Enemies of the Secret Hide-Out
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Enemies of the Secret Hide-Out was a 1966 book, written and illustrated by children's author John Peterson, and was the sequel to The Secret Hide-Out. It was a long-running paperback title for Scholastic Press, and its book clubs, through the 1970s.
The story picks up not long after the first book leaves off. Viking Club members Matt, Sam and Beany are in the process of recruiting two new boys, Rusty and Ted, to join them. While Ted devotes himself to passing the initiation tests, Rusty shows little interest, wanting only to go and see the Hide-Out. Rusty walks away when he's caught cheating one of the tests, and shortly after, the Vikings receive a threatening note – Rusty has started a rival club, and plans to learn and expose the Hide-Out's secret location. Ted, meanwhile, comes up with an idea to fool the other club, by using a decoy Hide-Out to lure them out.
While no new Viking Club lore is presented in the book, the story is nonetheless exciting, and one any child with their own club or favorite hiding place could relate to. Ted is depicted by Peterson as an African-American boy, while the other boys are white, making a subtle pro-integration hint during the socially-conscious 1960s. Even Rusty, the villain of the story, makes no race or class distinctions toward anyone; he mocks Beany and Ted because they're younger than himself, and Sam and Matt because they "go by the book", and follow rules.
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