one of the best Tom Swift books, but it is still pretty good.