A mysterious expedition to Africa
I enjoyed the Danny Dunn series when I was a kid, and now I am having fun reading them with my young son. Despite all the changes in science and technology over the past 40 to 60 years, the books in this series have held up remarkably well over time. A child’s scientific curiosity never goes out of style. Danny Dunn and the Swamp Monster, published in 1971, is the twelfth of fifteen Danny Dunn novels by Jay Williams and Raymond Abrashkin. (Abrashkin actually died in 1960, but Williams insisted on crediting him on every volume in the series.) Though the books in the series are consistently good, this is one of the best that I can recall.
For those unfamiliar with the series, Danny Dunn is a teenage boy whose widowed mother works as housekeeper for Euclid Bullfinch, a professor of science (no specific branch, just a scientific jack-of-all-trades) at the local university. Danny and his mom live in the Bullfinch house, which gives the curious Danny the opportunity to observe, assist, and at times co-opt the professor’s experiments and inventions. In contrast to most of the other volumes in the series, Danny Dunn and the Swamp Monster is more concerned with nature than with technology, even though Professor Bullfinch does create an invention in the opening chapters that will get used later in the book. Bullfinch receives a surprise visit from a professional colleague, Dr. Fenster, a distinguished biologist who invites Bullfinch, Danny, and Danny’s friends Joe and Irene to accompany him on an expedition to Africa. Fenster has been investigating tales of a legendary monster known as the lau that reportedly dwells in the swamps of the Sudan. The science that is explored, therefore, is more biological than technological, and the book reads like an adventure that some naturalist explorer like a young Charles Darwin, Alexander Humboldt, or David Livingstone might have had tracking down a new species of animal in an exotic land.
The story does a fine job of illustrating how zoologists would actually go about accomplishing such a task. Though this is science fiction for young readers, it does depict the scientific process in a realistic manner. In the course of their expedition, Danny and his party get to know the local indigenous people, the Nuer. The book sets a good tone for these interactions, respectful and not condescending, and imparts a good message of friendship and cooperation between people of different nations, races, and cultures. The novel has a villain, which allows for some suspense, but the danger never reaches a level to scare young readers. The hunt or for the lau is exciting, and when the creature is revealed, it is pleasantly surprising that the beast is actually within the realm of scientific possibility.
The only problem I really have with the book is its illustrations. If you have a print edition, it will likely include the original illustrations by Paul Sagsoorian. (The recent ebook edition probably doesn’t include them.) While Sagsoorian is a fine artist for this type of book, the illustrations give away too many of the story’s surprises. This book would be a lot more fun if you didn’t know what kind of creature the lau is, yet almost every edition (not just those illustrated by Sagsoorian) features a front cover painting of the lau in all its glory, spoiling the big reveal towards the end. Nevertheless, despite that one caveat, Danny Dunn and the Swamp Monster, and the Danny Dunn series in general, make great reading for kids interested in science (and their parents).
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To compute or not to compute?
Danny Dunn and the Homework Machine, published in 1958, is the third novel in the Danny Dunn series by Jay Williams and Raymond Abrashkin. Danny is an adolescent boy who lives with the scientist Professor Bullfinch, for whom Danny’s mother serves as housekeeper. In each book Danny and his sidekick Joe co-opt some invention of the Professor’s and use it to get in and out of trouble. This time the theme is computer science, as the boys get their hands on MINIAC, a computer that Bullfinch is developing for the government.
In the first chapter of this third installment, Williams and Abrashkin introduce the recurring character of Irene Miller, who has just moved into the house next door. Like Danny, she is scientifically minded and intelligent beyond her years. She and Danny make fast friends, much to the chagrin of Joe, who feels he’s losing his best friend. It was smart of the authors to introduce a female character, thus creating a role model for girls as Danny is for boys. Irene proves that anything boys can do girls can do too, and also serves as a voice of reason in response to some of Danny’s cockamamie schemes. Joe expresses his disgruntlement over Irene’s arrival with utterances like “Dames! Who needs ‘em! Nothing but trouble.” While everything works out OK in the end, of course, I hope my sons don’t take to spouting anti-feminist rhetoric in the slang terms of the ‘50s. My 8 year old found the term “dames” to be particularly hilarious.
While Professor Bullfinch is away, Danny comes up with the idea of using the computer to complete his homework and convinces his two companions to go along with his plan. The authors make it clear to young readers that the computer is not a magic box that solves all your problems for you. A computer can only do what people tell it to do. So Danny and his friends have to program the machine, loading it with information before they can extract the answers to their homework assignments. Contrary to Danny’s plans, he thus ends up doing more homework than he was doing before. When Danny’s teacher finds out that he’s using the computer, he has a debate with her about digital ethics. The computer, he insists, is just another tool, like a textbook or slide rule, and why shouldn’t he use what resources are available to him? His teacher, on the other hand, is afraid it will hinder his learning. The discussion of such issues, however elementary, are still relevant to today’s digitally saturated kids who may wonder why studying is even necessary when you can just Google everything.
These books were originally intended for junior high-age readers, but due to the antiquated technology and obvious moral lessons, these days that demographic will probably find them painfully corny. The books will, however, appeal to younger readers with an avid interest in science. I read them with my two boys, who both loved the first book, Danny Dunn and the Anti-Gravity Paint. They were split on this volume. My 6 year old lost interest halfway through, but my 8 year old was all-in until the very end. In my opinion, this is not one of Danny’s more exciting adventures, especially since computers have become so ubiquitous. Nevertheless, like all of the books in the series, it’s good, solid, entertaining fare for young readers.
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Not one of his better adventures
Danny Dunn on a Desert Island, published in 1957, is the second novel in Jay Williams and Raymond Abrashkin’s series of books about a precocious boy’s scientific adventures. I read these books when I was growing up, and now, thanks to the recently released e-book editions from Wildside Press, I am reading them with my two young sons. They really enjoyed the first book in the series, Danny Dunn and the Anti-Gravity Paint. This second installment was a little hard for them to get into at first, but eventually they both came to like it. They agreed, however, that the first novel was much better, and I concur.
You would think that the fifty years difference in technology would make it difficult for today’s kids to appreciate Danny’s adventures, but that wasn’t the case with the first book. My boys had no trouble engaging with Danny’s dreams of space flight, no matter how antiquated the speculative methods. In the second book, outdated tech really isn’t an issue because it happens to be the point of the whole story. Danny’s mentor Professor Bullfinch and his surly colleague Dr. Grimes get into an argument about which of them is the more practical scientist. In the heat of the debate, they agree to a “desert-island duel” in which they will voluntarily spend time on a remote island in order to see who can make the best use of primitive technology to improve their situation. The unbelievably permissive parents of Danny and his buddy Joe allow the two boys to accompany the scientists. On their way to the dueling ground, their plane crashes in the ocean, and the four end up marooned for real on an island somewhere near the Galapagos.
The main thrust of the book is that the castaways start out essentially in stone age conditions, and they are forced to use ingenuity and local materials to work their way through progressively more advanced technologies. That’s a difficult concept for a kid to grasp, and even for a grown-up, it’s not as much fun as other Danny Dunn offerings like a spaceship, weather machine, heat ray, or shrinking machine. Though the desert island plane crash sounds rather harsh, Danny and the gang never really seem to be in peril. In fact, the technological contraptions they rig up are not exactly the first things you would think of when it comes to survival—a bathtub and soap, for instance. Apparently, on this island cleanliness is a more urgent need than food or shelter.
The four friends speculate about possible inhabitants on the island, which brings up talk of cannibals. Given the time of publication, I worried about the potential for political incorrectness, but my fears proved unfounded, and it all worked out in the end. The main complaint one can hold against this second Danny Dunn volume is that it’s just not as scientifically wonderful as most of the other books in the series. Despite the lackluster premise, Williams and Abrashkin still manage to craft a fun story. My boys mostly enjoyed the repartee between the characters and laughed out loud at some of the jokes. They’re looking forward to the next installment. Wildside seems to be releasing about two of these books a year. The third and fourth volumes—the Homework Machine and the Weather Machine—are now available in e-book format.
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Captures every kid’s daydreams of space travel
I don’t make a habit out of reading children’s or young adult literature, but when I learned that Wildside Press was bringing back the Danny Dunn series I saw it as an opportunity to relive some fond memories of my youth. I loved the Danny Dunn books when I was a kid. They were published a little before my time, but were a staple in school and public libraries in the ‘70s. The first installment of the 15-volume series, Danny Dunn and the Anti-Gravity Paint, was originally published in 1956. I’m happy to say that, although the science in this science fiction is now a half century old, the storytelling still has the ability to delight and entertain.
Danny Dunn is a typical small-town American boy, with red hair and freckles just right for a Norman Rockwell painting. His widowed mother works as a housekeeper for Professor Euclid Bullfinch, a scientist at a local college. Danny and his mother live with the professor, who acts as a surrogate father to him. Danny has a precocious intelligence and an enthusiasm for science. Professor Bullfinch, who does not specialize in any particular field but rather functions as a scientific jack-of-all-trades, is always working on some scientific discovery that’s way ahead of its time. He demonstrates his inventions to Danny and explains the science behind them. Somehow, through some well-intentioned mischief, Danny always ends up co-opting the professor’s gadgets, usually to solve some problem or thwart some bad guy.
In this first adventure, as the title indicates, the topic is spaceflight. Professor Bullfinch has developed a fluid that, when charged with electricity, can defy the pull of gravity. The government immediately enlists him in a project to build the first manned spacecraft, right there in Danny’s hometown! It certainly isn’t difficult to see where this story is leading, but in this case predictability is forgivable. It’s all good, clean fun that plays to many a child’s daydreams of space flight. My two boys, ages 6 and 8, read picture books about real space travel and watch the NASA Channel on TV. Even so, despite the fact that this book was written before Sputnik went into orbit, they still managed to get caught up in Danny’s adventure. They weren’t offended by inaccuracies or anachronisms like speculations of plants on Mars. Series authors Jay Willliams and Raymond Abrashkin inject a good sense of humor into the books, and there were several scenes that my kids and I found laugh-out-loud funny.
As of February 2016, Wildside Press has made the first three books in the series available as inexpensive ebooks. The second and third installments are Danny Dunn on a Desert Island and Danny Dunn and the Homework Machine. It’s been a pleasure to relive this book from my youth and to share it with my own children. As far as kid-lit heroes go, Danny’s a pretty good role model. If my kids were older, they might find these books corny and antiquated, but thankfully they’re still young enough to just enjoy a good story. As long as they remain interested, we’ll follow Danny’s adventures wherever they lead.
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