After leaving the ill-tempered woman with whom he lives, ten-year-old matchboy Mark Manton meets a man who recognizes something of himself in the young orphan and helps him rise above his lowly circumstances.

It was a terrible night. None of the passengers ventured upon deck. Indeed, such was the motion that it would have been dangerous, as even the sailors found it difficult to keep their footing. Harry was pale and quiet, unlike his friend from Brooklyn, whose moans were heard mingled with the noise of the tempest.

In "Bound to Rise" Harry Walton follows in the footsteps of his hero, Benjamin Franklin, and secures a job at a printing business. Despite various setbacks and opposition from his foe, Harry triumphs because of his hard work, use of his talents and determination to succeed. "Risen from the Ranks" continues the story of Harry Walton as readers learn of how he made good the promise of his boyhood. Horatio Alger was once crowned "America's bestselling author of all time." His works are back and they read like never before. E-books come alive with illustrations, commentary, author biography,...

1909. Alger is the original rags-to-riches guy, often credited with inventing the strive-and-succeed spirit that inspired boys to work hard and advance themselves in order to achieve the American Dream. This theme resonates throughout his numerous writings. When his father dies suddenly, Frank Kavanaugh is forced to live with his uncle and aunt. Unwilling to support Frank, his uncle urges him to move out. Frank decides to move to New York City where he works in a variety of positions, eventually becoming a Telegraph Boy. On one of his assignments he is asked to work as an errand boy for an...

Brave and Bold was the first in a new series of Alger novels published by Loring, and the first in which sex rears its head. Before Brave and Bold, the girls of the hero's age were sisters or simply prop figures. In this new book, Hester Paine, the lovely daughter of Millville's most prominent citizen and the reigning village belle, becomes a source of fascination and contention for "factory boy" hero Robert Rushton and his nemesis, the rich, snobbish, kid glove-wearing youth Halbert Davis. Brave and Bold hit a new high in Alger's work, according Edwin Hoyt, but Hoyt describes the story as a...

Hero Herbert Carr is the son of a war widow who had assumed her husband's place as postmaster of the small rural town in Waynesboro. Widow Carr is upset because Squire Walsingham is using his political influence to take the post away from the widow to put into the hands of his nephew, Ebenezer Graham, the local miser and shopkeeper. Walsingham succeeds in his efforts and the post is given to Mr. Graham. Since Mr. Graham is uncertain of how to run a post office, he offers to hire Herbert for a pittance to run things until he learns what must be done. However, Mr. Graham's son, Eben Graham, a...

Philip lives with his stepmother and presumed half-brother. In a non-stunning twist, it turns out that Philip was left at his presumed father's inn years ago, and the man he has thought was his father all his life wasn't. Philip doesn't care to be beholden to his father figure's second wife, who has always disliked him, so he strikes out on his own.

This is the warm-hearted conclusion to the abruptly ending and rather preachingly moral children's tale, Ragged Dick, the story of a New York Boot-black. In this tale Ragged Dick, now Richard Hunter, continues "cultivating himself," again meets with a set of lucky circumstances (with some unlucky ones thrown in there, but nothing too terribly shocking or unresolvable) and, in the end, meets with his Fame and Fortune (as the book's title indicates.) All in all it's a nice little read, easily done and enjoyed for it's simplicity and lack of complexity.