When I was in 4th or 5th grade there were a set of books by a writer that I can only remember as being Dixon (big help huh). These books were aimed (very politically incorrect) at boys. They were probably 40 - 50 pages each, big print but with small pictures. Good reading but a few steps below the Hardy Boys - Nancy drew level. They were hard bound, covered with radically commercial (for the 1970s) art. Colored in day glow with big splashing titles, even the spines stood out among the rest of the books in the shelves. The stories concerned the travels of 2 brothers, who’s names I forget. Always dealing with exciting (for a little boy) far away subjects like SCUBA diving and Skiing and one about (if I recall) getting your glider pilots license. They were neat because they mixed fact with fiction, and always had some sort of personal conflict that in the end was always resolved in a non violent way. The boys always had these mature adventures with the full consent of their parents but always seemed to be interacting with other adults, or in situations that were never quite correct for 12-16 year old boys. The one I am thinking about concerned the older brother (for instance), the family had moved to Colorado (?), so the older one finds himself working in a ski shop. We learn in some detail how bindings are put onto skis and how critical that is. One customer is a local ski champ, who happens to be the brothers age, the champ (naturally) does not like our hero. One thing leads to 3 others and our hero (at 15 mind you) is on ski patrol - dynamiting loose areas of snow to aviate avalanches. Some how he saves the life of the antagonist and they live in peace and harmony for ever after. Or something like that. It was after all almost 30 years ago(!). All the other books had more or less the same plot revolving around some sport or activity like that. Ring any bells? My son is at the age where he might appreciate books at this level, also there is enough slang and other cultural references so as to help him with his English and get an Idea of the kind of stuff I was reading when I was his age. Thanks for your help.
**TAH DAH! **
Quick look at Powell’s revealed an author named Franklin W Dixon. His books are located in children’s collectibles. I have the sneaking hunch I have read some of his stuff to way back in the stone age.
Franklin W. Dixon was the name the Hardy Boys books were written under. I don’t know if that pen name was attached to another series as well.
The Hardy Boys books were written by Franklin W. Dixon, so I wonder if you might be getting the name of the authors mixed up.
One set of book that match some of your description are the “Adventure” series by Willard Price.
Each of the books was named “Something Adventure”, such as Gorilla Adventure, South Seas Adventure, Diving Adventure. From memory the boys’ father gathered animals for zoos and the brothers got involved in various exciting adventures in exotic locations.
(Amazon Link to book summaries)
Could that be what you’re after?
Well crap that explains why his name was familiar.
Ermmm… back to the research drawing board
I post a link to this factiod every time I see Frank W. Dixon or any author of kids books come up. Many kids books were concieved of by one man. While the books themselves were farmed out to several different people, Edward Stratemeyer did most of the story outlines.
** Krisfer the Cat ** wrote…
I took a look. Sorry, these seem to be Hardy Boys books, but this brings up something that I had not considered, Maybe this Franklin W Dixon also wrote the books I’m thinking of, I any case thanks for the trip down memory lane. I think my son will not be ready for this level of reading till next year or so, I worry about over loading him as he is digesting all this academic stuff in 2 languages.
BTW ** Krisfer the Cat ** your sig line rocks!
** Apollyon ** wrote…
Damn. If I didn’t know better, I would say you nailed it! The name of the book I mention in the OP was (if I recall) Skiing Adventure, the plot lines mentioned on the amazon site you (graciously) linked to sound just like what I was talking about. Now a few flaws, either in my memory or in the books you mentioned. The covers are not the same (but this could simply reflect a change in design over time)None of the titles are familiar, as I recall neither brother was named Roger but the name rings a bell because this was the name of our next door neighbor. And finally I think the book about learning how to fly a glider was called High Flight, though it could have just as easily been named High Flight Adventure, in any case I may just order one of these books for my son to see how he likes it, and continue looking for these other books. I was so sure the author was named Dixon to boot, but we all know how reliable the brain can be.
One more problem ** Apollyon **, closer inspection of the hard cover versions of the adventure series books shows they were written between 1955 and 1964, I think that’s to old. These books had modern themes (for the 1970s) also I don’t believe they were 200 pages, but maybe they were. I will keep up the search.
Any one else have any ideas?
Franklin Dixon was a pen name for the Hardy Boys. The first few in the series were writen by ‘him’ and then a stable of writers took over with FD editing them.
I’m pretty sure the same is basically true for Nancy Drew.
Far a facinating look into the world of cheap publications like pulp novels and comic books I highly recomend The Adventures of Cavalier and Clay.
Rats. I thought the Price “Adventure” books had enough similarities to offer as a possibility… as for age, I read them when I was a kid – early to mid '70s – I didn’t realize (or check) that they were considerably older than I was.
From memory they were an enjoyable read, and probably my 3rd favourite – behind the “Three Investigators” and “Biggles”. (Never much cared for the Hardy Boys). 
Interestingly it appears Franklin W. Dixon also wrote (or is credited with writing) a series of Flying adventures, the Ted Scott Flying Stories, but these fail your other criteria about the brothers.
Oh well, back to the search engine.
Whenever I see a thread like this I try to plug this link.
http://www.logan.com/loganberry/stump.html
My sister and I have used it to sucessfully identify a number of childhood books, when author and title were forgotten. I even solved two book queries for questioners.
Ok, I hate to sound like I’m nit-picking here, but there was no “Frank W. Dixon” that wrote the Hardy Boys. Look here, and you’ll see that the author that wrote most of the first books in the Hardy Boys series was Leslie McFarlane.
As I said above, the The Stratemeyer Syndicate is responsible for a good portion of the childrens books that many people are familiar with. From the Hardy Boys, to Nancy Drew and Tom Swift, a great deal of childrens literature is directly attributable to that company.
It’s a reasonable nit-pick Atrael, but the practical fact remains that the syndicate pen-name Franklin W. Dixon is strongly associated with the Hardy Boys books (and many others), and if searching for these books that name needs to be used (rather than Leslie McFarlane).
The background info on the Stratemeyer Syndicate does however make fascinating reading. 
Ok OK…you’re right…scuffs ground…I suppose my fanatisism on this point is that I loved all those books as a child. So I’m even more impressed that basically one man was responsible for their creation. He may not have written every book, but the concept was his, as well as the driving force behind them. While you’re absolutly right that searching for a series of books by the author on the front cover is much more usefull, I think that people should at least know about Stratemeyer and the contribution and impact he had on a lot of us.
(steps off soapbox)
The Mystery has been solved. I started thinking very hard about the skiing adventure book, Hmmm what was it called? Something that involved snow… So I started Googeling any ski book variation along with the name Dixon. I finally got a hit on : Fast Snow, Peter L. Dixon, I went on to confirm them as the books that I remember reading. Alas, they are hard to get/out of print and I cant find any art from the book covers, to make absolutely sure, but synopses that I read told me that these were obviously the ones.
Books By Peter L. Dixon (Among others about surfing and flying gliders. He was an ExTrEmE Dude before his time)
Fast Snow – The one mentioned in the OP.
Deep Dive- I forget, something about SCUBA diving, didn’t read the synopsis.
Wipe Out – One of the boys learns to surf (and so de we).
Test Run – The boys get into competition Dune Buggy racing, AND bust a ring of car thieves.
Silent flight – the older boy learns how to fly a glider and gets his wings (and so do we).
So I guess that about wraps it up for this thread, unless any can find more of the books (I read these five)
Or any of the cover art. Thanks for your help, and more, I now know more about the Hardy Boys then I ever thought I would. (I only read one or two them).
You’re welcome Janx.
Sorry I couldn’t be of more help. But it was a fun thread anyway
Try entering the author’s name at www.abebooks.com
I did, and while the name Peter L. Dixon seems fairly common, I saw all of those books salted in amongst the others. And someone with that name wrote a lot of non-fiction books about the same activities the boys seem to be involved in.
He has a few extra titles here that are available secondhand.
** don’t ask ** wrote…
Cool! I’m going to see if I can get my mom to order them and send them down here for Xmas - they are so cheap!. There is one title I had forgotten, that I found on the page you referenced, “Fire Guard”. I think it was the first one I read, one of the Boys (I think the older one), winds up on a Hot Shot crew for the summer, It was neat, we learn all kinds of ways to use a chain saw and put out fires (I’m telling you, it now sounds suspiciously like a stint with the California Youth Authority for Juvenile Offenders) so any way, the antagonist in this one is some big psychopathic lumberjack who once had a chain saw accident and now refuses to use them, he always (if I recall) was sitting around with a file morosely sharpening his ax. The boy ends up saving his life with – you guessed it – a chain saw.
I think I also read the one about Ballooning as well as well, but it must have been pretty dull, as I seem to remember the cover, but not the story. (Or it was so bad I have repressed the memory.)
BTW all, I think this Dixon fellow may have written other adventure books later on, some names like operation blue water, and others sound like his work. I’m still looking for a cover shot to show ya’ all, they were wild. If you saw them you might understand better the appeal to a young geek boy like me.
I will say, after reading them I did in fact take up surfing. And when I learned how to ski, as well as getting my SCUBA certificate I remembered a lot of things I read in those books and they were true. This is one reason I would like my son to read them. I must say though, I never had the desire to go out and fight raging brush fires though. I’m such a wuss!