The Adventure series is a collection of children's adventure novels by Willard Price. The original series, comprising 14 novels, was published between 1949 and 1980, and chronicles the adventures of teenagers Hal and Roger Hunt as they travel the world collecting exotic and dangerous animals. Beginning in 2012, Anthony McGowan published four more novels in the series, which featured Hal and Roger's children.
Writing Shortly before his death, in 1983, Price wrote that:My aim in writing the Adventure series for young people was to lead them to read by making reading exciting and full of adventure. At the same time I want to inspire an interest in wild animals and their behavior. Judging from the letters I have received from boys and girls around the world, I believe I have helped open to them the worlds of books and natural history.Rubinstein, Matt (2005), 'Adventure Adventure ' mattrubinstein.com.au
Characters Protagonists Hal and Roger Hunt are the sons of animal collector John Hunt; they have taken a year off school to help capture animals for their father's collection on Long Island, New York, after which the captive specimens are sold to zoos, circuses and safari parks. In Amazon Adventure, the boys' literary debut, Hal is 18 years old and Roger is 13 years old.
Hal is the typical hero: tall, handsome, and muscular, possessing an almost limitless knowledge of natural history and a caring and trusting disposition. Roger, on the other hand, is an ardent practical joker, often mischievous and cheeky but just as resilient and resourceful as his older brother — sometimes even more resourceful.
Supporting characters Hal and Roger are aided by many characters in their adventures, some of whom reappear in subsequent books. Their father John Hunt personally leads the expeditions in Amazon Adventure and African Adventure. In the South Seas the brothers are accompanied by the World War II veteran skipper Captain Ike and his trusted crewman Omo. The African safari team comprising Joro the tracker, Toto the gun bearer, Mali, and Zulu the German Shepherd dog had the most frequent appearances. As a former member of the cannibalistic Leopard Society, Joro is the only reformed antagonist who appears in more than one book.
Title Year CharactersAmazon Adventure1949John Hunt and Native American guide NapoSouth Sea Adventure1952Captain Ike of the schooner Lively Lady and his Pacific Islander first mate Omo.Underwater Adventure1954Captain Ike and OmoVolcano Adventure1956Volcanologist Doctor Dan AdamsWhale Adventure1960Hal's friend Scott, a marine biologistAfrican Adventure1963Toto, Mali and Zulu the Alsatian dogElephant Adventure1964Tutsi chief Mumbo, his son Bo, Pygmy chief Abu, and African elephant calf Big BoySafari Adventure1966Warden Mark Crosby and Chee the CheetahLion Adventure1967Joro, Toto, Mali and ZuluGorilla Adventure1969Sam the chimpanzee, Lady Luck the mountain gorilla, and Dr. Burton, the doctor who treats Gog's bullet woundDiving Adventure1970Inhabitants of Undersea CityCannibal Adventure 1972Papua New Guinea villagers and their chiefTiger Adventure1979Headman of a Himalayan village who tasks the Hunts with capturing a Man-eating leopard.Arctic Adventure1980Nanook the polar bear, and Olrick and Aram, two Inuit
Villains Each novel in the Adventure series is notable for its memorable selection of loathsome villains and enemies. Some of these, through their interactions with Hal and Roger, are led to redeem their past misdeeds, while others simply suffer the consequences of their actions. Only one character, the cunning "Reverend" Merlin Kaggs, appears as a villain in more than one book.
Title Year CharactersAmazon Adventure1949Shark Sands and his henchmen Croc and BancoSouth Sea Adventure1952Merlin Kaggs and CrabUnderwater Adventure1954SkinkVolcano Adventure1956Whale Adventure1960Captain GrindleAfrican Adventure1963Joro and Colonel BiggElephant Adventure1964Arab slavers led by the Thunder ManSafari Adventure1966Judge Singh alias BlackbeardLion Adventure1967Black Mane, King Ku, Dugan and BasaGorilla Adventure1969Gog, Andre Tieg and NeroDiving Adventure1970Merlin KaggsCannibal Adventure 1972Merlin Kaggs and Witch doctorTiger Adventure1979Vic StoneArctic Adventure1980Zeb
Revival In October 2006, the Price family of Holden, Massachusetts entered into an agreement to sell the copyrights and related legal rights for the fourteen Adventure series titles, plus the right to use Price's name, to London-based literary brand owner and investor Fleming Literary Management for an undisclosed six-figure sum.
In July 2011, it was announced that British author Anthony McGowan had been contracted by Puffin Books to write four new books based on Willard Price's classic wildlife adventures series. The first, Leopard Adventure, will see Hal's son Frazer and Roger's daughter Amazon meet for the first time, before sending them off on an adventure to save the rare Amur leopard. Brothers Hal and Roger, who enjoyed a close relationship as teenagers, have fallen out in the new books.
"Hal Hunt has set up this organisation which goes around the world saving species and his son Fraser works with him on that. He's fallen out with Roger who's a freelance conservationist – there's some sibling rivalry there. Hal's slightly hand in hand with big business, he's slightly compromised, and Roger's more of a free spirit," said McGowan, a fan of the Price novels as a child. "Roger and his wife have disappeared and because Amazon's parents have gone missing, Fraser comes to meet her."
Retrospective reviews David Barnett, writing for The Guardian in 2010, praised the book series, writing that "Price not only knew all the right buttons to press to excite a young reader – exotic locations, nasty villains, wild animals and lashings of peril – but also managed to weave into his adventures a strong yet subtle conservation message."David Barnett, "Willard Price's stories make reading an adventure for young people" The Guardian, 21 July 2010. Retrieved 19 November 2015.
Novelists David MitchellWyatt Mason, "David Mitchell, the Experimentalist", The New York Times, 25 July 2010. Retrieved 19 November 2015. and Mark Gatiss have cited the Adventure series as among their favourite childhood books. Anthony Horowitz discovered the Adventure series at age 11, and has cited the series as an influence on his own writing. "If you read Willard Price," said Horowitz, "you'll find the chemical formula for an Alex Rider book: page-turning, lots of action, lots of activity, good strong characters."
Analysis According to Richard Phillips, who studied the politics of the series, Willard Price acknowledges decolonisation in his writing, but does so through a "conventionally colonial lens":Richard Phillips, "Politics of reading: decolonizing children's geographies" Cultural Geographies (April 2001), 8(2): 125–150. Retrieved 19 November 2015.Price acknowledges decolonization but reproduces colonialist tropes in his portrayal of Africa. His adventure stories illustrate the sort of geographical literature that critics sought to change, initially to catch up with the facts and values of decolonization, ultimately to contribute to the critical transformation of those facts and values.
Books
Willard Price Title Year SummaryAmazon Adventure1949Hal and Roger travel to the Amazon rainforest, where they embark on an expedition into the uncharted territory of the Pastaza River.South Sea Adventure1952Hal and Roger become stranded on an island in the South Seas, in the manner of Robinson Crusoe. Underwater Adventure1954Hal and Roger join the Oceanographic Institute as part of an underwater operation in the South Seas.Volcano Adventure1956Hal and Roger join forces with volcanologist Dr. Dan Adams to study volcanoes in the Pacific.Whale Adventure1960Hal and Roger join the crew of a whaling ship, working under the nefarious Captain Grindle.African Adventure1963Hal and Roger Hunt search for a man-eating leopard, but fall afoul of a sinister organisation known as the Leopard Society.Elephant Adventure1964Hal and Roger attempt to track down a rare white elephant in Africa's Mountains of the Moon.Safari Adventure1966Hal and Roger join warden Mark Crosby in Tsavo National Park, where wildlife poaching is a major problem.Lion Adventure1967Hal and Roger must help save the people of Mtito Andei from a man-eating lion.Gorilla Adventure1969Hal and Roger search for mountain gorillas deep in the Congo jungle.Diving Adventure1970Hal and Roger embark on a specimen-collecting trip to Undersea City.Cannibal Adventure 1972Hal and Roger travel to New Guinea, where they make contact with a cannibalistic tribe.Tiger Adventure1979Hal and Roger are in India, where they search for a rare white tiger, high in the Himalayas.Arctic Adventure1980Hal and Roger Hunt go to Greenland to capture wild animals and send them to their father's animal farm on Long Island. With the help of Nanook, a huge polar bear, and Olrick, a Greenlandic Inuit, they capture many animals. However, all is not well. They meet an American rogue called Zeb who is determined to kill the two teenagers.
Anthony McGowan Title Year SummaryLeopard Adventure2012Amazon Hunt (age 12, daughter of Roger) and her cousin Frazer (age 13, son of Hal) must brave the Russian wilderness to save the Amur leopard.Bear Adventure2013Amazon's parents have been lost in a plane crash, and her only hope is that they are wandering the wild forests of Canada.Shark Adventure2013On a remote Polynesian island, Amazon and Frazer Hunt are saving rare leatherback turtles.Python Adventure2014Amazon's parents have been kidnapped, and their trail leads to Mumbai, India.
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