Albert Payson Terhune Books In Order

Publication Order of Sunnybank Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Albert Payson Terhune was a reputed writer, journalist, and dog breeder from The United States. He was well known for writing novels based on his beloved collies’ adventures. Author Terhune owned the Sunnybank Kennels that used to breed collies, whose lines exist even today in the Rough Collies. He was born on December 21, 1872 in New Jersey. Terhune’s mom, Mary Virginia Hawes, used to work as a writer and published books on household management. Also, she used to write novels based on pre-Civil War under the pen name of Marion Harland. Terhune’s father was a reverend named Edward Payson Terhune. Author Terune had 4 sister and a brother. Two of his sisters could not reach the adult age. The family of Terhune had a summer home called Sunnybank. In 1912, author Terhune decided to make it a permanent residence. He completed his education from the Columbia University and earned a B.A. degree in the year 1893. After his graduation, he started working as a reporter for Evening World and 22 years doing this job between 1894 and 1916. Terhune used to box exhibition matches along with Bob Fitzsimmons, James J. Jeffries, and James J. Corbett. The Sunnybank Kennels, where Terhune bred, raised, and cared for rough collies, had become the most popular kennel for collies in entire United States.

Author Terhune was an important member of New York’s Adventurers’ Club. He was referred to as ‘Bert’ by other members of the club. Author Terhune had married two times in his life. Lorraine Bryson Terhune was the author’s first wife, who had died when she was 23 years old. Her death occurred 4 days after she gave birth to their first child, Lorraine Virginia. Terhune’s marriage with Lorraine Bryson lasted for a period of 9 months. Sometime later, Terhune was married again to Anice Terhune. The couple didn’t have any children. Author Terhune’s death occurred on February 18, 1942. His dead body was rested in Pompton Lakes’ Pompton Reformed Church in New Jersey. After several years of his death, Terhune’s estate in Wayne, Sunnybank, was turned into a memorial park in the author’s name. The park is maintained even today under the name of Terhune Memorial Park-Sunnybank. This memorial park is open to all and the visitors are allowed to visit the various graves of the dogs that author Terhune mentioned in his works. They are also given access to view the collection of the author’s books and the dog awards won by him.

Some of the family items of historical importance from Terhune home are kept for public display at the Historical Museum of Pompton Lakes and the House Museum of Van Riper Hopper in Wayne, New Jersey. The government has also named an elementary school in the honor of author Terhune, the Albert Payson Terhune-Elementary School, which is one of the 9 elementary schools located in Wayne. This school has its mascot in the form of a collie dog. A 1975 movie called A Boy & His Dog features a dog as a lead character. It is depicted as calling his master by the name Albert. This was done to pay tribute to author Terhune. L.Q. Jones was director of the film and the novella on which the film was based was penned by author Harlan Ellison in 1969. Author Terhune began his writing career by first writing short stories revolving around his collie named Lad. The stories were collectively called Lad Stories. The stories used to appear in many general-interest magazines such as Saturday Evening Post, Hartford Courant, Atlantic Monthly, Red Book, Ladies’ Home Journal etc.

Among his first full-length novels is the one called Lad : A Dog. It is a collection of several stories about his dog Lad in the form of a novel. This boo was then followed by more than 30 other novels focused on dogs. Those novels included two more titles about Lad. After its publication in 1919, Terhune’ first book had gone on to become a bestseller in the adult & young adult markets all over the world. It has been re-printed more than 80 times. The book was also adapted into a feature movie in 1962. Terhune was highly praised for his work at that time, but today, some people criticize him for depicting racism in his writings against the minorities, half-breeds, and hill people. These minorities were less idealized during Terhune’s time and he greatly explored this idea in his novels.

A popular book written by author Albert Payson Terhune is entitled ‘Lad: A Dog’. It was published in 1919 by the E P Dutton. It is composed of 12 short stories that were initially released in magazines. This novel’s story is based on Terhune’s real life Rough Collie that was also named Lad. It was 1992-born, unregistered collie, with an unknown lineage. Initially owned by the father of Terhune, it died in 1918 and was mourned by a large number of Terhune’s fans, especially children. Throughout the stories of the adventures of Lad, author Terhune has expressed views on the basics of parenting, caring, obtaining good obedience without any force, and the rights and nature of ‘well-bred’. Author Terhune first started writing Lad’s story in 1915 when he was suggested by the editor of Red Magazine. The stories began gaining popularity, making Terhune obligated to submit the novel to Doubleday publishers as per the contract. So, he collected the stories and presented them as a novel to Doubleday. It got rejected and made Terhune look for other publishers. Eventually, Dutton picked up the novel and agreed to publish it. Initially, the novel gained slow start, but picked up the sales later and got listed as a bestseller.

Another entertaining book penned by Terhune is called ‘Bruce’. It was published in 1920. This book too is based on one of Terhune’s collies named Bruce. The story primarily revolves around Bruce, who is moved overseas for serving in the World War II for United States. As the owners of Bruce didn’t have any son, they decided to send Bruce as a contribution on their part. Bruce being smart, brave, and loyal, its owners were sure that he is going to do a great job. A section of the plot depicts Bruce’s role in the war efforts in France. Author Terhune has developed this part as a fictionalized version of popular real dogs off the 2nd Word War named Sergeant Stubby and Rags. A large section depicts the US government’s operation of using dogs to fight in the devastating war. As per this operation, the government asked the civilians for enlisting their dogs, after which they were evaluated and trained for specific roles in military service. This novel received a lot of appreciation from readers all over the world and eventually became another great success of author Terhune’s writing career.