Horatio Alger Complete Juvenile Young Adventure Anthologies

A prolific 19th-century American author, best known for his many juvenile novels about impoverished boys and their rise from humble backgrounds to lives of middle-class security and comfort through hard work, determination, courage, and honesty. His writings were characterized by the "rags-to-riches" narrative, which had a formative effect on America during the Gilded Age. Essentially, all of Alger's novels share the same theme: a young boy struggles through hard work to escape poverty. Critics, however, are quick to point out that it is not the hard work itself that rescues the boy from his fate, but rather some extraordinary act of bravery or honesty, which brings him into contact with a wealthy elder gentleman, who takes the boy in as a ward. The boy might return a large sum of money that was lost or rescue someone from an overturned carriage, bringing the boy—and his plight—to the attention of some wealthy individual. It has been suggested that this reflects Alger's own patronizing attitude to the boys he tried to help.

Contents
Helping Himself Or, Grant Thornton's Ambition (1886)
From Canal Boy to President (1881)
A Cousin's Conspiracy
Try and Trust (1873)
Young Captain Jack (1901)
Paul Prescott's Charge (1865)
Jack's Ward (1910)
Andy Grant's Pluck (1902)
The Young Musician (1906)
Paul the Peddler (1871)
The Store Boy (1887)
The Errand Boy (1888)
Joe The Hotel Boy (1906)
Facing the World (1893)
In A New World (1893)
Brave and Bold (1874)
Nothing to Eat (1857)
The Telegraph Boy (1879)
Do and Dare (1884)
The Cash Boy (1887)
Fame and Fortune (1868)
Bound to Rise (1873)
Risen from the Ranks (1874)
Herbert Carter's Legacy (1875)
The Young Explorer (1880)
Only an Irish Boy (1894)
Phil the Fiddler (1872)
Cast Upon the Breakers (1874)

Young Captain Jack (1901)
"YOUNG CAPTAIN JACK" relates the adventures of a boy waif, who is cast upon the Atlantic shore of one of our Southern States and taken into one of the leading families of the locality. The youth grows up as a member of the family, knowing little or nothing of his past. This is at the time of the Civil War, when the locality is in constant agitation, fearing that a battle will be fought in the immediate vicinity. During this time there appears upon the scene a Confederate surgeon who, for reasons of his own, claims Jack as his son. The youth has had trouble with this man and despises him. He cannot make himself believe that the surgeon is his parent and he refuses to leave his foster mother, who thinks the world of him. Many complications arise, but in the end the truth concerning the youth's identity is uncovered, and all ends happily for the young son of a soldier.

Paul Prescott's Charge (1865)
It is written in furtherance of the same main idea, that every boy's life is a campaign, more or less difficult, in which success depends upon integrity and a steadfast adherence to duty.How Paul Prescott gained strength by battling with adverse circumstances, and, under all discouragements, kept steadily before him the charge which he received from his dying father, is fully told; and the author will be glad if the record shall prove an incentive and an encouragement to those boys who may have a similar campaign before them.

Joe The Hotel Boy (1906)
This is one of the last stories penned by that prince of all juvenile writers, Horation Alger, Jr., and is one of his best. It describes the adventures of a youth brought up in the country by an old hermit. When the hermit dies the boy obtains work at a nearby hotel and later on drifts to the city and obtains a position in another hotel. There is a mystery concerning the lad's identity and likewise the disappearance of a certain blue box, but in the end all terminates satisfactorily.

Facing the World (1893)
To outwit his miserly uncle, young Harry Vane finds work as a magician's assistant and embarks on a perilous sea voyage.

In A New World (1893)
Harry and Jack face danger and find adventure while prospecting for gold in the Australian Outback.

The Telegraph Boy (1879)
The class of boys described in the present volume was called into existence only a few years since, but they are already so numerous that one can scarcely ride down town by any conveyance without having one for a fellow-passenger. Most of them reside with their parents and have comfortable homes, but a few, like the hero of this story, are wholly dependent on their own exertions for a livelihood.