The Rover Boys Series for Young Americans was a popular children's book series of the early 20th century credited to "Arthur M. Winfield", a pseudonym

Pseudonym

A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...

 for Edward Stratemeyer

Edward Stratemeyer

Edward Stratemeyer was an American publisher and writer of books for children.He is one of the most prolific writers in the world, producing in excess of 1300 books himself, selling in excess of 500 million copies, and created the well-known fictional book series for juveniles including The Rover...

. A total of 30 titles were published between 1899 and 1926 and the books remained in print for years forward.

The original Rover Boys were brothers Tom, Sam, and Dick Rover. Their children (Fred, son of Sam Rover; Jack, son of Dick; Andy and Randy, twin sons of Tom) took over in the "Second Series" which began with Volume 21 The Rover Boys at Colby Hall, published in 1917. The elder Rovers continued making appearances in the second series.

In addition, there was a related Putnam Hall series of six books that featured other characters from the first Rovers series although the Rovers themselves do not appear.

The Rovers were students at a military

Military

A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...

 boarding school

Boarding school

A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...

: adventurous, prank-playing, flirtatious, and often unchaperoned adolescents who were constantly getting into mischief and running afoul of authority figures as well as criminals.

The series often incorporated emerging technology of the era, such as the automobile

Automobile

An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...

, airplanes (The Rover Boys in the Air) and news events, such as World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

.

Like other juvenile fiction of the era, the books often utilized exaggerated ethnic stereotype

Ethnic stereotype

An ethnic stereotype is a generalized representation of an ethnic group, composed of what are thought to be typical characteristics of members of the group.Ethnic stereotypes are commonly portrayed in ethnic jokes.-Ethnic stereotypes:*African Americans...

s and dialect

Dialect

The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...

 humor. Blacks

African American

African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

, Germans

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, Italians, Chinese, and Irishmen were often portrayed in unflattering tones, though the books also had many heroic characters of these nationalities as well.

The legacy of the Rover Boys

• While often overshadowed by better-known and longer-running children's book series such as The Hardy Boys
  The Hardy Boys
  The Hardy Boys, Frank and Joe Hardy, are fictional teenage brothers and amateur detectives who appear in various mystery series for children and teens....
  
  , Nancy Drew
  Nancy Drew
  Nancy Drew is a fictional young amateur detective in various mystery series for all ages. She was created by Edward Stratemeyer, founder of the Stratemeyer Syndicate book packaging firm. The character first appeared in 1930. The books have been ghostwritten by a number of authors and are published...
  
  , and Tom Swift
  Tom Swift
  Tom Swift is the name of the central character in five series of books, first appearing in 1910, totaling over 100 volumes, of American juvenile science fiction and adventure novels that emphasize science, invention and technology. The character was created by Edward Stratemeyer, the founder of...
  
  , the Rovers were highly successful and enormously influential. They established the template for all later Stratemeyer Syndicate
  Stratemeyer Syndicate
  The Stratemeyer Syndicate was the producer of a number of mystery series for children, including Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, the various Tom Swift series, the Bobbsey Twins, the Rover Boys, and others.- History :...
  
   juvenile series to follow.

• It was Stratemeyer's first series, and one of his favorites. Stratemeyer did all of the writing himself, rather than hiring ghostwriter
  Ghostwriter
  A ghostwriter is a professional writer who is paid to write books, articles, stories, reports, or other texts that are officially credited to another person. Celebrities, executives, and political leaders often hire ghostwriters to draft or edit autobiographies, magazine articles, or other written...
  
  s.

• The Rover Boys were parodied in a 1942 Warner Brothers cartoon
  Cartoon
  A cartoon is a form of two-dimensional illustrated visual art. While the specific definition has changed over time, modern usage refers to a typically non-realistic or semi-realistic drawing or painting intended for satire, caricature, or humor, or to the artistic style of such works...
  
   as The Dover Boys
  The Dover Boys
  "The Dover Boys at Pimento University" or "The Rivals of Roquefort Hall" is a 1942 Merrie Melodies cartoon produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions and directed by Chuck Jones. It was released by Warner Bros. on September 19, 1942...
  
  . The characters from this Rovers parody would go on to appear in an Animaniacs
  Animaniacs
  Steven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs, usually referred to as simply Animaniacs, is an American animated series, distributed by Warner Bros. Television and produced by Amblin Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation. The cartoon was the second animated series produced by the collaboration of Steven...
  
  cartoon in the 1990s and in the 1996 film Space Jam
  Space Jam
  Aside from Jordan, a number of NBA players and coaches appeared in the film. Larry Bird portrays a friend of Jordan who joins him for a game of golf. When the Monstars steal the NBA players' talent, they invade a game between the Phoenix Suns and the New York Knicks, causing the Knicks' Patrick...
  
  .

• In the 1950s a vocal group named after the Rover Boys had a Top 20 hit single with the school-themed "Graduation Day".

• Over a million Rover Boys books were sold and the titles remained in print by Grosset & Dunlap and later Whitman for years after the final title was published. The most commonly encountered are the green and brown cover editions published by Grosset & Dunlap
  Grosset & Dunlap
  Grosset & Dunlap is a United States book publisher founded in 1898.The company was purchased by G. P. Putnam's Sons in 1982 and today is part of the British publishing conglomerate, Pearson PLC through its American subsidiary Penguin Group....
  
   in the 1910s & 1920s.

• Three-quarters of a century after embarking on their final adventures, yellowed copies of the Rover Boys books can still be found in American thrift shops and flea market
  Flea market
  A flea market or swap meet is a type of bazaar where inexpensive or secondhand goods are sold or bartered. It may be indoors, such as in a warehouse or school gymnasium; or it may be outdoors, such as in a field or under a tent...
  
  s to this day.

List Of Titles

1. The Rover Boys At School, or, The Cadets of Putnam Hall - 1899
2. The Rover Boys On The Ocean, or, A Chase for a Fortune - 1899
3. The Rover Boys In the Jungle, or, Stirring Adventures in Africa - 1899
4. The Rover Boys Out West, or, The Search for a Lost Mine - 1900
5. The Rover Boys On the Great Lakes, or, The Secret of the Island Cave - 1901
6. The Rover Boys In the Mountains, or, A Hunt for Fun and Fortune- 1902
7. The Rover Boys On Land and Sea, or, The Crusoes of Seven Islands - 1903
8. The Rover Boys In Camp, or, The Rivals of Pine Island - 1904
9. The Rover Boys On the River, or, The Search for the Missing Houseboat - 1905
10. The Rover Boys On the Plains, or, The Mystery of Red Rock Ranch - 1906
11. The Rover Boys In Southern Waters, or, The Deserted Steam Yacht - 1907
12. The Rover Boys On the Farm, or, Last Days at Putnam Hall - 1908
13. The Rover Boys On Treasure Isle, or, The Strange Cruise of the Steam Yacht - 1909
14. The Rover Boys At College, or, The Right Roads and the Wrong - 1910
15. The Rover Boys Down East, or, The Struggle for the Stanhope Fortune - 1911
16. The Rover Boys In the Air, or, From College Campus to the Clouds - 1912
17. The Rover Boys In New York, or, Saving their Father's Honor - 1913
18. The Rover Boys In Alaska, or, Lost in the Fields of Ice - 1914
19. The Rover Boys In Business, or, The Case of the Missing Bonds - 1915
20. The Rover Boys On a Tour, or, Last Days at Brill College - 1916

The Second Rover Boys Series

21. The Rover Boys At Colby Hall, or, The Struggles of the Young Cadets - 1917
22. The Rover Boys On Snowshoe Island, or, The Old Lumberman's Treasure Box - 1918
23. The Rover Boys Under Canvas, or, The Mystery of the Wrecked Submarine - 1919
24. The Rover Boys On a Hunt, or, The Mysterious House in the Woods - 1920
25. The Rover Boys In the Land of Luck, or, Stirring Adventures in the Oil Fields - 1921
26. The Rover Boys At Big Horn Ranch, or, The Cowboys' Big Roundup - 1922
27. The Rover Boys At Big Bear Lake, or, The Camps of the Rival Cadets - 1923
28. The Rover Boys Shipwrecked, or, A Thrilling Hunt for Pirates Gold - 1924
29. The Rover Boys On Sunset Trail, or, The Old Miner's Mysterious Message - 1925
30. The Rover Boys Winning a Fortune, or, Strenuous Days Ashore and Afloat - 1926

Some of these books are available for download free at Project Gutenberg

Project Gutenberg

Project Gutenberg is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks". Founded in 1971 by Michael S. Hart, it is the oldest digital library. Most of the items in its collection are the full texts of public domain books...

.

Main characters

• First Series

Dick, Tom and Sam Rover *

Anderson, Randolf and Martha Rover *

Lucy Stanhope

Mary and John Laning

Captain Victor Putnam

Martin Harris

Jack Wumble

Jake Shaggam

Ike Furner

Minnie Sanderson *

Dora Stanhope *

Nellie and Grace Laning *

Barton Pelter

Hans Mueller *

Frank Harrington

Fred Garrison *

Larry Colby *

Harry Blossom

Bart Conners

George Granbury

William "Tubby" Philander Tubbs

John "Songbird" Powell *

Will "Spud" Jackson

Stanley Browne

Bob Grimes

Buddy Girk

Arnold Baxter

Andy Jimson

Dan Baxter

John "Mumps" Fenwick

Josiah Crabtree *

Jasper Grinder

Bill Goss

Jim Caven

Jack Ness *

Alexander Pop *

Lew Flapp

Sack Todd

Gasper Pold

Solly Jackson

Tad Sobber

Sid Merrick

Jerry Koswell

Bart Larkspur

Dudd Flockley

Jesse Pelter

* In the second series

• Second Series

Jack and Martha Rover

Andy and Randy Rover

Mary and Fred Rover

May Powell

Ruth Stevenson

Annie Larkins

Alice Strobell

Colonel Laurence Colby

Barney Stevenson

Fred Stevenson

Giford Garrison

Dick "Spouter" Powell

Dan Soppinger

Will "Fatty" Hendry

Walt Baxter

Ned Lowe

Asa Lemm

Nappy Martell

Slogwell "Slugger" Brown, Jr.

Slogwell Brown

Henry "Codfish" Stowell

Bill Glutts

Gabe Werner

Tommy Flanders

Snopper Duke

Jed Wallop

Carson Davenport

Joe Sedley

Nat Durgin

Antonino "Lefty" Ditini

"Black" Ronumbo

Nelson Martell

Ken Greene