Book Description
This digital document, covering the life and work of James Otis Kaler, is an entry from Contemporary Authors, a reference volume published by Thompson Gale. The length of the entry is 4329 words. The page length listed above is based on a typical 300-word page. Although the exact content of each entry from this volume can vary, typical entries include the following information:

• Place and date of birth and death (if deceased)
• Family members
• Education
• Professional associations and honors
• Employment
• Writings, including books and periodicals
• A description of the author's work
• References to further readings about the author

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.Download Description
Winny looked around him as the girls walked away. He had but just begun to understand that he was the only boy who had agreed to attend the party, and it was by no means pleasant to be in opposition to Si Kelly, who had a most disagreeable way of making sport of anyone who did not agree with him. Nothing but the thought that he could have a perfect feast of cake would have caused him to forget, even for an instant, that the self-appointed leader of the boys had not approved of the plan. ... Read more

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.Download Description
At that moment, while we were making the air ring with our shouts of triumph, I saw a figure emerge from that sinister pile of dead and maimed and come limpingly in the direction of the fort, moving evidently with great effort and slowly. ... Read more

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.Download Description
By the time that Mr. Treat got through with his long speech Toby felt very much as if he were some wonderful creature whom the skeleton was exhibiting; but he managed to rise to his feet and duck his little red head in his best imitation of a bow. Then he sat down and hugged Mr. Stubbs to cover his confusion. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Great kids book!!!
My main disagreement with the above review is that it is obviously written by an adult for adults. I do not believe most young children read a book for the reasons he complains about. I have not read this book in over 50 years but I still remember it well. I can remember lying in bed at night reading this book and dreaming that I was right there along side Toby and sharing his adventure. I will not give away any of the plot but I can also remember a scene where my little boy tears just flowed(in am age where little boys were not supposed to cry). I loved the book then and am now buying it for my grandson!!

Outdated
Originally published in 1881, this children's classic is now so outdated that it seems likely that there is no readership for it except the few scholars interested in the history of juvenile fiction.Toby Tyler is a small town orphan boy, bored and feeling abused on his Uncle Daniel's farm.When an un-named circus comes to town, Toby happily joins as a "candy butcher," i.e., one who sells refreshments to show patrons within the tent.Although Toby is only about 12, no one questions his running away or joining the circus.He is roundly beaten by his employers, and few question their right to that.Adults simply accept the fact that Toby has a right to leave home and that the circus has the right to hire his services without question.It is hard for a modern reader to get past this.

The circus itself is a vague world, a nameless "mud show" that travels by horse and wagon at night from small town to small town.There were no 3-ring circuses in 1881, traveling by air-conditioned train, a la Ringling Brothers & Barnum & Bailey or Cole Brothers.The novel's atmosphere is never quite real, never gritty enough, never quite exhausting.The characters tend to be all good or all bad, with little known of their backgrounds, details that would make them real humans.Toby himself is just too--well--too nice, too innocent.He is Shirley Temple as a boy on the good ship Lolipop.

Certainly the circus (and the sea and the old west) was a magnet for a great many boys of the era.But like so much of the literature of the bygone era, the reality of the setting is never fully explored. ... Read more