Tom Swift and His Big Tunnel [Paperback]

Victor, II Appleton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 2002 | Age Level: 9 and up | Grade Level: 4 and up

This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

This book is in Electronic Paperback Format. If you view this book on any of the computer systems below, it will look like a book. Simple to run, no program to install. Just put the CD in your CDROM drive and start reading. The simple easy to use interface is child tested at pre-school levels.

Windows 3.11, Windows/95, Windows/98, OS/2 and MacIntosh and Linux with Windows Emulation.

Includes Quiet Vision's Dynamic Index. the abilty to build a index for any set of characters or words. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Paperback: 156 pages
• Publisher: IndyPublish.com (December 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1404335951
• ISBN-13: 978-1404335950
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars A hollow mountain? Unbelievable!, May 15, 2005

By 

Charles Ashbacher (Marion, Iowa United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Tom Swift And His Big Tunnel (Paperback)

This story in the original series is not one of the stronger ones, in that there is no "great" invention. To me, one of the greatest strengths in all of the Tom Swift series was the grandiose nature of the inventions. A Mr. Job Titus approaches Tom, seeking his help in blasting a tunnel through the Andes Mountains in Peru. The Titus Brothers Company has been hired by the Peruvian government to blast a long railroad tunnel through the mountains and they have encountered some extremely hard rock. This has slowed them considerably, and they are in danger of falling behind schedule and failing to meet their deadline. Tom agrees to aid them and he travels to the construction site in Peru.
The site is primitive and the workforce is made up of a small number of white overseers and a large number of native laborers. Given the date when the original was written, the natives are lazy and the whites hard working. After some labor difficulties when an entire work gang disappears from the tunnel and some attempts by rivals to sabotage the job, Tom's group triumphs. In their construction, they unearth an entire ancient city that was somehow buried in a hollow space in the mountain. In fact, the proposed location of the railroad tunnel goes right down an arterial road on the edge of the town. This means that no part of the city has to be destroyed for the railroad and Tom's group is saved a large amount of excavating. This was absurd; it is difficult to see how a hollow mountain could somehow grow around a city.
I cannot get excited about this story, the invention of a more powerful explosive is the only new idea and some of the plot lines are very farfetched, even for a Tom Swift story.