This “Better Little Book,” titled Red Ryder and the Code of the West (copyright 1940 & 1941), is one of the many Red Ryder stories that boys read during World War II. Red Ryder was a hugely popular fictional hero and a book like this was the dream gift for most boys in the 1940s. Many commercial items like toy guns and clothing were also available so that children could dress like Red Ryder and act out the stories. As the nation became more mobilized for the war effort, Red Ryder’s famed BB guns, manufactured starting in 1938, by the Daisy Gun Factory, and air rifles became more popular. The factory, which started out manufacturing windmills for water pumps, made a BB gun in 1888, as a free promotional giveaway with their windmills. Farmers liked the BB guns so much that they soon became the company’s sole business. The toy rifle pictured here belongs to Christopher R. Pichette of Deerfield, Massachusetts, the seventh child of Robert Pichette of Ashfield, who served in WWII.