Victor Appleton

The Tom Swift series is one of the most enduring young adult series. The original 40-volume series was published from 1910-1934 by Stratemeyer Publishing Syndicate. Edward Stratemeyer (1862-1930) pioneered many successful series (Tom Swift, Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, the Bobsey Twins) built on strong characters. The prolific output was maintained by multiple authors writing under the same pseudonym for each title. After his death, his daughter Harriet Stratemeyer Adams (1893-1982) took over the company.

The first 35 books in the Tom Swift series were written by Howard Gris and the last five by Harriet Stratemeyer all under the pseudonym of Victor Appleton. Tom Swift has every sort of adventure aided at times by his inventor father Barton Swift and friends New Newton and Wakefield Damon. Tom's inventions and discoveries lead him to weird and wonderful places. The series was resurrected with Tom Swift, Jr from 1954-1977 and again in 1981 and 1991. The later books feature a kinder and less objectionable portrayal of the family's black handyman, Eradicate "Rad" Sampson.

"Tom Swifty"
The series also spawned a nickname for a word game, the "Tom Swifty" (pl. Tom Swifties) inspired from the books' dialog. A "Tom Swifty" is a one-line play on words involving a punning relationship between the way an adverb describes the action of a speaker and the content of the speaker's statement. These things are best understood by example:
``Let's go dig up some bodies, Tom said gravely.
``I've struck oil, Tom said crudely.
But the pun can also reside in the verb conveying the speaker's method, such as
``Your hair is a complete mess, Tom teased.
``I couldn't believe there were exactly 100 people there, Tom recounted."
Definition by Michael Ostland, University of California, Berkeley

Referenced By