THE SIGNAL NET.

By Kenneth Andler '26.New York: Ariel Boohs, 1953. 183 pp. $2.75.

Ken Andler has done it again. In 1952 he pleasantly surprised many of his friends by producing The Stolen Spruce, a well-written adventure story entirely free of the verbiage of Ken's legal profession and cut down to language readily understood by his young readers.

The author drew upon his personal surveying experience to describe with authenticity the remarkable exploits of two teenaged boys in helping to run land lines through the Maine wilderness. It was his first experience in writing book-length juvenile fiction.

Now, in The Signal Net, the author develops a complex plot that will hold the attention of his adult readers as well. He explains how the same two boys help a field party of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey to establish a triangulation net on the peaks of the New Hampshire-Maine border country. A ring of smugglers uses similar vantage points for transferring their dope into the States. The dual operations provide many exciting complications.

This is juvenile fiction at its best — good wholesome reading with educational values. If Ken Andler can spare enough time each year from his legal work in Newport, N.H., to produce one such book for his growing audience of youngsters, they will be the better for having read these realistic accounts of how two resourceful teen-agers find plenty of fascinating adventure in the back country which Ken interprets so well.