The fact is that the harm done [by these cheap books] is incalculable. I wish I could label each one of these books: ‘Explosive! Guaranteed to Blow Your Boy’s Brains Out.’ … [a]s some boys read such books, their imaginations are literally ‘blown out,’ and they go into life as terribly crippled as though by some material explosion they had lost a hand or foot.
Chief Librarian of The Boy Scouts, Franklin K. Mathiews, speaking out against the Stratemeyer Syndicate, publisher of such juvenile book series as The Hardy Boys, The Bobbsey Twins, The Rover Boys, and Tom Swift in “Blowing Out the Boy’s Brains” in Outlook November 18, 1914.
Times have certainly changed.
07/14/10 at 8:27pm
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