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?
