The Rover Boys, or The Rover Boys Series for Young Americans, was a popular

juvenile series Juvenile may refer to: *Juvenile status, or minor (law), prior to adulthood * Juvenile (organism) *Juvenile (rapper) (born 1975), American rapper * ''Juvenile'' (2000 film), Japanese film * ''Juvenile'' (2017 film) *Juvenile (greyhounds), a greyh ...

written by Arthur M. Winfield, a

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

for

Edward Stratemeyer Edward L. Stratemeyer (; October 4, 1862 – May 10, 1930) was an American publisher, writer of children's fiction, and founder of the Stratemeyer Syndicate. He was one of the most prolific writers in the world, producing in excess of 1,300 ...

. Thirty titles were published between 1899 and 1926 and the books remained in print for years afterward. The original Rover Boys were brothers Tom, Sam, and Dick Rover, the sons of wealthy widower Anderson Rover, who entrusted his brother and sister-in-law, Randolph and Martha, with the rearing of the boys. As the series progressed the brothers became smitten with Dora Stanhope and Nellie and Grace Laning, the daughter and nieces of a wealthy widow.Ackworth, William, ''Horse and Buggy Stuff'', The Iola Register (Iola, Kansas), October 13, 1947, page 4 The Rover boys' children (Fred, son of Sam Rover; Jack, son of Dick; Andy and Randy, twin sons of Tom) became the main characters of the "second series" that began with Volume 21, ''The Rover Boys at Colby Hall'', published in 1917. The elder Rovers continued making appearances in the second series. Additionally, 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 A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...

: adventurous, prank-playing, flirtatious, and often unchaperoned adolescents who were frequently causing mischief for authorities, as well as for criminals. The series often incorporated modern technology of the era, such as the

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with Wheel, wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, pe ...

, airplanes (''The Rover Boys in the Air'') and news events, such as World War I. The earliest volumes focused on the boys' travel adventures, but later stories were filled with mystery and suspense.Axe, John, ''All About Collecting Boys’ Series Books'', pages 18-20, Hobby House Press, Inc., 2002

Publishers

From 1899 to 1906 The Mershon Co. published volumes 1 through 11; from 1906 to 1907 Chatterton-Peck Co. published volumes 1 through 11. Starting in 1907

Grosset & Dunlap Grosset & Dunlap is a New York City-based publishing house founded in 1898. The company was purchased by G. P. Putnam's Sons in 1982 and today is part of Penguin Random House through its subsidiary Penguin Group. Today, through the Penguin Gro ...

began publishing the Rover Boys, eventually printing all 30 volumes. They published the series through at least the 1930s. Starting in the 1940s

Whitman Publishing Whitman Publishing is an American book publishing company which started as a subsidiary of the Western Printing & Lithographing Company of Racine, Wisconsin. In about 1915, Western began printing and binding a line of juvenile books for the Hammi ...

reprinted volumes 1, 2, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13 and 14.

Legacy

More than a million Rover Boys books were sold, and the titles remained in print by

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 during the 1910s and 1920s. While there are better-known and longer-running juvenile series such as

The Hardy Boys The Hardy Boys, brothers Frank and Joe Hardy, are fictional characters who appear in several mystery series for children and teens. The series revolves around teenagers who are amateur sleuths, solving cases that stumped their adult counterpa ...

Nancy Drew Nancy Drew is a Fictional character, fictional character appearing in several Mystery fiction, mystery book series, movies, and a TV show as a teenage amateur sleuth. The books are ghostwriter, ghostwritten by a number of authors and published ...

, and

Tom Swift Tom Swift is the main character of six series of American juvenile science fiction and adventure novels that emphasize science, invention, and technology. First published in 1910, the series totals more than 100 volumes. The character was ...

, the Rovers were very successful and influential. They established the template for all later

Stratemeyer Syndicate The Stratemeyer Syndicate was a publishing company that produced a number of mystery book series for children, including Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, the various Tom Swift series, the Bobbsey Twins, the Rover Boys, and others. They published and ...

series. It was Stratemeyer's first series, and one of his favorites. Stratemeyer did all of the writing himself, rather than hiring

ghostwriter A ghostwriter is hired to write literary or journalistic works, speeches, or other texts that are officially credited to another person as the author. Celebrities, executives, participants in timely news stories, and political leaders often h ...

s. * The Rover Boys were parodied in a 1942

Warner Brothers Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American Film studio, film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, Califo ...

Merrie Melodies ''Merrie Melodies'' is an American animation, animated series of comedy short films produced by Warner Bros. starting in 1931, during the golden age of American animation, and ending in 1969. Then some new cartoons were produced from the late 197 ...

cartoon A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved over time, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of images ...

as ''

The Dover Boys ''The Dover Boys at Pimento University; or, The Rivals of Roquefort Hall'' (also known as ''The Dover Boys'') is a 1942 Warner Bros. ''Merrie Melodies'' cartoon directed by Chuck Jones. The short was released on September 19, 1942. The cartoon is ...

'', subtitled "The Rivals of Roquefort Hall" (as opposed to Colby, both terms being cheeses). The cartoon was directed by

Chuck Jones Charles Martin Jones (September 21, 1912 – February 22, 2002) was an American animator, director, and painter, best known for his work with Warner Bros. Cartoons on the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of shorts. He wrote, produ ...

. The characters from this Rovers parody would later appear in two episodes of ''

Animaniacs ''Animaniacs'' is an American animated comedy musical television series created by Tom Ruegger for Fox Broadcasting Company's Fox Kids block in 1993, before moving to The WB in 1995, as part of its Kids' WB afternoon programming block, unti ...

'' (''Frontier Slappy'' and ''Magic Time'') and its 1999 series finale ''

Wakko's Wish ''Wakko's Wish'' (originally titled as ''Wakko's Wakko Wish'') is a 1999 American animated musical comedy-adventure fantasy film based on the 1993–98 animated series ''Animaniacs'', serving as the series finale until the announcement of the ...

'', as well as the 1996 movie ''

Space Jam ''Space Jam'' is a 1996 American live-action/animated sports comedy film directed by Joe Pytka, with animation sequences directed by Bruce W. Smith and Tony Cervone, and written by Leo Benvenuti, Steve Rudnick, Timothy Harris, and Herschel We ...

''. *In the 1951 detective novel

The Way Some People Die ''The Way Some People Die'' is a detective mystery published, under the author's then pseudonym of John Ross Macdonald, by Alfred A. Knopf in 1951. It is Ross Macdonald's third book to feature his private eye Lew Archer. The plot centres on the ac ...

Ross MacDonald Ross Macdonald was the main pseudonym used by the American-Canadian writer of crime fiction Kenneth Millar (; December 13, 1915 – July 11, 1983). He is best known for his series of hardboiled novels set in Southern California and featur ...

, a police lieutenant accuses protagonist

Lew Archer Lew Archer is a fictional character created by American-Canadian writer Ross Macdonald. Archer is a private detective working in Southern California. Between the late 1940s and the early '70s, the character appeared in 18 novels and a handful of ...

of running “a murder investigation as a one-man show.” He mocks Archer by asking if he has been “ ading ''The Rover Boys at Hollywood and Vine.''” * In the 1952 movie ''

Macao Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...

'' starring Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell, the Mitchum character, Nick Cochran asks “are the Rover Boys still here” referring to 2 thugs sent to find him. * The 18th episode of the first season (1953) of ''

The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet ''The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet'' is an American television sitcom that aired on ABC from October 3, 1952, to April 23, 1966, and starred the real-life Nelson family. After a long run on radio, the show was brought to television, where it ...

'' is titled "Rover Boys" and features a narrative driven by a disagreement between Ozzie and his neighbor Thorny concerning the plot of a Rover Boys story. * In the 1955 MGM musical ''

It's Always Fair Weather ''It's Always Fair Weather'' is a 1955 MGM musical satire scripted by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, who also wrote the show's lyrics, with music by André Previn and starring Gene Kelly, Dan Dailey, Cyd Charisse, Dolores Gray, and dancer/choreog ...

'', there are two references to The Rover Boys. The first is in the beginning of the movie when a bartender exclaims, "Well if it isn't the Rover Boys" as the three main characters walk into his bar. The second is toward the end of the movie. While trying to evade thugs, the character named Ted borrows a jacket which has "The Rover Boys" embroidered on the back. * In 1956 a Canadian

vocal group A vocal group is a performing ensemble of vocalists who sing and harmonize together. The first well-known vocals groups emerged in the 19th century, and the style had reached widespread popularity by the 1940s. Types Vocal groups can come in se ...

named after the Rover Boys had a Top 20 single with the school-themed " Graduation Day". * The names Tom, Sam, and Dick Rover are mentioned by Scout in Harper Lee's 1960 novel ''

To Kill a Mockingbird ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' is a novel by the American author Harper Lee. It was published in 1960 and was instantly successful. In the United States, it is widely read in high schools and middle schools. ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' has become ...

'' in reference to a game of pretend in which Dill, Jem, and Scout all had good parts. * In a 1965 episode of ''

I Spy I spy is a guessing game where one player (the ''spy'' or ''it'') chooses an object within sight and announces to the other players that "I spy with my little eye something beginning with...", naming the first letter of the object. Other players a ...

'' called "Carry Me Back To Old Tsing-Tao", Scotty referred to the three money-hungry sons-in-law of an aged Chinese criminal mastermind as "The Rover Boys" by saying, "...Now can the Rover Boys be far behind?" * The Rover Boys books were mentioned in the 1966

supernatural Supernatural refers to phenomena or entities that are beyond the laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin (above, beyond, or outside of) + (nature) Though the corollary term "nature", has had multiple meanings si ...

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

Dark Shadows ''Dark Shadows'' is an American gothic soap opera that aired weekdays on the ABC television network, from June 27, 1966, to April 2, 1971. The show depicted the lives, loves, trials, and tribulations of the wealthy Collins family of Collinsport ...

'' (episode 38) where the governess

Victoria Winters Victoria "Vicki" Winters is a fictional character from the television Gothic soap opera ''Dark Shadows'' and its remakes of the same name. The role was originated by Alexandra Moltke on the ABC series from 1966 to 1968. After Moltke left to ra ...

was searching for the books in the basement of the old mansion for her charge

David Collins David Collins may refer to: Persons * David Collins (Hampshire cricketer), 18th-century cricketer * David Collins (New Zealand cricketer) (1887–1967) * David Collins (Scottish footballer) (1912–?) * David Collins (Australian footballer) ( ...

. * In the eighth season of ''

The Andy Griffith Show ''The Andy Griffith Show '' is an American situation comedy television series that aired on CBS from October 3, 1960, to April 1, 1968, with a total of 249 half-hour episodes spanning eight seasons—159 in black and white and 90 in color. The ...

'', in a 1967 episode titled "The Tape Recorder," the bank robber character Eddie Blake complains that his luck was he had to run into the "Rover Boys" when Opie and Arnold ask him to confess his crime because they secretly recorded him in his cell revealing the location of the stolen money.

Titles

:# '' The Rover Boys at School'', or, The Cadets of Putnam Hall - 1899 :# '' The Rover Boys on the Ocean'', or, A Chase for a Fortune - 1899 :# ''The Rover Boys in the Jungle, or, Stirring Adventures in Africa'' - 1899 :# '' The Rover Boys Out West, or, The Search for a Lost Mine'' - 1900 :# '' The Rover Boys on the Great Lakes, or, The Secret of the Island Cave'' - 1901 :# The Rover Boys in the Mountains, or, A Hunt for Fun and Fortune- 1902 :# The Rover Boys on Land and Sea, or, The Crusoes of Seven Islands - 1903 :# The Rover Boys in Camp, or, The Rivals of Pine Island - 1904 :# The Rover Boys on the River, or, The Search for the Missing Houseboat - 1905 :# The Rover Boys on the Plains, or, The Mystery of Red Rock Ranch - 1906 :# The Rover Boys in Southern Waters, or, The Deserted Steam Yacht - 1907 :# The Rover Boys on the Farm, or, Last Days at Putnam Hall - 1908 :# The Rover Boys on Treasure Isle, or, The Strange Cruise of the Steam Yacht - 1909 :# The Rover Boys at College, or, The Right Roads and the Wrong - 1910 :# The Rover Boys Down East, or, The Struggle for the Stanhope Fortune - 1911 :# The Rover Boys in the Air, or, From College Campus to the Clouds - 1912 :# The Rover Boys in New York, or, Saving their Father's Honor - 1913 :# The Rover Boys in Alaska, or, Lost in the Fields of Ice - 1914 :# The Rover Boys in Business, or, The Case of the Missing Bonds - 1915 :# The Rover Boys on a Tour, or, Last Days at Brill College - 1916 ;Second series :#

The Rover Boys at Colby Hall, or, The Struggles of the Young Cadets - 1917 :# The Rover Boys on Snowshoe Island, or, The Old Lumberman's Treasure Box - 1918 :# The Rover Boys Under Canvas, or, The Mystery of the Wrecked Submarine - 1919 :# The Rover Boys on a Hunt, or, The Mysterious House in the Woods - 1920 :# The Rover Boys in the Land of Luck, or, Stirring Adventures in the Oil Fields - 1921 :# The Rover Boys at Big Horn Ranch, or, The Cowboys' Big Roundup - 1922 :# The Rover Boys at Big Bear Lake, or, The Camps of the Rival Cadets - 1923 :# The Rover Boys Shipwrecked, or, A Thrilling Hunt for Pirates Gold - 1924 :# The Rover Boys on Sunset Trail, or, The Old Miner's Mysterious Message - 1925 :# The Rover Boys Winning a Fortune, or, Strenuous Days Ashore and Afloat - 1926 ;Putnam Hall series :# The Putnam Hall Cadets, or, Good Times In School and Out - 1901 :# The Putnam Hall Rivals, or, Fun and Sport Afloat and Ashore - 1906 :# The Putnam Hall Champions, or, Bound to Win Out - 1908 :# The Putnam Hall Rebellion, or, The Rival Runaways - 1909 :# The Putnam Hall Encampment, or, The Secret of the Old Mill - 1910 :# The Putnam Hall Mystery, or, The School Chums Strange Discovery - 1911 Some of these books are available for download free at

Project Gutenberg Project Gutenberg (PG) is a Virtual volunteering, volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks." It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the ...

Main characters

;First series :Dick, Tom and Sam Rover * :Anderson, Randolph 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 ;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 (see Larry Colby in First Series) :Phil Franklin :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

References

External links

* * * {{Authority control Book series introduced in 1899 Stratemeyer Syndicate American children's novels Juvenile series Fictional families Works published under a pseudonym Grosset & Dunlap books