Oliver Optic’s Dikes and Ditches; Or, Young America in Holland and Belgium is one of a series of travel-adventure novels following American boys on a grand tour of Europe aboard their school ship. This instalment takes them to the flat, canal-crossed landscapes of Holland and Belgium, where engineering marvels and history await at every turn.
Optic combined adventure with education more successfully than most of his contemporaries, and the European tour series gave young American readers a vivid introduction to the Old World. Download the free EPUB and sail with Young America to the windmills and waterways of the Low Countries.