FFB: The Jungle Kids -- Evan Hunter

This collection of short stories appears to have been issued to capitalize on the success of The Blackboard Jungle.  Most of the stories appeared first in Manhunt, and and all of them are of course about the bane of the '50s, juvenile delinquents.  I'd read some of these before, probably in a more recent collection of Hunter's early work, Learning to Kill.

One story that wasn't from Manhunt is "To Break the Wall," which appeared in discover no. 2.  It's of interest because it's set in a vocational high school and is about a confrontation between a group of tough students and a young teacher named Rick Dadier.  It's the story that led to The Blackboard Jungle.  There's another story also set in a vocational high school, "The Jungle Kids" (original title, "The Mild Ones") that appeared in Adventure.  It's about a different kind of confrontation and about two different kinds of teachers.

I've written about "See Him Die" before.  It's the story that was later the basis for See Them Die, an 87th Precinct novel.  And speaking of the 87th Precinct, Hunter could have, if he'd wanted to, written some swell Dragnet novels, as shown by "Small Homicide," which reads just like a Dragnet script.  For example:

"He'll get the chair," I said.  "That's for sure."

"I'll pull the switch.  Personally.  Just ask me.  Just ask me, and I'll do it."

I nodded.  "Except one thing, Pat."

"What's that?"

"We've got to catch him first."

Dum-da-dum-dum.

Okay, I liked about that last line, but you gotta admit that it would fit right in.

Besides the Dragnet style of the story, there are several official documents included, something that would become a hallmark of the 87th Precinct series.  

I read all the stories in this book, but I won't got into detail about the others.  They're Manhunt stories, which means that they're about dope, gangs, tough kids, murders, seedy buildings, guns, and such.  They don't have upbeat endings, not a one of them.

Also notable is that this collection has been mentioned more than once by Lawrence Block as a book that inspired him to try his hand at a similar story for Manhunt.  Here's a bit of what he said in Mystery Scene:  "I thought they were terrific. And I had a solid experience of identification—not with the juvie characters, but with the author himself. Because the two things that struck me about what I was reading were: (a) that these were genuinely good, and (b) that I could see myself writing them."  Here's a link to the highly recommended rest of the essay.