Contest >> Share with us your favorite book! 📕 📚 - Ragged Dick

I am including the link to the above book "Ragged Dick" by Horatio Alger Jr. as well as the Librivox (audio) version that you can listen to as you read. Earlier versions are freely available to read on Archive.org. The publication I linked to is a reprint published in 1962 so it is no longer under copyright protection (public domain) and can be freely "borrowed" from the Archive.org website.

This particular publication is a combined set featuring two in the Ragged Dick series of books. This series starts off with the introduction of the main character, Ragged Dick, a bootblack from over a century ago. It is quickly established that the character is ethical but also resolute. After polishing the shoes of his first customer we discover them at an impasse. Neither have the ability to make the right change. The customer eventually gives Dick twenty-five-cents with the suggestion that Dick will bring the right change to the office. Another incident involves him being accused of attempting to pass counterfeit money, when he attempts to have a store clerk "break" a bill. Where many people would have been overwhelmed by the accusation, Dick held firm and was quickly exonerated.

Through the story we find out about people who are willing to help and hinder Dick in his journey. It is a Pilgrim's Progress of shoeshine boys. Unlike modern stories, it doesn't try to make characters too complex. One boy runs away from home because of an alcoholic father. Another becomes weak because of an over indulgent mother. Dick succeeds because of his personal integrity, his ambition, and the help that he obtains from his friends in obtaining employment and an education.

His principle strength is to build on his achievements. Once he earned enough to live in better accommodations, he would do so. He was constantly looking at educating himself to qualify for better jobs. Perhaps reading this book when I was young instilled my desire to anticipate problems or to research solutions for existing ones. Recently I read a post from one of the people in Nigeria describing how they had a power outage and consequently had a challenge to charge their cell phone. Another person had an issue of not having access to drinkable water. If there is a problem, there is a solution.

I cannot say this is my favorite book, but it has been one that has formed my psyche. Alger has been criticized for the simplicity of the message he is trying to impart: through perseverance you can achieve success. It is a morality tale, the people who do wrong get punished. It is a redemption tale, the people who do wrong can redeem themselves. A person reading this must do so with an uncritical mindset. It isn't great literature but it is something one can lose oneself in.

I would ask @madilyn02, @goodybest, and @vectorshore to submit their favorite books.