Later career John R. Tunis

1 later career

1.1 1940s
1.2 1950s
1.3 1960s
1.4 1970s , death

later career

first edition cover of tunis 1946 novel, kid comes back, fifth in 8 book series brooklyn dodgers.


1940s

as depression took toll on magazine finances, tunis began working on novel, iron duke, story of small-town iowa football star struggles fit in elite classmates @ harvard, , finds strength through success runner. wrote book adults, alfred harcourt wanted publish , market juveniles. dismayed tunis, partly because @ time separate field of young adult fiction did not exist, , tunis did not consider himself children s writer. agreed , in 1938 harcourt, brace published iron duke children s book. novel won new york herald tribune spring book festival award best juvenile novel , opened new arena tunis. tunis success these books made him 1 of handful of writers helped establish young-adult market separate field. kirkus reviews gave iron duke starred review among books of remarkable merit , reviewer calling 1 of best modern college stories have read . named horn book magazine fanfare best book 1938. following year harcourt released sequel, duke decides, covers duke s senior year @ harvard. duke s participation part of u.s. olympic team in germany allowed tunis highlight growing totalitarianism in europe. iron duke tunis best selling novel , remains known work.

in 1940 tunis received $200 publisher visit dodgers spring training camp in clearwater, florida. began work on first baseball novel. kid tomkinsville became first in series of 8 books brooklyn dodgers. in it, tunis introduced rookie pitcher roy tucker , teammates: bones hathaway, razzle nugent , fat stuff foster. tunis says in note @ beginning of book characters in book drawn real life. though papers list tucker number 36 , that, among others, gabby gus based on leo durocher , tucker s rabbi inspired luke sewell. kirkus gave starred review, saying struck new note . tucker s story continues in 1941 s world series.

the next year tunis took break baseball stories release 2 novels again received starred reviews kirkus. million miler, based on life of twa , u.s. air corps pilot jack zimmerman, overshadowed other 1942 release, american, called simon certner in english journal superb novel produced in genre . american centers on football star ronald perry, in protest on anti-semitic activity , guilt part in it, leaves prep school play football local public high school, not welcome him. perry adjusts , becomes accepted, leading new team postseason playoff. however, team invited if agree not bring 1 african-american player. perry 1 objects this, refusal stirs other students , parents protest well. kirkus reviews said of tunis football novel, 1 of big books of fall, , should not pigeonholed junior reading. further praised book illustrating whole rounded picture of race , color problems facing young , old today . sixty-eight years later d.g. myers, in manliest sport , 2010 article commentary magazine, decries lack of novels football, calling american best of bad harvest... no 1 better @ describing action on field , though myers warns readers find tunis dated . in chapter titled john r. tunis: best of best , michelle nolan s 2010 book ball tales praises american perceptive novel of character, of morals, , s far ahead of time . how ahead of time may seen when nolan points out hans walleen s illustrations may first of african american football player in action in american sports novel.

with 1943 s keystone kids, tunis returned beloved dodgers, again addressing anti-semitism, time manager , shortstop spike russell struggles brother, , rest of team, accept star catcher jocko klein. keystone kids received child study association of america golden scroll award challenging children s book of year .

the next dodgers novel, rookie of year, appeared in 1944. manager russell struggles arrogant new pitcher. same year yea! wildcats! took tunis, , reader, indiana high school basketball tournament season. tunis visited indiana research, living key player , family during tournament season. called ball tales hoosiers 4 decades before hoosiers , entire varsity team cut on discipline infraction, , coach don henderson must resist pressures of parents , community win @ costs. kirkus says yea! wildcats! plea clean sport – sport sports sake, not gamblers – , taking money , politics out of school sport. coach henderson returned next year in city lincoln, working juvenile delinquents , running mayor. in both these books tunis returns favorite theme noted ryan k. anderson in survey of tunis world war ii era writings; parents, administrators, gamblers , other adult fans injected improper values amateur sports. in 1 speech coach henderson says don t believe there bad kids, leastways not many. 1 or two, 1 or 2 perhaps... there s plenty of bad parents.

world war ii on tunis mind while wrote. in 1946 s kid comes takes roy tucker occupied france, plane crash injures tucker s back. returning dodgers, tucker struggles overcome injury , cope being old man on team. becomes voice of tunis, emphasizing team spirit on individual glory, when aids rookie trying replace him, saying helps helps .

tunis sixth dodgers novel, highpockets, came out in 1948. title nickname cecil mcdade, talented rookie outfielder arrogance causes problems on , off field. novel won boy scouts of america s junior book award 1949. son of valley, came out year, 1 of tunis few non-sports related novels, dramatizing struggle acceptance of tennessee valley authority among rural families displaced new dam. portion of excerpted johnny s experiment in told under spacious skies. 1949 saw publication of next-to-last book dodgers. young razzle story of veteran pitcher razzle nugent , estranged rookie son, reconcile during razzle s final season of baseball. ball tales calls tunis entertaining, if not profound, story.

1950s

tunis next novel, go team go, set in 1954, returns indiana basketball. again coach risks support of fans cutting players, including team star. hero, tom williams, comes see coach right, , gets father s respect – , girl – helping new team move forward. buddy , old pro 1955 novel pop warner football. tunis disliked organized sports young children, saying ve believed little league harmful extreme. s parents, , s object to... don t idea of having little boys playing in front of parents , friends. little boys should playing sports themselves. in michelle nolan in ball tales calls remarkable book , tunis uses non-dodgers baseball novel emphasize favorite theme when young protagonist admits father s better lose, hurts, play dirty .

schoolboy johnson closed out decade in 1959. roy tucker , teammate speedy mason cut dodgers , end on triple-aaa team. when both men called back, older , wiser players teach young schoolboy meaning of game. baseball test of character, how react under pressure . schoolboy johnson ended tunis dodgers series, , last true sports novel until 1973 s grand national.

1960s

tunis wrote 2 novels in 1960s, both set during world war ii. silence on dunkerque appeared in 1962. tells story of evacuation of dunkerque during world war ii. book received starred review kirkus. gail murray in boyhood in america called moving , children experience literature said grimly realistic picture of warfare , effect on both soldiers , civilians . according international reading association, while reading children may helped understand history s interpretation... in story author had courage admit our men less brave in desperate struggle survive .

tunis autobiography, measure of independence, appeared in 1964. ball tales makes highly recommended aspires be, or remain, freelance writer . barely mentions of tunis sports books, concentrating instead on magazine career. according national cyclopaedia of american biography, critics consider measure of independence powerful dramatic novel written under guise of autobiography .

his enemy, friend appeared in 1967. tunis considered second world war ii book best work. horn book agreed, calling finest novel... irony , eloquence story not shows futility of war carries central character heights of protagonist in greek tragedy . opening author s note stating book conscience of man , story tells of german sergeant, convicted war criminal remembered french butcher of nogent-plage, returns area twenty years after war s end, play soccer. literature is... collected essays says novel lays bare man s age-old confusion between inner conscience , demands of culture .

1970s , death

in 1973 tunis final sports novel appeared. boys life published excerpt grand national , gave book positive review, calling exciting . kirkus, however, found sentimental , tepid . publication of grand national brought tunis total number of juvenile novels twenty-three.

john r. tunis, according d. g. myers perhaps greatest sports novelist of time , died on february 4, 1975, in boston, massachusetts, survived wife, lucy rogers. papers held @ boston university.

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