Danny Dunn is a fictional character, the protagonist of a series of American juvenile science fiction/adventure books written by Raymond Abrashkin and Jay Williams beginning in 1956.
The stories are set in the fictional American town of Midston. The plots feature characters who are interested in science and mathematics.[1]
Abrashkin died in 1960, after publication of the fifth book. Williams, however, insisted on Abrashkin being given co-author credit on the subsequent ten books as well, since he had been instrumental in constructing the series. Ezra Jack Keats illustrated the first four novels in the series.[2]
Although the exact location of Midston is not given, the authors wrote that a famed American of colonial times visited the town (when it was known as Middestown), implying Midston is somewhere in the original 13 states. In the book Danny Dunn and the Heat Ray, reference is made to US Route 1 and US Route 2 being located near Midston, and those roads meet only at Houlton, Maine.[3]
Dunn is a boy, a fifth-grader when the series starts, although the school year ends at the end of the first book. He is looking forward to a career in science. According to book reviewer Andrew Frederick, Dunn is precocious and headstrong—a redhead whose adventures mainly include getting into and out of trouble.[4]
Floyd C. GaleofGalaxy Science Fiction said in 1961 that "Danny's adventures are always based on a solid science foundation, once the authors' usually wild main premise is digested".[5]
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |agency= ignored (help)
|
| |
|---|---|
|
|
Juvenile series books (1930–1979)
| ||
|---|---|---|
| Female protagonists |
|
|
| Male protagonists |
| |
| Mixed protagonists |
| |
