I can relate to this sentiment; not that I can recall having
difficulty learning to read (the mechanics of it), only that books didn’t grab
my attention for many, many years. There
seemed to be so little written of interest to young boys. I distinctly recall Ken Platt’s The
Boy Who Could Make Himself Disappear (1971, Laurel Leaf). That was the first truly great novel that I
read. I followed that with some Danny
Orlis (Bernard Palmer) adventures which I received through a church pastor and
his son (a large, 50+ book series published from the late 50’s through the
early 70’s by Moody Books, Back to the Bible, and Tyndale). From there I ventured into the worlds of
Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan (~25, from 1912-1965), the Mucker
(3, from 1914-1917), and John Carter’s adventures on red planet, Barsoom (11
books, from 1912 to 1964).
Those were some glory days in my early education. Of course, my reading was somewhat limited by
the fact that I felt the need to grab my knife, bag, rope, compass, flashlight,
canteen, stick, lunch and my dog, a Great Dane by the name of Bear, and run off
into the hills and mountains to find my own adventures. Reading wasn’t sufficient by itself. The adventure series sure stimulated my
spirit for both adventure and seeking God.
Both excellent outcomes in my view.
If my Jake Sloan Adventures captured the hearts of youth and young
adults reading them in that same way I would be ecstatic (and extremely grateful
for God’s blessing on the project).
