author
Ralph Henry Barbour
1870–1944
Best known for lively school and sports stories, this early 20th-century American novelist helped shape a whole tradition of fiction for young readers. His books mixed football, friendship, rivalry, and fair play in a way that made them favorites for generations.
75 Audiobooks
Behind the Line: A Story of College Life and Football
by Ralph Henry Barbour
Four Afoot: Being the Adventures of the Big Four on the Highway
by Ralph Henry Barbour
Hitting the line
by Ralph Henry Barbour
The Adventure Club Afloat
by Ralph Henry Barbour
For the good of the team
by Ralph Henry Barbour
On Your Mark! A Story of College Life and Athletics
by Ralph Henry Barbour
Double Play: A Story of School and Baseball
by Ralph Henry Barbour
The Story My Doggie Told to Me
by Ralph Henry Barbour
Left End Edwards
by Ralph Henry Barbour
Four Afloat: Being the Adventures of the Big Four on the Water
by Ralph Henry Barbour
Crofton Chums
by Ralph Henry Barbour
Follow the Ball
by Ralph Henry Barbour
Nid and Nod
by Ralph Henry Barbour
The New Boy at Hilltop, and Other Stories
by Ralph Henry Barbour
Around the End
by Ralph Henry Barbour
Right End Emerson
by Ralph Henry Barbour
Finkler's Field: A Story of School and Baseball
by Ralph Henry Barbour
The play that won
by Ralph Henry Barbour
Rivals for the Team: A Story of School Life and Football
by Ralph Henry Barbour
Four in Camp: A Story of Summer Adventures in the New Hampshire Woods
by Ralph Henry Barbour
Team-Mates
by Ralph Henry Barbour
Winning his game
by Ralph Henry Barbour
The mystery of the Sea-Lark
by Ralph Henry Barbour, H. P. Holt
Quarter-Back Bates
by Ralph Henry Barbour
The Junior Trophy
by Ralph Henry Barbour
Tom, Dick and Harriet
by Ralph Henry Barbour
Partners Three
by Ralph Henry Barbour
Weatherby's Inning: A Story of College Life and Baseball
by Ralph Henry Barbour
Keeping His Course
by Ralph Henry Barbour
Right Tackle Todd
by Ralph Henry Barbour
For Yardley: A Story of Track and Field
by Ralph Henry Barbour
Center Rush Rowland
by Ralph Henry Barbour
Kitty of the Roses
by Ralph Henry Barbour
A Maid in Arcady
by Ralph Henry Barbour
The Turner Twins
by Ralph Henry Barbour
Danforth Plays the Game: Stories for Boys Little and Big
by Ralph Henry Barbour
The Arrival of Jimpson, and Other Stories for Boys about Boys
by Ralph Henry Barbour
Captain of the Crew
by Ralph Henry Barbour
Captain Chub
by Ralph Henry Barbour
The Crimson Sweater
by Ralph Henry Barbour
The Brother of a Hero
by Ralph Henry Barbour
Left Tackle Thayer
by Ralph Henry Barbour
Right Guard Grant
by Ralph Henry Barbour
Left Guard Gilbert
by Ralph Henry Barbour
Fourth Down!
by Ralph Henry Barbour
Change Signals: A Story of the New Football
by Ralph Henry Barbour
The Purple Pennant
by Ralph Henry Barbour
Benton's Venture
by Ralph Henry Barbour
For the freedom of the seas
by Ralph Henry Barbour
Full-Back Foster
by Ralph Henry Barbour
Forward Pass: A Story of the "New Football"
by Ralph Henry Barbour
The Half-Back: A Story of School, Football, and Golf
by Ralph Henry Barbour
The Land of Joy
by Ralph Henry Barbour
Guarding His Goal
by Ralph Henry Barbour
Harry's Island
by Ralph Henry Barbour
Left Half Harmon
by Ralph Henry Barbour
Winning His "Y": A Story of School Athletics
by Ralph Henry Barbour
The Lucky Seventh
by Ralph Henry Barbour
Right Half Hollins
by Ralph Henry Barbour
The Spirit of the School
by Ralph Henry Barbour
Kingsford, Quarter
by Ralph Henry Barbour
Holly: The Romance of a Southern Girl
by Ralph Henry Barbour
For the Honor of the School: A Story of School Life and Interscholastic Sport
by Ralph Henry Barbour
The Secret Play
by Ralph Henry Barbour
The Lilac Girl
by Ralph Henry Barbour
The Fighting Scrub
by Ralph Henry Barbour
Lost Island
by Ralph Henry Barbour, H. P. Holt
Bases full!
by Ralph Henry Barbour
Hold 'em, Wyndham!
by Ralph Henry Barbour
Three-Base Benson
by Ralph Henry Barbour
The Adventure Club with the fleet
by Ralph Henry Barbour
Barry Locke, half-back
by Ralph Henry Barbour
Metipom's hostage : Being a Narrative of certain surprising adventures befalling one David Lindall in the first year of King Philip's War
by Ralph Henry Barbour
Pud Pringle, pirate
by Ralph Henry Barbour
Under the Yankee ensign
by Ralph Henry Barbour
About the author
Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1870, Ralph Henry Barbour became a prolific American novelist whose name was closely tied to boys' fiction, especially stories about school life and athletics. He is most often remembered for sports novels that brought football and other team games into fast-moving, character-driven adventures.
Barbour wrote a large number of books for young readers, and his work often stressed teamwork, determination, and personal growth alongside the excitement of competition. In addition to his sports fiction, he also wrote light romance and adventure, and he collaborated with L. H. Bickford under the pen name Richard Stillman Powell.
He died in 1944, but his stories remain part of the long history of American juvenile fiction. Readers coming to his work today will find a vivid picture of school and athletic life as it was imagined for young audiences in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.