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Tom Swift Jr. #3
TOM SWIFT and HIS ROCKET SHIP VICTOR APPLETON II Grosset Dunlap 1954 Reprint #3 [Hardcover] Victor Appleton II
This rare and vintage book is a perfect addition to any bibliophile's collection
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1954
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About the author
Victor Appleton II
122 books22 followerssee also Victor Appleton
The character of Tom Swift was conceived in 1910 by Edward Stratemeyer, founder of the Stratemeyer Syndicate, a book-packaging company. Stratemeyer invented the series to capitalize on the market for children's science adventure. The Syndicate's authors created the Tom Swift books by first preparing an outline with all the plot elements, followed by drafting and editing the detailed manuscript. The books were published under the house name of Victor Appleton. Edward Stratemeyer and Howard Garis wrote most of the volumes in the original series; Stratemeyer's daughter, Harriet Stratemeyer Adams, wrote the last three volumes. The first Tom Swift series ended in 1941.
In 1954, Harriet Adams created the Tom Swift, Jr., series, which was published under the name "Victor Appleton II". Most titles were outlined and plotted by Adams. The texts were written by various writers, among them William Dougherty, John Almquist, Richard Sklar, James Duncan Lawrence, Tom Mulvey and Richard McKenna. The Tom Swift, Jr., series ended in 1971.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Swift
The character of Tom Swift was conceived in 1910 by Edward Stratemeyer, founder of the Stratemeyer Syndicate, a book-packaging company. Stratemeyer invented the series to capitalize on the market for children's science adventure. The Syndicate's authors created the Tom Swift books by first preparing an outline with all the plot elements, followed by drafting and editing the detailed manuscript. The books were published under the house name of Victor Appleton. Edward Stratemeyer and Howard Garis wrote most of the volumes in the original series; Stratemeyer's daughter, Harriet Stratemeyer Adams, wrote the last three volumes. The first Tom Swift series ended in 1941.
In 1954, Harriet Adams created the Tom Swift, Jr., series, which was published under the name "Victor Appleton II". Most titles were outlined and plotted by Adams. The texts were written by various writers, among them William Dougherty, John Almquist, Richard Sklar, James Duncan Lawrence, Tom Mulvey and Richard McKenna. The Tom Swift, Jr., series ended in 1971.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Swift
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
September 24, 2024
Fun and very exciting. This focuses on scientific endeavors but it is unrealistic in how fast they can develop an idea and then produce it. It is definitely sci-fi, more so than the original Tom Swift series and more deadly than some boys' series. Still, an adventure filled story.
October 22, 2011
Another wonderful, old science fiction story from Victor Appleton.
July 19, 2020
Reading this for the nostalgia of it. I loved these books growing up and I still do.
February 1, 2019
I gave this 3 stars because of its value as a snapshot of American youth culture in the early 1950s. The writing is atrocious, the science is laughable, and the unbridled optimism of youth at the time (an 18-year-old is the greatest rocket scientist in the world, inventing fantastic technological wonders completely on his own and at a whim to solve any problem that arises). The timelines are ridiculous as well. Possibly the laziest science fiction I've ever read.
But the nostalgia factor is off the charts, and the entire series of Tom Swift adventures is delightfully naive, often fun, and frequently unintentionally hilarious. As a time capsule for what it was like to be a young reader in the mid-20th Century, its a gem.
So don't read this if you're looking for quality story-telling, or anything even remotely resembling realistic science. But if you've got a bag of caramel corn at hand and an evening to kill, and you have a hankering for a quick burst of mid-century childhood fun, go ahead and give Tom Swift a read. It probably won't cause too much brain damage...
But the nostalgia factor is off the charts, and the entire series of Tom Swift adventures is delightfully naive, often fun, and frequently unintentionally hilarious. As a time capsule for what it was like to be a young reader in the mid-20th Century, its a gem.
So don't read this if you're looking for quality story-telling, or anything even remotely resembling realistic science. But if you've got a bag of caramel corn at hand and an evening to kill, and you have a hankering for a quick burst of mid-century childhood fun, go ahead and give Tom Swift a read. It probably won't cause too much brain damage...
April 5, 2020
Working from home is more taxing than I realized it could be and it's gotten me into a reading funk. Not quite "reader's block" but definitely a slower pace. I have standby books I turn to for rereads to break that funk, but I also have a shelf of these Tom Swift, Jr. books I've collected. I was born seven years after this was published, so I'm fifteen years behind the target adolescent the Stratemeyer Syndicate was writing for. Still, I like to see what adventure young men - and yes, that was their target; girls had other adventures - were reading in the 1950s. The goal in this book was to be the first to orbit the Earth in under two hours, which curiously, is how long Yuri Gagarin's mission lasted.Formula intact, new inventions, Tomasite appearance, action thrills and Tom prevailing over every obstacle, and a rocket inventor at 18. Bad guys, enemies, spies to foil, and more.
My copy is one of the green-blue cloth bound editions with a dust jacket.
My copy is one of the green-blue cloth bound editions with a dust jacket.
June 13, 2025
3.5/5
5 stars for almost non-stop action/adventure and about 2 stars for implausibility add up to maybe an average of about 3.5? I can see why youngsters (mine among them) have enjoyed this series for the fast pace. Tom Swift and His Rocket Ship tells the story of a boy genius (age 18 in this book) who is planning to compete in a race to circumnavigate the globe in space. But, there's fierce competition and his rivals will do anything to sabotage Tom's rocket and steal his technology.
As a writer once told me, the writing doesn't have to be fabulous if "stuff happens". Stuff happens in this book. The writing itself is choppy and implausible. It's quite a wild ride and I'm glad I read it to see what it was about (it was the cover that appealed to me — I found my copy while going through boxes of books). But, I would not deliberately seek out more Tom Swift books. It was pretty silly.
5 stars for almost non-stop action/adventure and about 2 stars for implausibility add up to maybe an average of about 3.5? I can see why youngsters (mine among them) have enjoyed this series for the fast pace. Tom Swift and His Rocket Ship tells the story of a boy genius (age 18 in this book) who is planning to compete in a race to circumnavigate the globe in space. But, there's fierce competition and his rivals will do anything to sabotage Tom's rocket and steal his technology.
As a writer once told me, the writing doesn't have to be fabulous if "stuff happens". Stuff happens in this book. The writing itself is choppy and implausible. It's quite a wild ride and I'm glad I read it to see what it was about (it was the cover that appealed to me — I found my copy while going through boxes of books). But, I would not deliberately seek out more Tom Swift books. It was pretty silly.
November 12, 2023
The third book in the series, Tom Swift and His Rocket Ship was a much better read than the second one.
In this book, Tom is in a race to try and be the first manned rocket to orbit the Earth. As that didn't happen until Yuri Gargarin did it in 1961, seven years after this book was published.
The beings and messages from outer space was a bit unneeded, but I could see it adding to the fiction part of the story and gaining interest. I know this theme comes up again later in the series, which is why it was introduced early.
Overall, this book is not a bad read for children over 10. There were some dated parts, such as when Tom's mother didn't understand something because it was too technical, but not as bad as other books from this time.
In this book, Tom is in a race to try and be the first manned rocket to orbit the Earth. As that didn't happen until Yuri Gargarin did it in 1961, seven years after this book was published.
The beings and messages from outer space was a bit unneeded, but I could see it adding to the fiction part of the story and gaining interest. I know this theme comes up again later in the series, which is why it was introduced early.
Overall, this book is not a bad read for children over 10. There were some dated parts, such as when Tom's mother didn't understand something because it was too technical, but not as bad as other books from this time.
September 29, 2022
Great fun as Tom and Bud fend off spies and saboteurs as they prepare to launch themselves into space to win a $100,000 prize for being the first people to orbit the Earth. Plenty of action to go around, with references back to the previous books and teaser for the next--and the introduction of arch-villain Rotzog!
July 16, 2025
This Tom Swift book was written in 1954, Sputnik was launched on October 04, 1957. So only the last three chapters of the novel take place in orbit around the Earth and those are sketchy at best. The rest of the book is a series of delays of the rocket launch caused by sabotage or mechanical failure.
December 12, 2020
1950s young adult SciFi is an absurdly interesting read, especially if you're into modern day space technology. Quick and fun read. Interesting to see just how much they got right...and wrong...about today and space flight.
March 19, 2024
Jimmy read this to the boys and they loved it. Eager to read another.
June 28, 2015
The Tom Swift, Jr., books were a fun, upbeat, and interesting adventure series published for kids from 1954 to 1971 that promoted science, fair-play, patriotism, and team-work; they were good, positive books. The series served as a sequel to the original Tom Swift series that appeared from 1910 to the beginnings of World War II; Tom and his sister, Sandy, are the children of the first Tom and his wife, Mary Nestor; Tom's girlfriend Phyllis Newton is the daughter of Tom Sr.'s sidekick Ned Newton (now Uncle Ned to Tom and Sandy); the family home is still located in Shopton along Lake Carlopa, etc. It's nice that the continuity is preserved rather than just being over-written as happened to The Hardy Boys; in the first Tom Jr., book beings make contact that were first hinted at in the final real Tom Sr., book, Planet Stone, and throughout the series references to the history are made such as naming a device the Damonscope in honor of a character from the first series, Mr. Wakefield Damon. In addition to the Swifts and Newtons, Tom Jr. has his own sidekick, Bud Barclay, and there are several interesting supporting characters such as Phil Radnor, Harlan Ames (I wonder if Harlan Ellison was the inspiration for the name?), Hank Sterling, Miss Trent (who I don't believe ever had a first name), and especially Chow Winkler, Tom's cook, a former "Texas chuck-wagon" cook who was given to a variety of wild and unlikely expressions such as, "Well, brand my space biscuits!" The earlier books had nice covers, end-papers, and illustrations: Graham Kaye and Charles Brey provided the art for the first twenty-five volumes, followed by Edward Moretz, after which the artistic (as well as the literary) quality starting going downhill. Tom invented and built many fantastic inventions (but remember it was the '50s and '60s), and had many exciting adventures along with his friends and family. They faced off against saboteurs and spies and the evil Brungarians but their good spirits and hard work and can-do attitude always paid off in the end. The continuity didn't always hold logically from book to book, and looking back it's easy to pick apart one thing or another, but they were fun and fine books in their time. This third volume has a neat cover that looks like one of those soda-powered plastic rockets with a huge window that they used to sell for kids to launch in their back yards. It was kind of dated even for it's time, but.... It's a space race!
April 12, 2016
Wowie- I gave this book 5 stars mostly because of the wow factor. The Tom Swift books are filled with technical jargon and inventions that young readers, especially boys, will love. The books are Science Fiction. Possibly some of these things are now possible. The author certainly makes you think that they were feasible in 1954 when it was published! From an adult- a mother's and grandmother's point of view- I can't imagine allowing an 18 year-old boy, I don't care how smart he is, go off into uncharted space in a very complex rocket ship that he built! Untested, basically.
So- the race to space is on. The first person (team) to manage to orbit the earth in space for 2 hours will win a prize of $100,000! A huge, huge amount in 1954, I'm sure. Tom is game. He has been working on a rocket. Now, I don't know anything about rocket building but the techno things sound possible to me and they are terms that I have heard before- payload rockets, sequencing of parts that will fall away as the rocket is lifted beyond the atmosphere. etc. Other things in this book made me laugh. Outer space beings have been communicating with the Swifts at their lab using strange symbols. They are from Mars! Really? Did we think there might be life on Mars in 1954? Mr. Swift is able to figure out what they are saying. These beings can escape the gravity of their planet, have a faster spaceship, and figured out how to send messages to another planet that they realized was inhabited but they cannot figure out how to get through earth's atmosphere. And NASA (did they exist then?) or the government did not place a secrecy gag on the Swifts about the aliens. Well, back to the story. Other governments are trying to reach space first to win the prize. And there is a space pirate (of course!) who tries over and over to sabotage Tom's space craft and/or ruin his chances.
So- the race to space is on. The first person (team) to manage to orbit the earth in space for 2 hours will win a prize of $100,000! A huge, huge amount in 1954, I'm sure. Tom is game. He has been working on a rocket. Now, I don't know anything about rocket building but the techno things sound possible to me and they are terms that I have heard before- payload rockets, sequencing of parts that will fall away as the rocket is lifted beyond the atmosphere. etc. Other things in this book made me laugh. Outer space beings have been communicating with the Swifts at their lab using strange symbols. They are from Mars! Really? Did we think there might be life on Mars in 1954? Mr. Swift is able to figure out what they are saying. These beings can escape the gravity of their planet, have a faster spaceship, and figured out how to send messages to another planet that they realized was inhabited but they cannot figure out how to get through earth's atmosphere. And NASA (did they exist then?) or the government did not place a secrecy gag on the Swifts about the aliens. Well, back to the story. Other governments are trying to reach space first to win the prize. And there is a space pirate (of course!) who tries over and over to sabotage Tom's space craft and/or ruin his chances.
August 29, 2011
I want to give this 2.5 stars. I liked it in that it's charming and it makes some effort to convey science concepts. But it was written in 1954, and that shows, from the (cute) optimism about space travel to the (less cute) gender roles. While of course it's a product of its time, some of these aspects make it a little hard for the modern reader. Beyond that, it's so, so naive; bad guys are purely bad, and good guys superhumanly good. Bad guys are captured, but never really hurt or killed, since that would be a bad deed on the good guy's part. The good guys always come out on top, whether the foe is a bad guy or physics or space-time itself. I think even for the intended (young) target audience, more complexity could have been used. There are also some cringe-worthy moments where the (less educated) cook is repeatedly used as an opportunity to info-dump to the reader, due to his ignorance (and painfully bad accent).
That said, the book is creative and enjoyable to read, and it certainly gets the reader excited about space travel. Like a lot of 50's sci-fi, everything just seems so *possible* and so *easy*! There's a part of me that would love to live in that world. :)
That said, the book is creative and enjoyable to read, and it certainly gets the reader excited about space travel. Like a lot of 50's sci-fi, everything just seems so *possible* and so *easy*! There's a part of me that would love to live in that world. :)
October 27, 2020
While in elementary school, before I got captivated by science fiction, but probably contributing to the move in that direction by fifth grade, I read a whole bunch of Tom Swift and Tom Swift Jr. books, starting with the latter. Of the dozens of titles read I can only recall a few with any certainty, this being one of those few, the space program being very much on my mind--and on our teachers' minds--since the Soviet Sputnik. The picture of the cover helps of course.
Frankly, I can't much recommend the second generation Tom Swift books. Indeed, when a neighbor lady loaned me a couple of her old copies of first generation Tom Swift books--two of which, 'Tom Swift and His Giant Searchlight' and 'Tom Swift and His Submarine Boat', I do clearly remember--I remember being impressed with their superiority to the contemporary Swift Jr. books I had been devouring.
The fact that I spent hundreds, maybe thousands, of hours reading Swift books and comics is indicative of the fact that my parents really paid no attention to what I read, probably just being happy that I read so much, so quietly. There was one exception, this regarding comics, but that's another story...
Frankly, I can't much recommend the second generation Tom Swift books. Indeed, when a neighbor lady loaned me a couple of her old copies of first generation Tom Swift books--two of which, 'Tom Swift and His Giant Searchlight' and 'Tom Swift and His Submarine Boat', I do clearly remember--I remember being impressed with their superiority to the contemporary Swift Jr. books I had been devouring.
The fact that I spent hundreds, maybe thousands, of hours reading Swift books and comics is indicative of the fact that my parents really paid no attention to what I read, probably just being happy that I read so much, so quietly. There was one exception, this regarding comics, but that's another story...
July 22, 2023
I decided to reread some of these books that gave me such pleasure at the beginning of my life, now that I am at the other end of it. I’m marking on a curve. “Victor Appleton II” is not Thomas Hardy.
The series is aimed at 10 year old boys who grew up in the 50s and 60s. There is a little bit of generally bad science thrown in, some not very intriguing intrigue, swarthy agents of a nameless foreign power at work to sabotage young Tom, chapters that always end with a sudden explosion or other gimmicky hook, and cringey humor in the form of Chow the hick cook from Texas. Tom and his sidekick Bud are embarrassingly all-American and one dimensional.
The only element of realism creeps in when Tom’s mom sheds a tear before her 18 year old son blasts off in an experimental rocket ship. Tom’s dad is just fine with that. I’m sure she was thinking, why did I marry into this crazy family?
So 3 stars for nostalgia and memories of a past world that now appears about as remote as Proxima Centauri.
The series is aimed at 10 year old boys who grew up in the 50s and 60s. There is a little bit of generally bad science thrown in, some not very intriguing intrigue, swarthy agents of a nameless foreign power at work to sabotage young Tom, chapters that always end with a sudden explosion or other gimmicky hook, and cringey humor in the form of Chow the hick cook from Texas. Tom and his sidekick Bud are embarrassingly all-American and one dimensional.
The only element of realism creeps in when Tom’s mom sheds a tear before her 18 year old son blasts off in an experimental rocket ship. Tom’s dad is just fine with that. I’m sure she was thinking, why did I marry into this crazy family?
So 3 stars for nostalgia and memories of a past world that now appears about as remote as Proxima Centauri.
May 18, 2016
Good night, Tom! I never thought I'd get done reading this book.
A very bland book about *gasp* the rocket race! The U.S.A. must beat all the other nations!!! U.S.A.!!! U.S.A.!!!
The best friend is the brawn (short, stocky and always asking questions so the author can write out intelligent--and probably, at the time, educational--explanations from his brainy best friend), gender roles are continuously enforced (Sandy and Phyl are the doting sisters/girlfriends who can't believe Tom and Bud are doing something so dangerous), and the single Southerner in the book is the cook (which, granted, was a reasonable choice--who wouldn't want good ole Texan cooking?) who is also always asking stupid questions.
A very bland book about *gasp* the rocket race! The U.S.A. must beat all the other nations!!! U.S.A.!!! U.S.A.!!!
The best friend is the brawn (short, stocky and always asking questions so the author can write out intelligent--and probably, at the time, educational--explanations from his brainy best friend), gender roles are continuously enforced (Sandy and Phyl are the doting sisters/girlfriends who can't believe Tom and Bud are doing something so dangerous), and the single Southerner in the book is the cook (which, granted, was a reasonable choice--who wouldn't want good ole Texan cooking?) who is also always asking stupid questions.
June 3, 2014
In this updated version of the 50's/60's TS Jr book, Tom is in compeition with his dad to build a rocket ship and win an award for privately-constructed rockets. In the process, Tom's Dad's rocket gets hijacked by a duped agent of an evil ex-Brungarian scientist. So Tom and Bud go in Tom's rocket to rescue the haplessly duped agent and stop of the evill machinations of the bad guy.
January 23, 2016
This series was one of my childhood favorites. Rereading it is part of a literary trip down memory lane. This holds up surprisingly well. (Note: This is actually the third of the Tom Swift, Jr. series, published in the fifties.)
November 14, 2010
These are awful books, but so hilarious at the same time.
October 21, 2012
Copyright 1954. Very much within the escapist, black and white morality adventure book for young boys.
April 22, 2014
nice book as always so far.
June 1, 2024
Good story
These Tom Swift Lives books have the same excitement of the original Tom Swift series but with thoroughly updated technology. They are good reads.
These Tom Swift Lives books have the same excitement of the original Tom Swift series but with thoroughly updated technology. They are good reads.
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November 5, 2016read in summer of 1966
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