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Woodcraft Boys at Sunset Island
An adventure story for boys, it was included in the Every Boys' Library, a collection of works deemed the most popular among boys. Set on an island off the coast of Maine, Woodcraft Boys at Sunset Island is an account of several school-age children and their parents as they explore nature and learn survival skills. They go on adventures, encounter thieves, find a pig on a raft, and through it all, learn the value of self-reliance. (JayKitty76)
6 pages, Audiobook
First published January 1, 1919
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 4, 2026
I wanted to like this; the general genre of kids exploring the world appeals to me (how’s that for a wild over-generalization?), but I couldn’t really be drawn into this.
Partly it’s a class issue. Carefree summers on the water in Maine with your family and friends and abundant boating and a live-in cook isn’t something I can conceive of outside books. The cook seems to me to be written as quite the stereotype, though I do remember at least one exception, where he pretends to be frightened of the boys but in reality is doubled up not in terror but in laughter. Rich kids poking fun at their families’ employees is rarely as funny to me as the authors seem to intend. They do seem to have some genuine affection for him, but they don’t really seem to see him as a fully realized person. Then again, they don’t really seem to see their mothers as fully realized people either, so if you wish to think I am being too harsh on them, you may do so.
The Woodcraft Boys thing seems to be a sort of scouting organization, with troupes and merit badges awarded for accomplishments. The accomplishments are themselves interesting, like ‘know one tree for each year of your age’, or fish, or constellation, but the structure of the organization drawing tropes from native cultures (or more accurately, white views of those native cultures) is, to modern eyes, pretty racist, though it was clearly intended to be a tribute rather than a condemnation. I found it more distracting and distressing than edifying, though your mileage may vary.
There were certainly things in the book that didn’t rub roughly against modern sensibilities, but enough did to be very distressing.
Not all of these distressing things had any inflections of gender or race. Conservation as depicted here was really not viewed in at all similar ways; one boy collects a bounty for a harbor seal he has killed, for which the rationale is that the seals are consuming the fish, not leaving enough for the fishermen, and should therefore be eradicated.
The pig, however, was undeniably delightful.
I won’t personally be recommending this to anyone, but I did finish it.
Partly it’s a class issue. Carefree summers on the water in Maine with your family and friends and abundant boating and a live-in cook isn’t something I can conceive of outside books. The cook seems to me to be written as quite the stereotype, though I do remember at least one exception, where he pretends to be frightened of the boys but in reality is doubled up not in terror but in laughter. Rich kids poking fun at their families’ employees is rarely as funny to me as the authors seem to intend. They do seem to have some genuine affection for him, but they don’t really seem to see him as a fully realized person. Then again, they don’t really seem to see their mothers as fully realized people either, so if you wish to think I am being too harsh on them, you may do so.
The Woodcraft Boys thing seems to be a sort of scouting organization, with troupes and merit badges awarded for accomplishments. The accomplishments are themselves interesting, like ‘know one tree for each year of your age’, or fish, or constellation, but the structure of the organization drawing tropes from native cultures (or more accurately, white views of those native cultures) is, to modern eyes, pretty racist, though it was clearly intended to be a tribute rather than a condemnation. I found it more distracting and distressing than edifying, though your mileage may vary.
There were certainly things in the book that didn’t rub roughly against modern sensibilities, but enough did to be very distressing.
Not all of these distressing things had any inflections of gender or race. Conservation as depicted here was really not viewed in at all similar ways; one boy collects a bounty for a harbor seal he has killed, for which the rationale is that the seals are consuming the fish, not leaving enough for the fishermen, and should therefore be eradicated.
The pig, however, was undeniably delightful.
I won’t personally be recommending this to anyone, but I did finish it.
Did Not Finish
January 24, 2019Dnf. Some of the Librivox narrators weren’t to my taste
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews