This is better than Jerry at the Academy but not so good as Jerry of Seven Vile Creek. It has a hurdle to take in the fact that it dates without being period stuff or historical. In spite of this fact, the fundamentals of selling seem to be ageless, and Elmer Ferris, himself an authority on the subject, has incorporated most of them in this story of how Jerry made good (with plenty of set-backs) in the summer job and the months that followed. Jerry is attractively human, he has lots of prickles, and he has his quota of ups and downs. Period data (before the turn of the century) is authentic. I've seen only the jacket and end paper (by Paul Galdone), and feel that, although it carries out the feel of the period, it lacks the quality of warmth and sympathy with youth that is characteristic of the text. It seems stiff.