Lois Lenski: Voices of Children

February 7 - March 18, 2011
Hodges Reading Room

Lois Lenski (1893-1974) was one of the most popular and most gifted among children's authors and illustrators of the twentieth century. This small exhibit is an attempt to document her talent and to show, in her own words, her intense feelings for the proper literature and education for children.

Born and reared in Ohio, Lenski gravitated early to a career in art. Although she majored in education at Ohio State University and prepared for a career in teaching, she took many art courses in college, decided on art as a vocation, and pursued this career at the Art Students' League in New York, furthering her art studies in England and Italy. At the Art Students' League,she became an assistant to the muralist Arthur Covey and married him in 1921. Advancing from part-time jobs designing greeting cards and drawings for advertisements, Lenski spent the decade of the 1920s illustrating the works of others, primarily for children's books. In addition to illustrating works such as Padraic Colum's The Peep-Show Man and Kenneth Graham's The Golden Age and Dream Days (which allowed her to exercise her passion for medieval costume and culture), she developed an association with the New York publishing firm Platt and Munk, illustrating such well-known works as Cinderella and The Little Engine That Could.

At the suggestion of an editor, Lenski decided to try her own hand at writing for children, publishing in 1927 Skipping Village, based on her own childhood experiences in Anna, Ohio. In her long and illustrious career as both writer and illustrator, Lenski authored more than eighty books for children of various ages, including the immensely popular "Davy" and "Mr.Small" series for younger readers and the influential and provocative "Roundabout America" and "Regional America" books for older children, as well as historical novels and poetry. In addition to providing riveting entertainment, her books invariably made a plea for tolerance and understanding among all people. Among her many awards were the Newbery Medal for 1946 for Strawberry Girl, one of her fifteen regional novels for young readers, and the National Child Study Association Award in 1948.

Special Collections & University Archives, Jackson Library, has many signed first editions, translations, manuscripts, original art work, artifacts, and ephemera in its Lois Lenski Collection, as well as a collection of miniature and early children's books collected by Lenski.

For her many contributions to children's literature, Lois Lenski in 1962 was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters by the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

-Dr. William K. Finley

Cherry Ames Nurse Stories

The popular "Cherry Ames" series created in 1943, in the midst of World War II, and was one of several patriotic series among girls' books. While the early titles centered on the war efforts of nurse Cherry and her colleagues, the series lasted through twenty-six titles until 1968, the post-war volumes showing "Nurse Cherry" in a variety of civilian nursing roles ("Dude Ranch Nurse," "Department Store Nurse," "Jungle Nurse," etc.). Although not the first "nursing" series, "Cherry Ames" is unique in having so many volumes devoted to a single occupation. Clearly the publishers believed in the enduring nature of their publicity claim for the series,

"It is every girl's ambition at one time or another to wear the crisp uniform of a nurse. The many opportunities for service, for adventure, for romance, make a nurse's career a glamorous one."

-Dr. William K. Finley

An Exhibit
Hodges Reading Room
February 15 - May 15, 2010

The Airplane Girl

And the Mystery of Seal Island



Although not the first of the "flying girls" series (the "Girl Aviator" series appeared in 1911, and there are other earlier series involving a female aviator), the "Airplane Girl" books (four titles, all in 1930) demonstrated the continuing fascination with flying and the increased independence of daring women. The books concern the airborne exploits of Roberta Langwell, the "Airplane Girl."

"Her exploits are those of a modern young aviatrix who knows no fear. She will keep you tense with excitement. . ."

This series is one of the few girls' series in which a woman writes under a male pseudonym; a number of males (L. Frank Baum being one) wrote girls' books under a female pseudonym.
-Dr. William K. Finley

An Exhibit
Hodges Reading Room
February 15 - May 15, 2010

Nancy Drew, Girl Detective

No other girls' series can match the popularity and durability of "Carolyn Keene's" Nancy Drew books. So endearing are these books to generations of young readers that many even today believe that a single author by the name of "Carolyn Keene" wrote the more than 170 titles that have appeared since 1930. Not so! "Carolyn Keene" was a "syndicate name" used by the many writers who penned these volumes. Wikipedia states that twenty-eight authors accounted for the series up until 1984, but this number may be low. The earliest ones were ostensibly written by Edward Stratemeyer, the founder of the Stratemeyer Syndicate that produced so many of the most popular series books for boys and girls in the early twentieth century. Stratemeyer's daughters, Harriet and Edna, also wrote a number of early titles. The name most commonly linked with "Carolyn Keene" and Nancy Drew is that of Mildred Wirt, who probably wrote more of the Nancy Drews than any other single author, though it is not entirely clear just how many titles she authored. It is probable that some titles had joint authors.

-Dr. WIlliam K. Finley

An Exhibit
Hodges Reading Room
February 15 - May 15, 2010

Pollyanna's Jewels

Like "Miss Minerva" and "The Wizard of Oz," "Pollyanna" represents a popular series begun by one author and continued by others. The first two books of the series (1913-1915) were written by Eleanor Porter; the next four (1924-1929) were penned by Harriet Lummis Smith; and the final eight (1931-1951) were by three other writers. Thus the series was sustained over thirty-eight years, one of the longer runs of any girls' series.As the cover announces, the "Pollyanna" books (the name featured in every title) formed L. C. Page & Company's "Glad Books" series. Pollyanna is very similar to Anne Shirley of "Green Gables" fame: both are orphans sent to live—unhappily at first—with strangers or distant relatives. Both quickly charm their adopted families and aid all in need of comfort, and both age from young girls to middle-age wives and mothers. The name "Pollyanna" has come to represent unstinted optimism in the face of great difficulties. As the dust jacket for the first "Pollyanna" book proclaims,

"Take away frowns! Draw up the window shades! Put down worries! Stop fidgeting and disagreeing and grumbling! Cheer up everybody! Pollyanna is here!"

-Dr. William K. Finley

An Exhibit
Hodges Reading Room
February 15 - May 15, 2010

Campfire Girls & Radio Girls

The Campfire Girls at Camp Keewaydin

Undoubtedly the most complex entry among girls' series, there were at least ten separate series about the "Campfire Girls," all by different publishers, representing the work of at least eleven different authors. The ten Hildegard Frey titles were published by A. L. Burt between 1916 and 1920; the titles in the other series—totalling sixty books—appeared between 1912 and 1935.

As one might gather by the titles, the various publications espoused the outdoor life and camaraderie among young girls while generally introducing mystery, adventure, and problem relationships into the plot.

The Radio Girls of Roselawn

Like the many series focused on the modern inventions of the automobile, the airplane, and motion pictures, this series, a spinoff of the "Radio Boys' series, exploited the fascination with radio in the early years of the twentieth century. The series was short-lived (four titles from 1922 to 1924), indicating how quickly the novelty of radio wore off. Surprisingly, these books, originally published by Cupples & Leon, were reprinted word for word by Goldsmith in 1930 as titles in its version of the "Campfire Girls" series!

-Dr. William K. Finley

An Exhibit
Hodges Reading Room
February 15 - May 15, 2010

Ruth Fielding

In the Great Northwest

One of the longest and most diverse of the early twentieth-century girls' series, the "Ruth Fielding" books (thirty titles between 1913 and 1934) have Ruth mature from a young girl of twelve to a young woman with a husband and child. Many of the stories are mysteries; others focus on school, travel, new inventions such as motion pictures, or patriotic participation in war. Like the Moving Picture Girls, Ruth is fascinated by the world of film and produces her own movies, which forms the plot of several stories. Ruth's character and the mystery element in most of the titles inspired the Nancy Drew books (a later Stratemeyer series) and later mystery / adventure series.

-Dr. William K. Finley

An Exhibit
Hodges Reading Room
February 15 - May 15, 2010

The Outdoor Girls

in Army Service


The twenty-three titles in the "Outdoor Girls" series (1913-1933) offered young readers a mixture of travel and mystery / adventure stories. The stories' subtitles often reveal a mystery that is at the heart of the plot.

"These are the tales of the various adventures participated in by a group of bright, fun-loving, up-to-date girls who have a common bond in their fondness for outdoor life, camping, travel and adventure." The Stratemeyer Syndicate's series for girls were generally advertised for girls twelve to sixteen. "They are clean, and wholesome and free from sensationalism," the publisher claimed.

-Dr. William K. Finley

An Exhibit
Hodges Reading Room
February 15 - May 15, 2010

The Red Cross Girls

Afloat with the Flag




One of many patriotic series spawned by World War I, the "Red Cross Girls" was the earliest and most prolific, with ten titles appearing between 1916 and 1920. Despite the images on the cover, the endpapers of this series depict a world curiously detached from the horrors of war.

-Dr. William K. Finley

An Exhibit
Hodges Reading Room
February 15 - May 15, 2010

The Girls of Central High

at Basketball : or The Great Gymnasium Mystery


Several among the seven titles in this series (1914-1921) broke new ground in promoting sports for girls. While boys' sports books proliferated and were extremely popular, books advocating athletics for young girls were sparse in the early twentieth century. All but two of the books in this series focus on various sports; the first title, Rivals for All Honors, even stresses the formation of a Girls' Athletic Association. Not surprisingly, the main character, Clara Hargrew, has a boy's nickname, "Bobby."


-Dr. William K. Finley

An Exhibit
Hodges Reading Room
February 15 - May 15, 2010

Miss Minerva

and William Green Hill

Frances Boyd Calhoun's book created a minor sensation when it introduced the world to crotchety but warm-hearted Miss Minerva and her rambunctious nephew William Green Hill. Miss Minerva is initially described as a "sober, proper, dignified, religious old maid unused to children."

Sadly, Calhoun died before she could add a sequel to this first book (which went through eleven printings in less than two years); but the characters proved too popular to die; and the publisher Reilly and Lee turned the series over to Emma Speed Sampson, who turned out eleven more titles between 1918 and 1939. Although the heavy dialect and racial stereotyping deterred many readers, the characters proved so lovable that the success of the series was guaranteed. Many of the titles in the series remain in print today.

-Dr. William K. Finley

An Exhibit
Hodges Reading Room
February 15 - May 15, 2010

Follow the Yellow Brick Road

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Undoubtedly the best-known title of a series (along with Louisa May Alcott's Little Women) is this first offering of the Oz books from the pen of L. Frank Baum. Baum wrote fourteen Oz books between 1900 and his death in 1919; Ruth Plumly Thompson added nineteen more between 1921 and 1939; and numerous others have appeared by various hands since then, including several by Baum's great-grandson.

Although never intended solely for a female audience, the early Oz books centered on the adventures of the young girl Dorothy. The popularity of these books and their many characters has resulted in an "Oz" industry—films, games, toys, and other artifacts.

-Dr. William K. Finley

An Exhibit
Hodges Reading Room
February 15 - May 15, 2010

Five Little Peppers

and how they grew


Few nineteenth-century series are familiar to readers, young or old, today. One series that is recognized today is the "Little Peppers," twelve titles published from 1880 to 1916. The first book, shown here in facsimile, appeared first in installments in the popular children's magazine Wide Awake in 1880.

The series chronicles the tribulations and triumphs of the five Pepper children and their mother after the untimely death of their father. The "Little Peppers" series is one of a number in the Girls' Books in Series Collection at UNCG that can qualify as both a boys' and a girls' series, both genders being equally represented.

-Dr. William K. Finley

An Exhibit
Hodges Reading Room
February 15 - May 15, 2010

Brave New Worlds

Re-Imaging in Girls' Series Books

From the earliest, highly moralistic examples in the 1840s to the twenty-first century examples echoing the lifestyles and values of today's youth, girls' books in general and girls' series in particular have shown a marked evolution. Many of the most popular series in the nineteenth-century—Jacob Abbott's "Lucy" series, Joanna Mathews' "Bessie" books, and Martha Finley's "Elsie" books, to name but a few—had heavy religious undertones and could much more readily be called fictional "etiquette books" than captivating adventure stories for young readers.

For boys, this scenario changed even before the end of the nineteenth century, with series such as the immensely popular Horatio Alger titles. This change was signaled by Alger sub-series such as "Brave and Bold," "Frank and Fearless" and "Luck and Pluck." For girls, the change would come later and more gradually. The pathway to a more daring literature had perhaps been paved by Louisa May Alcott's timeless Little Women, which in 1868 had presented a new image of an emancipated woman in the character of Jo March. By the end of the century, major publishers of girls' series realized that girls insistently were becoming more liberated and were generally bored with the constant "thou shalt, thou shalt not" instruction of their literature, to the extent of surreptitiously reading their brothers' more exciting adventure stories.

In 1900 L. Frank Baum sent Dorothy, a young girl from Kansas, on a series of exciting adventures in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and on subsequent exploits in the mythical kingdom of Oz. More importantly, Dorothy—bright, resourceful, and above all, essentially independent--provided a new role model for girls. Although not all heroines in new girls' series broke the traditional mold of docility and obedience, many did. Some of the earliest such series were clearly spinoffs from popular boys' series, with essentially the same characters changed from male to female; but the obvious borrowing hardly mattered. Girls now had new role models of their own sex who often demonstrated the same traits—courage, spunk, rational thinking, and quick wits—that characterized the juvenile heroes of boys' books.

The evolution of girls' series books continues today. While some of the most popular early series continue to be written ("Nancy Drew," "Bobbsey Twins," "Oz Stories"), new series appear every year. The number of series created since 1960 is legion. While mystery and adventure stories continue to be popular, many of the old genres have all but disappeared. Today's girls' series seem, on the whole, to be more oriented to romance and group acceptance and popularity.

The books included in this exhibit were chosen to exemplify the many genres of girls' series that have appeared in more than 170 years.

-Dr. William K. Finley

An Exhibit
Hodges Reading Room
February 15 - May 15, 2010