Looking for a book I read in the 1950s or early 1960s. As I recall, it was about a teen or a couple teens who recovered a Caterpillar D2 bulldozer from a lake or pond, got it running, and used it for various projects. Could have been a Scholastic book club book. Was hardbound. One of the few non-classic books I remember reading as a youngster.
Stump the Bookseller
New format, same book stumper solving.
I remember this book as well and wonder what the title is. As I remember it one teen fixing the bulldozers and at the end of the book he saves the day by using the bulldozer to pull a float in the town parade whilst fantasizing about making money and buying more bulldozers. As an adult, I’ve realized that this sounds like a capitalist version of “boy meets tractor” and want to get my hands on the book once again to confirm that.
Someone was just asking about this a week or so ago on another board.
The book was ‘Bulldozer’ by Stephen Meader.
“Bill Crane, just out of high school and eager for a job, goes on a June fishing trip with his friend, Ducky Davis, to a lake in the Maine wilderness. More important than the bass they catch is the discovery of a Caterpillar D2 Tractor sunk and abandoned in the lake. How Bill locates the owner and buys the machine, how he and Ducky get it out of the water and make it run, is a tale that will thrill every mechanically minded boy. Of still broader interest is the story of Bill’s plucky battle to build a contracting business from that modest start. He makes enemies, but he makes loyal friends as well. Willing to tackle any job with his little bulldozer, he clears orchards, digs cellars, moves buildings, plows fields, skids logs, and fights forest fires. Finally, in an exciting climax, he wins an important earth-moving contract against strong and unscrupulous competition. This is a story of a sturdy machine and a boy with courage, ingenuity, and grit. It could happen in few places on earth except America.”
This is almost certainly Bulldozer by Stephen W. Meader (1892-1977); illustrated by Edwin Schmidt. New York : Harcourt, Brace, 1951. “On a fishing trip to a Maine lake, Bill Crane and his friend Ducky discover a sunken Caterpillar tractor. After buying the abandoned machine from its rightful owner, they get it out of the water and make it run. Then Bill battles to start and build a successful contracting business with the bulldozer.” Meader was a great writer for teens and this is an engaging novel.