Our latest Distributed Proofreaders project to be completed and posted to Project Gutenberg is Two American Boys with the Dardanelles Battle Fleet, the third book in the series begun with Two American Boys with the Allied Armies. While the second book in the series has not been released as an eBook yet, little is missed by skipping over it; this book finds the titular heroes still in the midst of the first World War, still searching out Frank, one boy’s brother, who has joined the Allies as a pilot.

This particular book brings the boys into contact with combatants from a variety of different cultures caught up in the conflict — Australians and New Zealanders supporting the Allies, Greeks playing a variety of roles, Turks commanded by Germans. Unsurprisingly some of the period’s prejudices are revealed, as the author seems more comfortable allowing his heroes to stretch the boundaries of American neutrality further when facing foes they view as more foreign. As in many books of this period, the violence can be surprisingly unflinching given the juvenile audience, though some nuance is added by the fact that the author has his two characters react to it in significantly different ways.

If you are interested in learning more, the full text of the novel can be read online or downloaded in common eBook formats through Project Gutenberg.