There is a genre of literary works that could be called "boys' stories." Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island" is one, as are Twain's "Tom Sawyer" or the Horatio Alger stories of a poor boy who "makes good."

At one point, most British boys and many others from the English-reading world would have been entranced by the adventures of Horatio Hornblower of the Royal Navy. These books were beloved not just by boys, but by such notables as Ernest Hemingway and Winston Churchill.

Their author, C. S. Forester (1899-1966), must have been something of a daydreamer. He had been refused entry to the service of his country during World War I for being too thin and bookish. Instead, he invented the dashing naval hero of the Napoleonic Wars, those battles between the British and various coalitions against the French under Napoleon, fought from 1803 to 1815.

The hero Hornblower, despite being a poor boy with no social connections--two major disadvantages in those days--nevertheless worked his way up from a seasick sailor of the lowest class of officers to, eventually, being Admiral of the Fleet, and a Baron.

The first book, "The Happy Return" (called "Beat to Quarters" in the United States) was actually the sixth chronologically. That is, Forester started with Hornblower in mid-career, and later went back and filled in stories of his earlier years mixed with others about his later life.

Forester (whose real name was Cecil Louis Troughton Smith) had other claims to fame as well. Several of his books, about Hornblower or other exciting heroes, were made into films. The most famous these was "The African Queen," about an English riverboat captain and a spinster lady making a dangerous journey down an African river in a desperate attempt to take out a German gunboat during World War I.

Written in 1945, it became a 1951 film with Humphrey Bogart as the now-Canadian captain, and Katherine Hepburn as the still-British lady. Bogart won the Academy Award for Best Actor. Hepburn was nominated for Best Actress, and the screenplay and director (John Huston) were also nominated.

Vocabulary: Which word above means:

1. loving to read

2. personal relationships that help one get ahead

3. filled with wonder

4. unmarried woman, sometimes offensive

5. famous people

6. highest rank in the Navy

7. nauseated from the motion of a ship

8. handsome, stylish

9. alliances

10. things that make one famous

ANSWERS: 1. bookish 2. social connections 3. entranced 4. spinster 5. notables 6. admiral 7. seasick 8. dashing 9. coalitions 10. claims to fame