Bomba, the Jungle Boy

Bomba the Jungle Boy #1

by Roy Rockwood

Separated from his parents since childhood, a young boy, who has been brought up in the jungle by an old naturalist, begins the long search for his true identity.

Genres: Fiction, Adventure, Childrens

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1926

About the author

Roy Rockwood was a house pseudonym used by the Stratemeyer Syndicate for boy's adventure books. The name is most well-remembered for the Bomba the Jungle Boy and Great Marvel series.

Reviews

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25 stars

[Craig · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bomba the Jungle Boy was the first volume of a series of twenty books produced by the Stratemeyer Syndicate and published by Cupples & Leon from 1926-1938. They were written by John W. Duffield under the house pseudonym of Roy Rockwood. It's one of the most successful series that Cupples & Leon published, and spawned a dozen films. I didn't think this first one was very well written or very well researched the first time I read it (I was eight), and, having flipped through it a few times over the years, never changed my opinion. It's a juvenile and blatant rip-off of Burroughs' Tarzan, though the first ten books were supposedly set in South America before the rest of the series moved to Africa. I didn't like the characterizations, of the humans or the animals, and neither the plot nor setting was convincing. It's also quite possibly the most racist book I ever picked up. I suggest skipping Bomba altogether and jumping right into the adventures of Lord Greystoke.

[Feliks · Rating 4 out of 5]

You might not believe it considering where this series of tales came from--the Strathmeyer Syndicate--but this is one of the all-time greatest action and adventure sagas, ever.

Sure, its modeled on Edgar Rice Burroughs' 'Tarzan'. But frankly, 'Bomba' reads better. 'Tarzan' is always battling white poachers, hunters, plunderers, and "encroachment on his jungle". All the jungle animals are 'his' friends. He is 'lord' of the jungle and 'talks to the animals'. And they listen to him. He has 'Jane' and 'Boy' and 'Cheetah' for companions; and the local tribes all respect him. Bogus nonsense.

'Bomba'--on the other hand--is constantly battling his jungle surroundings. The jungle is constantly trying to kill him. So are all the neighboring tribes. He's desperate, he's alone; and he wants out. He is trapped here, and he knows its not right; this barbaric existence he leads, is not his destiny.

Where does he belong? Where are his people? How does he get back to a normal life? Its just much more gripping and engaging. And really, (compared to Africa) the South American jungle, makes the Serengetti veldt look like a nursery. Everything in Brazil (or wherever Bomba is), looms up very hostile and aggressive and unexpected at every turn. Its claustrophobic, hemmed-in, oppressive, and hazardous. You can't touch a leaf without getting a sliced thumb. Death behind every branch and frond.

Bomba isn't 'lord' here--he has to fight for every breath! Sure, he's got a got a couple friendly animals..two parrots, two moneys occasionally drop by. And he's got a puma who 'has his back'--but only because he nursed the big cat from an injury. But most of the time, Bomba has to fend for himself with no help from anyone.

And he has to survive the gosh-darn most hair-raising challenges ever. You've never imagined such predicaments--volcanoes, caves, mudslides, floods, fires, native uprisings. The Roy Rockwood writers just went zany with the things they dreamed up. Buried cities, snakes everywhere, savage warrior cults..its great!

I think every young boy should read these books no matter what decade it is. They will make men out of them! These 'Bomba' titles instill a sense of self-sufficiency and resourcefulness. These Stratemeyer books are vivid and spellbinding page-turners and they remind us of the awesome wildness of nature, and where we ultimately fit in the world.

Meanwhile, what is dismaying and absurd to me are the misguided mamby-pambys of today who style these books 'racist'. Forget these shrill rabble-rousers. Pay these milksops no attention. I mean, geez, if you "can't handle" a simple, unapologetic action romp like the 'Bomba' series... then get thee to thy therapist. Don't complain to me because you can't handle Roy Rockwood.

Whiners, hand-wringers, and other weaklings...feel free to dab-at-the-corner-of-your-eyes-with-your-hankies, sigh, shuffle off to the parlour, shaking your head. Get on with ye. Fine. Read some E. Annie Proulix instead, if that's your thing. Leave us alone.

[April · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finding the Bomba books listed here on Goodreads has brought back a flood of great memories from my childhood. The books from the series that I own are copyrighted in the early 1950's and come with stories from my father about how he would work all week doing odd jobs to save up a dime or a quarter so that he could buy one of the books as his reward at the end of the week. I read them in the 1970's and loved them and have since passed them to my own children who loved them in the 1990's. I have one child left to pass them to...let's see if they still pass the test of time with kids in the 2010's!

[Laura L. Van Dam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Favoritos de la infancia, heredados de mi padre, en la casa de mi abuela estaba la colección completa.

[Mariano Solores · Rating 3 out of 5]

Primero fue El Príncipe Valiente, luego Juan Salvador Gaviota, y tercero llegó Bomba, el niño de la selva.
No es el comienzo de un Génesis medio particular, sino la lista precisa de las primeras primeras novelas que acompañaron mi infancia. Luego vendrían muchos libros más, pero ahí los recuerdos empiezan a mezclarse, y ya no sabría decir cuales fueron el cuarto, ni el quinto, ni el sexto... O, mejor dicho, el sexto, séptimo y octavo, ya que, aunque las recuerde como un solo libro, las novelas de Bomba que leí fueron tres de las casi veinte publicadas (a esta primera lectura siguieron Bomba en la Montaña Movediza y Bomba en la Catarata Gigante).
Aunque nunca los releí, he hojeado aleatoriamente sus páginas alguna vez.
Son libros a los que guardo un cariño muy particular, por el contexto en que fueron leídos. No obstante, eso no me impide ver objetivamente sus defectos, que son unos cuantos.
El más obvio: es una burda copia de Tarzán. Cambiando un poco el contexto (la selva sudamericana por la de Africa) y la edad del protagonista, Bomba es demasiado igual a la creación de Burroughs. Aunque no lo investigué, no me extrañaría que haya habido algún conflicto legal entre ambos autores.
En segundo lugar, es un libro repleto de racismo. Básicamente, Bomba es blanco y eso lo convierte en alguien superior a los demás habitantes de la jungla. Más fuerte, más astuto, y hasta moralmente más elevado.
Desde el punto de vista narrativo, tampoco hay demasiado por destacar: tramas repetitivas (existe, por ejemplo, un puma al que Bomba crió de cachorro, y que mágicamente aparece para salvarlo cada vez que alguna fiera salvaje lo quiere atacar) y un abuso de los deux ex machina (como el del puma) para sacar adelante las historias.
Con todo eso, no puedo ponerle menos de tres estrellas. Acepto que son más por lo que el libro representa para mi que por lo que es en realidad, pero qué le vamos a hacer. La nostalgia pesa.

[Jane · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bellowing snakes! Jaguars! Pumas! Vultures, Vampire Bats! Pirhanas! Fire! FIre! I could go on, but I'm laughing too hard. Bomba tackles all these, plus a pack of head hunters. Of course he prevails - why, you may ask? because he is A WHITE MAN! No kidding, that is the final sentence in the book and the repeated leitmotif of this outrageous paean to racism.
Two things that you boys who enjoyed this Stratemayer Syndicate answer to the Tarzan stories should consider: one, it's a Ku Klux Klansman's wet dream of a trashy adventure novel; and two, the vocabulary seems lifted straight out of a cheesy pulp romance novel. I'm not making this up. Bomba shudders, tingles thrills, aches, swells, gasps and convulses his way through twenty books, and the last one is aptly entitled "Bomba the Jungle Boy in the Steaming Grotto." I think that's the leather bar on Van Dam Street, but I could be wrong.

[Cynthia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved these books when I was young and was delighted to find this one. I enjoyed it although the five star review is probably at least 2 parts nostalgia. I like the way the author always ended his chapters with an exclamation point. Examples: "A giant snake dropped down and seized Bomba in its coils!" "Behind him he could see the deadly cayman getting closer!" "The natives had him surrounded!" I went back to check and every single chapter ends with a similar cliff hanging sentence except for the last one. It is unfortunate that Mr. Rockwood knew not a lot about animals - his anacondas, for example, not only crush their prey to a shapeless pulp their eyes gleam with wicked malice and joy in the suffering of their victim while they do it!

[Michael P. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though written with good craftsmanship, the basic pleasure of this so-old-it-creaks story is a satisfied curiosity. The juvenile adventures of an orphan raised by a naturalist in the Amazonian jungle is marred by racist comments, is written in clichés, and lacks an interesting style, but moves fast, has some thrills, and is an interesting contrast to the Bomba films I somehow enjoyed as a child. This is not a good book, but it has some merit and gave me a sense of what this old series is like.

[Kenneth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Subtitled "The Old Naturalist's Secret", this is the first of 20 books in the Bomba series, of a boy who is lost in the South American jungles, and has rather hair-raising adventures trying to survive. Roy Rockwood, the author, was a house pseudonym used by the Stratemeyer Syndicate for boy's adventure books, many of the Bomba books being ghostwritten by John William Duffield (1859 - 1946).

[Anna · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was terrified of the "Bomba" series when I was a kid, but read them all ... or as many as there was (leftovers from my dad's childhood). I read them in Danish and am not sure of the titles in English, so I'll just list one.

[Marilyn Hartl · Rating 4 out of 5]

While all the other little girls were reading stories about Nancy Drew, I was reading Bomba, the Jungle Boy. There must have been dozens of books in the series, and I read them all.

[George King · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read several of these when I was 8 or 9--exciting reading for a young boy.

[Chuck Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

These books were written by any number of people under the name of Roy Rockwood.

[Fernando Esquivel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Comienzo de la serie

[Edwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solidly written juvenile adventure. Plenty of fast paced action. Mildly racist, although not enough to dissuade me from recommending to younger readers.

[Ranette · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun book for the whole family about a boy left in the jungle and raised by animals.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved it as a child so I finally got back to it at age 68. Loved it then loved it now. A great read for a young lad but maybe not too politically correct in the 21st century.

[Doug Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the first novel I read at the age of 8, aong time ago.

[Rosemary · Rating 2 out of 5]

Before getting to the actual story, let’s talk about the elephant in the room: this book and series are not the kindest in regards to race. There is a huge focus on the protagonist’s whiteness setting him above the native “savages” and his search for answers on who he is gives him fuel to reinforce his white “superiority”.

Looking past that, the book is an odd mix. On one hand, there is a LOT of action to keep younger interest, building to exciting set-pieces and a bombastic finish. There is a mystery that weaves itself into the overarching series and sets up sequels. But there is almost too much action to really hold the tension.

If you’re on a rollercoaster and you are only doing plunge after plunge, it gets monotonous. Without moments to breathe, the excitement gets tedious. In 3/4 or more of the book, it felt like this:
1. Chapter starts with impossible situation to get out of
2. Three pages later character survived easily, usually through luck and then secondarily through skill
3. Pondering on white people’s mystical betterness
4. Another surprising danger!!!!!

It did not build to a grand narrative heightening of stakes when its all life-threatening, making it just repeated action. There is a good build in the end though.

[Karolyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read the series as a teenager and really enjoyed it. Fast paced, adventurous, easy read for young readers.