The Eternal Boy
Owen Johnson
Paperback
(CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, Jan. 15, 2016)
Owen McMahon Johnson (August 27, 1878 – January 27, 1952) was an American writer best remembered for his stories and novels cataloguing the educational and personal growth of the fictional character Dink Stover. The "Lawrenceville Stories" (The Prodigious Hickey, The Tennessee Shad, The Varmint, Skippy Bedelle, The Hummingbird), set in the well-known prep school, invite comparison with Kipling's Stalky and Co. A 1987 PBS mini-series was based on them. This volume contains the firts novel , that make the extraordinary collection The "Lawrenceville Stories" (The Prodigious Hickey, The Tennessee Shad, The Varmint, Skippy Bedelle, The Hummingbird). The novels, set in the well-known prep school, invite comparison with Kipling's Stalky and Co., and have been favorites of countless generations of youngsters. They provide a window into the of a nineteenth century American boarding school, proving beyond doubt that boys will be boys regardless of the era in which they become men. The author, who attended that school, writes masterfully on the subject of male camaraderie and what life was actually like among the young boys. Filled with characters with clever nicknames like, The Prodigious Hickey, The Tennessee Shad, The Varmint, Skippy Bedelle, The Hummingbird, Hungry Smeed and countless others, Johnson gives us tales of adventure played out against a backdrop of a sophisticated world long lost.