Tom, Dick, and Larry were best friends ever since they met in third grade class. During their third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade years, they were not only the best of friends, but they were also the worst of enemies -- at least every other week during the school year, and at least once a week while hanging out around and about their neighborhood during their summer vacations. Those were the years!
Welcome to this work of fiction about three young classmates, Tom, Dick, and Larry, who, during their third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade classes in the mid-1950's, became and remained a tightly bonded entity. As students at Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic School on the island of St. Thomas in the United States Virgin Islands, they had a strict and disciplined education, but as boys growing up in the tropics, they had plenty of territory to explore where they could let their imaginations run wild. And wild did they run!
Together, they relived the adventures that they experienced while listening to the Saturday morning children's stories on the ever-popular radio station, WSTA. And they also relived the adventures they experienced rough and tough western adventures of cowboys of the frontier while attending Saturday matinees at the now-defunct Center Theatre. They totally enjoyed creating and acting-out their adventures, escapades, monkeyshines, devilment, and all-around boyhood pranks and games.
As a quasi-memoir narrative, this novel has changed only the names of the characters and their occupations in order to protect their privacy. The names of the radio station, WSTA; their school, Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic School; and their homeland, St. Thomas, United States Virgin Islands, nevertheless, remain unchanged.
Excerpt
"Sitting here in my home on the island of St. Thomas in the United States Virgin Islands with plenty of retirement time on my hands, my mind keeps wandering back to my early teaching days at Saints Peter and Paul Catholic School here on St. Thomas. But, I especially can't help thinking about Tom, Dick, and Larry, those rambunctious three musketeers-students of my third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade classes. I think they called themselves "The Crusaders", or maybe even "The Great Crusaders", because they considered themselves imaginary crime-fighters. Pretending to be their Saturday matinee heroes, they wanted to be just like them in every way, but mainly they wanted to rid the world (at least their imaginary, pretend world) of evildoers."
Professional Reviews
By J. L. Hilaire on January 20, 2014
I enjoyed reading this book because the stories reminded me of my son and his buddies from All Saints School on St. Thomas. I couldn't help but smile and even chuckle at the boys attempt to mimick their 'chosen Western hero', and other superheroes. Also, getting sent to detention for being late was funny.
Tom, Dick and Larry, aka "The Great Crusaders", in their adventures certainly brought truth to the age old saying; "boys will be boys".
Their strong bond and interest in the same movies and cultural activities was a delight to learn about.
Shine is designed to help you build a firm belief in yourself and your abilities and empower you to navigate life’s ups and downs with grace and resilience
