TV Thompson

by Glendon Swarthout, Kathryn Swarthout, Barbara Ninde Byfield (Illustrator)

Overview

Armed with Gobbles, Fatties, and Belcho, Trueviewer TV Thompson gleefully begins his nightly ritual of remote-controlling himself through Westerns, talk shows, old movies, news, weather and sports. Loud chomping on Charlotte's Web by a rude bookworm named Dudley interrupts this nightly medley. Dudley, a gourmet of the rare book room, tempts TV with an offer to enter the excitement and adventure of the color console world. This incredible and hilarious excursion includes a near stampede by the Manhattan Monsters, a showdown between Marshall Fred .44 (star of "Hot Lead") and Charleton Cool (spy hero of S.N.E.A.K.), and a possible adoption by the Mack Typical family. How this nightmarish experience in Televisionland makes him think twice about the effects of the tube on his imagination, his family and friends, his reading habits, and his future makes this a delightful and timely story.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940016301747
Publisher:	Doubleday Publishing
Publication date:	01/01/1972
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	9 - 12 Years

About the Author

Glendon and Kathryn Swarthout are the authors of 6 novellas for younger readers and teens, with TV Thompson aimed at the youngest reading age group. Their most popular yount adult title, Whichaway, has gone through 3 different editions over the decades by 3 different publishers, making this rugged survival story of a teenager trapped up on a windmill with two broken ankles and no easy way to get down and back to his home ranch in remote Arizona in the 1920's their most popular juvenile story. Whichaway has also been optioned several times for a TV-Movie, but has yet to be filmed, although this very strong story certainly should be. Another book by the Swarthouts, The Button Boat, about a couple of young kids fishing for freshwater clams to make buttons out of on a Michigan river in the Depression era, received rave reviews from the NY Times and other newspapers, and did get into development for a TV-Movie with a script written, but was never filmed, either. Finally, the Swarthouts' juvenile mystery, Cadbury's Coffin, received a nomination from the Mystery Writers of America for the best juvenile mystery book of 1982. You'll like Cadbury's Coffin's Victorian era backdrop and its teenaged choreboy and his housemaid girlfriend, as they seek to unravel the spooky goings-on by a nearly dead rich old miser who runs a big mansion in upstate New York at the turn of the last century, 1901. Some fine day, one of these great period tales by this talented husband and wife writing team will make it to the small screen and their great story will be enjoyed by a much larger audience.

Glendon Swarthout in writing adult novels has had 9 of them turned into motion pictures, including his biggest seller, Bless The Beasts & Children, Where The Boys Are, and his best-known Western, The Shootist, which was John Wayne's final film. Glendon's wide-ranging talent was also recognized by his publishers, who selected two of these books as their Pulitzer Prize nominees for Fiction in their respective years --They Came To Cordura (1958 -- Random House); and Bless the Beasts & Children -- Doubleday, 1970.

More about the Swarthouts' many novels and the 9 movies made from them is at their literary website, www.glendonswarthout.com

Editorial Reviews

"Glendon and Kathryn Swarthout's TV Thompson is a timely story about the effects of television on a boy's imagination, his reading habits, and his future."

Memphis, Tennessee Commercial Appeal - Vicki Vincent

"In this updated version of Alice Through the Looking Glass, young TV Thompson is lured inside the television console to share in the excitement and adventures--and the dangers--that makes up the world of video. There's a nightmarish quality to TV's experiences. And the result is a new perspective as to the part television should play upon our lives--both for TV Thompson and the young, up-to-12 reader. Cleverly done and fairly effective in its message."

San Rafael, California Independent Journal - anonymous anonymous

"For years educators, psychologists and concerned parents have written articles on, debated the issue of, and reached tentative conclusions about the deleterious effects of too much television viewing on young children. But not one of the articles or speeches I have read or heard says it more effectively about the effects of 'televisionalities' than do the authors Glendon and Kathryn Swarthout in their humorous and subtle satire, TV Thompson."

Tallahassee, Florida Democrat - Josephine J. Curto

"In their latest book, addressed to TrueViewers between the ages of nine and ninety, Glendon and Kathryn Swarthout have created an unforgettable character, TV Thompson, the embodiment of the foibles and frustrations of the TV age. Barbara Ninde Byfield cleverly compliments the satirical story of the victim's involvement and resulting predicament, told with the usual genial Swarthout wit and perception....Reading this book will ensurea more discriminating use of the all pervasive TV."

Arizona Republic - Collice Portnoff