Book List: Favorite Girl Series

I started reading very young. My mother says I began recognizing words when I was two. I do know that I would gather up all my Dr. Seuss book club books (my parents had a subscription) and read them all to myself before I was old enough to go to school.

Anyway, when I was in the first grade, my mother had bought a book as a gift for my half-sister whom I had never met. Long story there that I won't get into. It was sitting on the coffee table. It had a bright cover of children playing with a purple spine. It said, "The Bobbsey Twins at Mystery Mansion." Now, how could a reader resist that? It was also a chapter book. Not the baby books I had been reading, but a book with chapters. So I picked it up and started reading. And I couldn't put it down. My mother had to buy another book. Which of course led to collecting the Bobbsey Twins, which led to Nancy Drew, which led to me reading and collecting girls series. So I thought I would make a list. Have you read any of these? Do they bring you back in time? In no particular order because sometimes I like chaos... The Bobbsey Twins

Two sets of twins, Bert and Nan, and Freddie and Flossie, all siblings, have adventures and solve mysteries. Interestingly, they didn't start off as mysteries. They were first published in 1904. Later republishing gave them mysteries and updated them. I have a copy of a 1940's "Adventures with Baby May" which was actually a story of a baby left on their doorstep, and an "Adventures with Baby May" published in the 60's where Baby May is an elephant. I am not making this up.

Nancy Drew

You can't have a list like this without Nancy, the most famous girl detective of all time. She first appeared sometime in the 20's or 30's and got updated every couple of decades. She's still being updated, still has tv shows and movies made about her. She was the mix of feminism and being taken care of. Nancy never aged past 18. She drove a car and did what she wanted. A free spirit. Even the boyfriend stayed on the back burner until he was needed. She didn't make her own money. Her dad supported her and she lived with him and their housekeeper.

Judy Bolton

Unlike Nancy, Judy did get older and did age. When we first meet her she's a teenager but she eventually marries and I think she has kids. I'll have to look into that. I'm just writing from memory now but I think I'll be doing a blog post about her. She too solved mysteries. Her books are hard to find but they belong to the same group as The Bobbsey Twins (purple spine) and Nancy Drew (yellow spine). The Judy Bolton books have an olive green spine.

Trixie Beldon

I loved loved loved Trixie Beldon. Trixie wasn't a coddled girl with her own car. Trixie was 13 (she aged to 15), lived on a farm with her parents and three brothers, was a tomboy, had to do chores, and money was often an issue (unlike Nancy). She meets her new neighbor Honey who moves into the mansion next door (money problem solved) and the two of them solve mysteries and form the "Bob Whites" a group made up of Trixie, Honey, Trixie's older brothers Brian and Mart, Honey's newly adopted brother Jim (which is the first book and how that happens), and later Diana, another rich but lonely girl. They go traveling and have adventures and solve mysteries. If you read the books in order, you can see the passage of time because one takes off right after the other has ended. I wanted to be a member of the Bob Whites. Who knew that one day I would marry into the Wight family and my father-in-law would be named Bob.

Anne of Green Gables

You can't be Canadian and not love Anne. L.M. Montgomery spawned an entire industry for P.E.I including movies and tv shows. There are 8 books in the series (although they've added another one and I don't know if it's a new writer or found manuscripts).

Little Women

Did you know that there are four books in this series? Actually the Little Women we all know and love are two books. Little Women and Good Wives. Then there came Little Men and Jo's Boys which follows the adventures of Jo as a school teacher in charge of her own school.

Katie Rose/Stacy Belford

Written by Lenora Mattingly Weber these two series was set in the 1950's and told the stories of first Katie Belford, and then later of her younger sister Stacy. Weber dealt with real issues, like the remarriage of their father.

Donna Parker

Seven volumes in this series written in the 1950's. The Donna Parker books are like Trixie in that when one book ends, the other picks it up. So you can chronologically grow with her. There's even a storyline about the death of her best friend's mother. Donna has mysteries to solve, dates to go on, and adventures in high school.

Enid Blyton

I cannot finish up this list without Enid Blyton. I discovered her at some point and fell in love with all her books that I could get my hands on. For some reason, the local librarians didn't approve and tried to get me to read a horse book instead. That didn't work. Turns out the woman wrote HUNDREDS of books. Following are the series I've read (not every book in the series).

• The Famous Five

• The Five Find Outers

• Secret Seven

• The Adventure Series

• Mallory Towers - this was my favorite. Unlike the others, which were adventure stories, this one was about girls in a boarding school. It all fascinated me. I understand it's a tv series.

I will be writing a blog post about Enid.

I am sure I've missed some favorites. What are your favorite girls series?