HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: It was so much fun to chat with you all and the Reds and Readers happy hour on Thursday! And we are planning our next event right now. We'll let you know the date, and the winners are being chosen. Thank you so much for being there.
One of the things I loved about our discussion was the chat about the books we read when we were what, pre-teenagers? Cherry Ames, and Trixie Belden, and of course Nancy Drew, but also Donna Parker and Vicki Barr. (These are on my bookshelf in my study. And the ones below, too.)
Wikipedia says: Vicki Barr is a popular mystery series for girls published by Grosset & Dunlap from 1947 to 1964. Helen Wells (1910–1986) wrote volumes #1-4 and 9-16, and Julie Campbell Tatham (1908–1999), the creator of Trixie Belden, wrote volumes #5-8.
Donna Parker is the protagonist of an eponymous seven-volume book series for girls that was written by Marcia Levin under the pseudonym Marcia Martin from the 1950s through the 1960s.
Cherry Ames is the central character in a series of 27 mystery novels with hospital settings published by Grosset & Dunlap between 1943 and 1968. Helen Wells (1910-1986) wrote volumes #1-7 and #17-27, and Julie Campbell Tatham (1908-1999), the creator of Trixie Belden, wrote volumes #8-16. Wells also created the Vicki Barr series.
Hmm, Julie Campbell Tathham really changed our lives, right? And little did we know.
Julie Campbell Tatham (June 1, 1908 – July 7, 1999) was an American writer of children's novels, who also wrote for adults, especially on Christian Science. As Julie Campbell she was the creator of the Trixie Belden series (she wrote the first six) and the Ginny Gordon series. As Julie Tatham she also took over the Cherry Ames series and Vicki Barr series from Helen Wells.
Why did we love them? Here’s a page from Trixie Belden and The Mysterious Code. See how it starts with an inciting incident?
In Cherry Ames, Chief Nurse, Cherry gets her new assignment on page 8.
But “flight stewardess” Vicki Barr, who is about to embark on The Hidden Valley Mystery, is all backstory and background...until chapter two.
So much fun to go back and look at these! Did you read this kind of book? Why do you think we loved them so much? Which ones did you read?
What a great look back at the stories we loved so much! Nancy Drew was our favorite; Jean and I also read Cherry Ames, the Bobbsey twins, and Trixie Belden.
ReplyDeleteWhy did we love them so much? Perhaps for the same reasons we still love great mystery stories . . . and it didn't hurt that they were our ages, either.
I agree! The stories made us feel as if we could be smart and strong and solve problems too!
ReplyDeleteI wish I could gather these books around me and just read them without interruption (well, except for the necessary ones). I must admit that Trixie Belden and Nancy Drew were the ones I stuck to. I should read some of the others you mentioned, Hank, just so I could know them a little bit too. There were other books in my pre-teen years that captivated me, too. Beautiful Joe by Marshall Saunders, Hans Brinker Or the Silver Skates by Mary Mapes Dodge, The Boxcar Children, a couple of Barbie books, a Patty Duke book, a Doctor Kildare book, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, and the Five Little Peppers and How They Grew (the last two was probably elementary school before the others). Oh, I remember reading a couple of the Little Colonel books by Anne Fellows Johnson. Does anyone else remember those? Most people probably do recall that Shirley Temple was in the movie. (Was there more than one Little Colonel movie). I do have a crystal clear memory of when I was allowed to leave the children's room and start visiting the fiction room for older kids and adults. I have a snapshot in my mind of standing at one particular shelf and looking at the amazing mystery covers.
ReplyDeleteKathy, I loved Hans Brinker and could just imagine the freedom of the skating. The Five Little Peppers was also great. I think my favourite was Heidi - oh the summer meadows and the goats. Unbeknownst at that time, I would go on to become a goat farmer - who knew?
DeleteOh, yes, I have a memory of a Patty Duke book, too! That is so interesting how they went from TV to Books… she was such a role model! And Hans Brinker really haunts me, I can’t remember… Did something really sad happened in that book?
DeleteKathy, NYTimes article this weekend marking the 100th birthday of the Boxcar Children. They were not part of my library as a child so I did not read it. Vague memories of Hans Brinker. Thank you for your thoughts. Elisabeth
DeleteI loved Hans Brinker! Boxcar Children is another I only recently heard of -- sweet <3
Delete-- Story Mary
Margo, I love goats, even though I've not had any close encounters with them. In my dream world, being a goat farmer would be a wonderful life. And, I, too, loved the Heidi story. Hank, there is sadness in Hans Brinker, but it's working towards happiness. The year Hans Brinker or the Silver Skates by Mary Mapes Dodge came out, 1865, and outsold all other books that year except for Charles Dickens' Our Mutual Friend. There was a Hallmark 1958 musical of the book, starring Tab Hunter as Hans. It was broadcast on TV in black and white. I remember seeing it, but I don't know when. Disney came out with a movie of the book in 1962, and I remember seeing that, too. And, speaking of the Patty Duke books, the one I have is Patty Duke, Mystery Mansion. I also have a couple of books in the Disney mystery series of Annette (Funicello), Annette and the Mystery at Moonstone Bay and Sierra Summer. Elisabeth, thanks for the heads-up on the NYT article about the Boxcar Children. I'll look it up. Mary, I can't believe I missed so many that Hank and others have named.
DeleteI loved Cherry Ames and read all the books. And Nancy Drew, of course, but I never heard about Vicki Barr and haven't read Trixie Belden. Do you have all the books you showed on your shelves at home, Hank?
ReplyDeleteI loved them because they had adventures! And they took control of their lives, also important.
That's it, Edith: adventures and agency!
DeleteYes, those are on my shelves!
DeleteTrixie Belden and Cherry Ames first belonged to my older sister, but I had some Donna Parkers of my own. It was fun to read their adventures and think that maybe that could be me.
ReplyDeleteDonna Parker was so life-changing for me! She honestly was the character who taught me to plan ahead. She taught me that I could imagine an event, and find the things that needed to be done simply by envisioning it before hand.
DeleteI did read the Bobsey Twins but for the most part we used the library. I am pretty sure that series books from Grosset & Dunlap were not included in the collection being deemed 'not quite suitable for juvenile literature. No matter, I was totally hooked on fantasy, the Brits did it so well, Edward Eager,
ReplyDeleteP L Travers, also Robert Lawson, Robert Atwater I could go on.. but what happened was a jump to Science Fiction because girls could have adventures and finally back to mysteries via the sci fi mystery combinations. To this day by tbr mountain contains both genres, with a tiny dash of the Newbery's when the dog doesn't die.
forgot Hugh Lofting
DeleteThe Edward Eager books are my favorite of all time. All time . But it feels like those were a different level than these girl books, do you think?
DeleteOddly, none of these books were on my radar growing up in Toronto in the early 1970s. I did read Encyclopedia Brown & some Nancy Drew, though.
ReplyDeleteI was too old for Encyclopedia Brown! But I do know so many mystery readers started with those… (
DeleteOh, Cherry Ames! Of course, Nancy Drew. I still would like her little “roadster”. I also loved the Sue Barton series by Helen Dore Boylston. In spite of Cherry Ames and Sue Barton I never wanted to be a nurse. Suzette Ciancio
ReplyDeleteSue Barton fan here. I still re-read that series when I want an old, old friend to settle in with...
DeleteI am laughing… I so agree! I devoured Cherry Ames and Sue Barton, but top of my mind, and every book was: wow , I do not want to be a nurse!
DeleteNot so much the so-called girls' novels. (I tried a Nancy Drew once and, through my Y-chromosome bias, determined she was a turnip-brained fathead.) I devoured the Hardy Boys, never realizing how racist they were. I still enjoy many of the kids' books. I've read all but one of the original TOM SWIFTs (speaking of racist), truly enjoy THE THREE INVESTIGATORS by Robert Arthur and others, have read all of the Jay Williams-Raymond Abrashkin DANNY DUNN series, and am now going through the Ellen MacGregor-Dora Pantell MISS PICKERELL books. I'm slow getting into the RICK BRANT scientific adventures, but I devoured the TOM CORBETT SPACE CADET BOOKS. I kind of like L. Frank Baum's OZ books, but the gender switching of Ozma threw me. Despite its many faults, I still enjoy Tarzan and his ilk. I enjoyed the first BLACK STALLION book by Walter Farley, probably because the horse came from another world; the rest...meh. The later Tom Swift series (Tom Jr., Tom III, Tom LVII, and so on, into infinity) leave me cold, as do the modern incarnations of the Hardy Boys. My taste in in kids' books is eclectic but definitely male-oriented; my eleven-year-old inner self still rejects the "sissy" stuff -- an opinion that is oh-so-wrong, but I'm stuck with it.
ReplyDeleteOh, I read The Black Stallion, too. My brother was just a year older than me and an avid reader. He influenced my choices more than my girlfriends did. He definitely led me to all the Big Red books and to Jack London, too.
DeleteOh, yes, I loved The Black Stallion! We could do a whole separate blog on the horse books, right? And I am laughing about Nancy Drew – – I do remember, she called Bess “plump” and even back then I thought that was unpleasant. :/)
DeleteKids books were mostly The Hardy Boys, because for some reason they were better than Nancy Drew, and the boys would read them too. We had a small book store in the nearest town, and they had a very small collection of books to buy (1950’s). It was always exciting when Tom & George would each get one for their birthdays in March, and we knew it would be available for the summer.
ReplyDeleteOur favourite of all was The Happy Hollisters by Jerry West. There would be fighting over those – “hurry up and finish-I’m next - no you aren’t – Mooom!!!, kind of arguments. Even The hardy Boys were set aside for a Hollisters’ book. Think we only had about 3 in that series. I still have the books, but as I recall even my bookworm daughter would not read any of them.
As an aside, I have been doing hospital visits and reading gardening books while sitting. I am so excited to mention that if you didn’t already know Sweet Peas are an excellent way to perhaps do someone in, but definitely make their life miserable. Mystery writers need to google Lathyrus poisoning. I look forward to the book!
I remember The Happy Hollisters, Margo. Loved that family!
DeleteSweet Peas?! Hmmmm....
DeleteThat’s great! You can find everything you need to know what jungle red, right? :-)
DeleteLoved, loved, loved the Happy Hollisters! As an only child, I idealized having all those brothers and sisters. :) Elisabeth
DeleteSorry I missed the evening! It was my turn to host book club that night.
ReplyDeleteI started reading Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, the Bobsey Twins, and lives of the saints when I was in second grade. (Catholic school, of course.) When I had my own pocket money we lived near a great toy store with a lively book section, and I bought some Trixie Belden and Cherry Ames and Nancy Drews for myself. I think they were 50 cents to a dollar, which was a lot in the early 1960's. Wish I still had those books, but they disappeared a long time ago.
One of the reasons I think we liked them so much is because we could see girls and young women having fun adventures and performing acts of derring do, quite unlike what we usually saw around us in that era of apron-wearing housewives. My mother worked in an office, and one girlfriend's mom was an interior decorator, but most of the rest of the moms I knew stayed home. The novels gave us all a glimpse into worlds we could, and later did, aspire to. It was intriguing to imagine we, too, could solve crimes and get in the midst of exciting and dangerous situations.
When the American Girl Dolls came out they were accompanied by several novellas each, showing each doll character set in a different era leading her life in historically accurate situations. My kids ate that up, and were much more interested in history than I had been, largely because they could see themselves in a historic setting. When we were kids our few women figures in history were Betsy Ross and Florence Nightingale, and maybe Dolly Madison.
Karen, I loved history and read books about historical figures. Also, we got the All About Books that were about natural history, like All About Sharks. I read as many of those as I could find.
DeleteAgreed! I love that they could solve a mystery, solve problems, and save the world. And they were just… girls like me. Except for the roadster.
DeleteJudy, the only historical books with female figures I ever knew about where about the saints. I loved reading about the women who started religious orders or helped the poor while rejecting their wealthy families. They were fascinating.
DeleteWe had an encyclopedia at home that included one volume of nothing but animals. No wonder I married a wildlife photographer, after devouring every fact in that book.
I'm also reminded by some of the other comments that I was crazy for horse books like My Friend Flicka and National Velvet.
DeleteIt is recorded on the Red & Readers site, not the same as live, but still good.
DeleteCherry, Trixie, Nancy and Donna are all familiar names to me, though I'm not sure I read any of them as a girl, and Vicki Barr is new to me. My British mum fed me a steady diet of English authors, including Noel Streatfield and Enid Blyton. But my two very most favourite series are the "Jill and her ponies" books by Ruby Ferguson and the "Sue Barton, nurse" books by Helen Dore Boylston. I still re-read both series when I want an old friend for comfort.
ReplyDeleteRegardless of the details, I loved stories in which the main character was a girl who was decent, smart and capable; she would have a gaggle of friends; and she would help make things right by the end of book. I imagined I could be like that, too.
My grandmother read every nurse book our library had!
DeleteMy grandmother read mysteries. She always had one with her and they all had dark, provocative covers!
DeleteKaren -- I never wanted to be a nurse or doctor, but I liked reading about Sue and her career.
DeleteJudy -- I would troll through my parents' bookshelves not knowing much about what I was seeing, so exciting covers of any kind always got my attention.
Amanda, I also looked at all the covers on my mother's book shelf. That is how I ended up reading Poe and other adult literature from the time I was 11 or so. My mother mostly hid the juicy stuff, like Peyton Place, but my brother knew where they were hidden.
DeleteOh, yes, I sneaked Peyton Place, too!
DeleteI went to a rummage sale once with my mom. While we were standing, looking at the books, a woman my mother knew came over to say hi. We got to talking (I was in my mid-20s at the time) and, in that collection of used books each found “that” book with the shocking passage we had read when we were young and impressionable. For my mother, it was “The Sheik”, for her acquaintance, “The Group” by Mary McCarthy and mine was “The Godfather”. What was funniest to me was that each of us picked up our book and could still turn to “the” page for the alluring passage! So we all had our version of the Peyton Place forbidden fruit! — Pat S
DeletePeyton Place - never read it until I was much older. Wondered what the fuss was, but:
DeleteIn that book was a quotation - who takes a quotation from Peyton Place. I needlepointed it as such "It is easier to read or write than to live. That's the only real difference. Life is too damned short not to be lived every moment."
It hangs in my dining room.
I did read The Bobsey Twins, then Nancy Drew, but in sixth grade I read Exodus by Leon Uris and that changed my direction a lot. It took me two months to read it! For a while, fourth and fifth grades, I read stories about animals, Big Red and as many of the sequels as I could find. I read Black Beauty and Beautiful Joe. I loved books by Jack London and I read Mark Twain, too. I hardly considered looking for the "girly" stories after fifth grade but, if a librarian had pointed me to them, I would have loved them. I never read the mysteries that so many of you read as teens. I went straight to dark and drama filled romances like Rebecca, and Mistress of Mellyn and Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights. I read SHE. I probably also read popular adventure stories.
ReplyDeleteI am still a slow reader. I read every word and I listen to charcters' voices. I never read as much as I do now except in college where I was a literature major, and when I lived in Tel Aviv for a year with nothing to do once I came home and no one to answer to.
It is interesting to hear about everyone's background and to marvel that we all ended up here on the JRW blog, discussing books.
Judy, I read Leon Uris Mila 18 and was transfixed. It was at the same time as the song Morning Train, and all I could picture was those adults taking the children on the train for a picnic to nowhere with that music. Powerful!
DeleteMargo, I read that book much later, I was 26. I closed the book, picked up the telephone and called the organization that arranged for me to spend the next two years in Israel. I had a tenured teaching position that I gave up in order to go.
DeleteJudy: Wow. That's a story I'd love to hear more about!
DeleteMargo: I recently re-read Exodus, and have Mila 18 on my TBR.
Amanda, when you finish Mila 18, tell us here. Then I will tell you any part of my story that you would be interested in hearing about.
DeleteFascinating Judy. I'd like to hear more about your life in Israel.
DeleteYou reminded me of books I loved as a teen - Rebecca, Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights and must add Gone With the Wind which was very powerful and I thought about the characters for many years. I haven't read Mistress of Mellyn but will check it out.
Oh, thank you so much! I do love how the reds have brought us all together. It is pretty amazing.
DeleteJudy, you've reminded me of several books. I remember Mistress of Mellyn being of the bookshelf in our basement recreation room, and, so I had to read it. Exodus! My poor mind has failed me about just when I read it, but I think I was still in high school. I learned just how powerful books could be reading it. Oh, how I loved Beautiful Joe and Jack London's Call of the Wild. Did you read The Incredible Journey by Scottish author Sheila Burnford?
DeleteI did read them and I know I loved them but I cannot remember anything specific from any of them. No, that's wrong because i remember there was one book about a girl, maybe new to the school, who always wore a head scarf, inside and out. The other kids found that to be very weird. Then it turned out that the girl had been very sick and all her hair fell out. Or maybe it fell out for a different reason. Sorry to say I don't know which series this book was from or even how the problem was handled. But things turned out well and the girl was accepted by everyone.
ReplyDeleteThe books didn't cost much at all so I was always on a lookout for a new one at the dime store. That was where I often bought a tiny bottle of Blue Waltz perfume which came in a heart shaped bottle. I'm guessing this was late 50s, early 60s.
After all of the books mentioned above I graduated to the school library and loved books by Mary Stolz as well as others whose names I don't recall. What fun to remember all of this.
I have not thought of Blue Waltz for years! It was on the same shelf as Evening in Paris, right ?
DeleteI loved the Nancy Drew novels and when I had read all that were available I moved on to the Cherry Ames series. Also read some Hardy Boys. But Nancy Drew was my #1 heroine. Now I’m trying to determine what it was that drew (ha!) me to her so strongly. Her determination and honesty about being scared at times in the face of a dangerous investigation appealed to my somewhat timid self. She also seemed to have a lot of freedom which may have been something I felt lacking during my early adolescence. Great post, Hank!~Emily Dame
ReplyDeleteAgreed! Nancy was only supervised by her housekeeper, right? Mrs. Gruen? And her father, the lawyer was rarely home…
DeleteI read and re-read them all until I graduated to Anne of Green Gables followed by my mother's Mary Stewart, Victoria Holt, and Phillis Whitney books. I'm dazzled by all the YA books available now.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, it is completely different now! Quite amazing.
DeleteLove this post Hank! Fascinating to me that a small group of women writers produced many of them. We don't see franchises like that today, unless they are spinoffs from famous writers...
ReplyDeleteThat is an interesting observation – – – they really churned them out, didn’t they? That must’ve been such a talent.
DeleteI read Nancy Drew but none of the others. The Black Stallion and other Walter Farley books. Anything I could get my hands on about ancient cultures. I gravitated towards mystery and suspense, any adventures that took me to new places--and as I grew older, I liked some romance along with the mystery/suspense. Mary Stewart and Helen MacInnes were among my favorites--these are still some of my comfort reads. Also read some scifi but mostly fantasy--Andre Norton drew me into that genre (born Alice Mary Norton in Cleveland, Ohio). She set an example for me--wrote the first chapter of a fantasy novel at 16--gave it up because it was too much a copy of her style.
ReplyDeleteWell, you were learning, right?
DeleteWe (my twin and I) were reading all the time as kids, but didn’t read any of the listed series. We were horse crazy, so we moved from Marguerite Henry to longer books including Black Beauty and The Black Stallion. There was another series whose author I’ve forgotten which included titles like Silver Birch and Midnight Moon (both horses). And of course My Friend Flicka and Thunderhead. We also read Lad, a Dog and Lassie, Come Home and Rufous the Red-Tailed Hawk, The Call of the Wild. By high school it was Phyllis Whitney, Georgette Heyer, Elizabeth Goudge (The Middle Window) and The Lord of The Rings, also Exodus. I surreptitiously read my parents’ copy of The Valley of The Dolls in 8th or 9th grade.
ReplyDeleteGillian, I also read Valley of the Dolls in ninth grade! And barely understood any of it.
DeleteYes, yes yes! Silver Birch and Midnight Moon. And Golden Sovereign. And Copper Khan! The Connemara McGuire books. I adored them absolutely adore them, and that’s how I learned about claiming races, I remember.
DeleteOh, that was me, Hank, above with the Connemara McGuire books!
DeleteGillian, sort of surprised that as twins you missed The Bobsey Twins. I’m an only child and fantasized that I was half of a set of twins. Elisabeth
DeleteRe Bobbsey Twins, mom was a children’s librarian and had definite ideas about what was good literature and what wasn’t. The Bobbsey twins didn’t make the cut for her—we might have enjoyed them, but didn’t get to.
DeleteI never read any of these female-led series growing up. I read The Hardy Boys, The Three Investigators and Encyclopedia Brown when it came to "juvenile" level mysteries.
ReplyDeleteI read nearly all the series book mentioned. I also read all the Betsy/Tacy books, and still reread the last two in the series on a regular basis when I need comforting. I read the Anne of Green Gables books, too, as a youngster. I always asked for books for my birthday and for Christmas. I saved my money so I could buy books, too.
ReplyDeleteDebRo
Read and loved many of them, but Donna Parker and Vicki Carr are new to me, and I didn't read Trixie Belden until a few years ago!
ReplyDeleteI was a voracious reader. Set that hobby in place young. I remember Nancy Drew, the Dana Girls, Cherry Ames, The Motor Girls, The Bobbsey Twins, Honey Bunch, and the Hardy Boys (my brother was 9 years older than I. I'm sure I inherited them from him. I made it a point to collect the entire series of each - and read them of course.
Interesting question as to why they resonated. I think because, in my case at least, I was a child of the 50s. My mom did not work from home and I was raised to believe that a woman's place was keeping house. The heroines (and heroes) in these books were all doing something outside the stereotypical norm. It gave us hope and a roadmap!
Donna Parker was so great--she was the student council president, if I remember... And yes, they led us out of stereotypes! Or showed us another possibility... AND that being smart was cool, right?
DeleteHANK: Happy St. Patrick's Day to all who celebrate. On another note, I loved the Nancy Drew mysteries when I was in middle school.
ReplyDeleteMy attorney grandfather gave me a Nancy Drew Book Club subscription for my birthday and I would receive a Double Nancy Drew Book (two books in one lilac covered book) each month. And I recall discovering the Dana Girls mystery series (two) at a library sale. There was a contemporary mystery series called SUSAN SAND about a young college professor ? who was also a Detective.
My thoughts: I think we loved these books because Girls got to have adventures too. Many children's books at the time had adventure books with Boys having Adventures. And where were the Girls? Look at Tom Sawyer. Huck Finn. Treasure Island.
QUESTION: Since today is St. Patrick's Day, do the Reds and Readers have recommendations for Irish themed cozy mysteries? Thank you in advance.
Diana
Not a cozy, but Sarah Stewart Taylor sets her mysteries in Ireland. Sheila Connolly set one series in Ireland, her County Cork mysteries. I think you might find those more cozy!
DeleteDiana, look for books by Sheila Connolly. She sadly passed away a few years ago, but before she did she wrote a wonderful series about an American sleuth in Ireland.
DeleteEdith Maxwell’s “Four-leaf Clever”. Elisabeth
DeleteLOVE the Sarah Stewart Taylor books!
DeleteDiana here: everyone thank you for your recommendations. Added these books to my library requests.
DeleteOh, I remember my first real reading experience was Nancy Drew during a summer when a girlfriend, lent me my first book in the series. I was entranced, and it started me on my reading journey. Then onto the Hardy boys, the Bobsey, twins, the Dana girls, and one series I have not seen mentioned here, which is the Judy Bolton series by Margaret Sutton that one fascinated me because she grew up and got married at adopted a child and still solved mysteries. Of course, then I went on to Anne of Green Gables, Little Women, Little Men and the other books in her repertoire. And then, when I was older, the Lord of the Rings books. Since then I have never been without a book in my hand or on my Kindle or on my iPhone. I am truly blessed to have been started on that reading journey from the Nancy Drew books.
ReplyDeleteJudy Bolton...kinda rings a bell. Hmmm.
DeleteI loved Nancy Drew and Cherry Ames. I still have all of my Cherry Ames books (17 of them). But what started me on mysteries was the Happy Hollisters series: five siblings who went on all kinds of adventures. I still have all of those also. The first one I read was The Happy Hollisters and the Haunted House Mystery. I remember it because I had to ask my mother what an 'an-tee-que' (antique) was.
ReplyDeleteThat is SO cute! (and I thought it was MUN-ci-ple, not municipal.)
DeleteOh yes! Donna Parker was sort of my idol. And I loved Nancy Drew - although I was born in the 50’s, I was lucky enough to be given my aunt’s complete, blue-cloth bound set of Nancy Drew mysteries from the 40’s. I wish I still had them, but my mom said I should pass them on to my cousin. [sigh] That same aunt gave me another wonderful mystery/adventure book that had a great influence on me, The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken, featuring a brave young girl as protagonist. I received it for Christmas in 1963 when I was 9, and I still have it.
ReplyDeleteDidn’t mean to publish anonymously - hit the wrong button!
DeleteSO interesting! What was it about Donna Parker?
DeleteI loved loved loved Trixie Belden. I still do. I treasured the stories, because the kids were so real and they really stuck up for each other. They were well read, too. :^) The first six, were the only ones that counted, because once they were handed over to a syndicate named Kathryn Kenny, they plummetted in style and fun and quality.
ReplyDeleteSomehow, I gave them away in my later teen years, but then in my fifties I found copies of them all again...the original 6, the original editions), and still occasionally dip into them. They are on my mystery bookshelves in my office, and feature on the banner at my website, where I have a Trixie page.... http://www.susandaly.com/me.html
Oh, I wll look at that instantly!
DeleteLoving these! I am running out to an event, more to come later today! You all keep talking :-) xxxx
ReplyDeleteLoved Nancy Drew, of course, but Donna Parker and Cherry Ames were my favorites. Nurses Three, Bobbsey Twins, Robin Kane, Annette Funicello, the Power Boys. I would save my allowance and when I would walk downtown to go to the dentist (which was a lot) I would go to the dime store and buy my Whitman hardcover books. I still have most of them and reread them every once in a while. I never wanted to be a nurse, just have the adventures Cherry Ames had, lol.
ReplyDeletePam Purtle
EXACTLY--read about Cherry, but not BE CHerry.... :-))
DeleteI must have gone straight from Little House to sci-fi, via MUSHROOM PLANET to Asimov and Bradbury. I only found mysteries as a adult, when I brought a paperback Sue Grafton on a cruise, and was hooked! Since there are so many Nancy Drew titles, I've asked friends their favorites, and started with OLD CLOCK, CROOKED BANNISTER, AND WHISPERING STATUE. Any suggestions? <3
ReplyDeleteLOVE the Mushroom Planet! SO wonderful.
Delete<3
Deletemaking a ship with odds & ends ;-)
Hank, thank you for sharing these books! I grew up with Encyclopedia Brown, Nancy Drew and Trixie Beldon. I liked Trixie more than Nancy. Trixie seemed more relatable to me - maybe it was because she was younger than Nancy and much less prim and proper - ha!
ReplyDeleteYes, Trixie was younger, and Nancy could be a. little...judgmental. :-)
DeleteHoney Bunch, a younger girl who had different adventures, I remember a reference to Charlotte Russe a dessert she had on a train trip and the hollyhock flower she saw in a neighbor’s garden. I had never heard of either of these before but, of course, I had to look both of them up.
ReplyDeleteVicki Barr’s father liked to cook and made a Nesselrode pie which I also never knew about but had to find out what it was. So there was some educational value too.
Freddy the pig who solved mysteries in a series of books. Dr Doolittle by Hugh Lofting, Arthur Ransome’s Swallows and Amazons series which I read again as adult and still enjoyed. Learned about pemmican and other British terms which also expanded my knowledge beyond my immediate surroundings.
And that's how we learned things, right?
DeleteOnce I learned how to read in first grade I read my big brother's Hardy Boys and Rick Brant books. He complained about it so my parents gave me a Nancy Drew and a Bobbsey Twins to read. I got hooked on Nancy but not the Bobbseys. No brothers and sisters are that sweet all the time! Our county library carried series mysteries so I tried out the Dana Girls (loved them), Cherry Ames, Student Nurse (no thanks) and Vicky Barr, Flight Stewardess. You had to be a nurse to be a stewardess? Ack. I'm sure I tried Trixie Beldon too but it didn't stick. So, Dana Girls and Nancy Drew were my must reads, plus the two series I continued to steal from my brother. We subscribed to a classics book club so I read all of those: Tom Sawyer, The Five Little Peppers, Little Women, Toby Tyler, Penrod and Sam, and more. I also adored Caddie Woodlawn, Texas Tomboy by Lois Lenski, and Johnny Texas on the San Antonio Trail. That must have been my entry into historical fiction.
ReplyDeleteI love how your reading path veered into historical!
DeleteOh, wow, I had completely forgotten about Caddie Woodlaw. That brought back memories.
DeleteI love all these books…they are what kept me reading. My mom would take my sister and me to the dime store, and the first place I would go was the small area where they had the books. My favorites were Donna Parker and Trixie Belden. I also read Cherry Ames, Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, the Bobbsey Twins…really anything I could get my hands on.
ReplyDeleteI love that we all did this! xx
DeleteIrish settings: Carlene O’Connor, Catie Murphy. Not mysteries, but sort of an MD James Herriot series which takes place in Ireland-Patrick Taylor
ReplyDeleteJust started reading Carlene O'Connor's Irish Village series. Am enjoying them very much. So sad that Sheila Connolly is no longer with us with her wonderful "pub" series. I had listened to them on audio and they were so great.
DeleteSuch a fun post, Hank!! I never read any of these except for the Nancys. Might have inspired me to be a nurse or an investigative reporter--or a "flight stewardess!" I was horse crazy, so I read all the Walter Farleys and the Marguerite Henrys, many times, then moved on the Dick Francis and James Herriott as a teen.
ReplyDeleteYes, horse crazy! Me, too. exactly.
DeleteLoved reading this, Hank. Like Deb, I only read the Nancys. I was reading Little Women and Anne of Green Gables and The Little Princess... Also all of the Oz books. I never did get into the Bobbsy Twins though we had the books. Oh, what about the Shoes books? And the Twins books?
ReplyDeleteHallie, yes, Little Women, Little Men, Jo's Boys, The Little Princess, The Secret Garden, Heidi, Black Beauty... But I didn't read Anne until I was in my twenties! And I've never read the Oz books! Must remedy!
DeleteAgreed, I was never a Bobbseys fan. They were too--sweet. :-)
DeleteTrixie Belden has always been my favorite. I also read Nancy Drew, Donna Parker, Ginny Gordon, the Lennon Sisters, and Annette.
ReplyDeleteTrixie!
Deletelove this !
ReplyDeleteSo many books I missed while growing up. I have to back and check them out!
ReplyDelete