Description

This book examines the narratives of series heroines that preceded and followed Nancy Drew, each in relation to their social, historical, and economic environments. Covering heroines including Miss Pickerell, Madge Sterling, and Polly the Powers Model, among others, this book illustrates that the recovery of stolen inheritances during the Great Depression serves different social ends than, for example, fighting Germans on an international stage. This book expands scholarship that tends to focus on Nancy Drew by drawing attention to the stories of some other “lost” heroines of twentieth century U.S. series fiction. Organized by time period, the chapters give insight into the cultural landscape that perpetuated the popularity of these heroines in their respective eras, how these series reflected the experiences of readers across the decades, and their continued impact well into the twenty-first century.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Imperfect Adventures: ‘Relatable’ Heroines in Twentieth-Century Girls’ Series Fiction
LuElla D’Amico and Emily Hamilton-Honey

Chapter 1: Betty Wales: From Series Book Heroine to Lifestyle Brand
Jill Hobgood

Chapter 2: Adventure, Mystery, and Fashion: On Fashion and the Modelling Profession in Polly the Powers Model: The Puzzle of the Haunted Camera
Erika Johansson Lunding

Chapter 3: Finding the Right Formula, or How The Madge Sterling Series Provided Mildred Wirt (Benson) with the Perfect Formula for Writing Children’s Mystery Series
Todd Latoski

Chapter 4: Before Nancy Drew: American Girls' Series Fiction of the 1920s
Susan Ingalls Lewis

Chapter 5: On Being Glad: Pollyanna and Stoic Thought
LuElla D'Amico and Gregory Eiselein

Chapter 6: “To See If College Could Make Half the Woman of Me That It Made of My Mother”: The Beverly Gray Series as a Mid-Century Return to Progressive Era Girls’ Series Fiction
Emily Hamilton-Honey

Chapter 7: Maida Westabrook: Inez Haynes Gillmore Irwin’s Little Lady Bountiful
Robin Cadwallader

Chapter 8: Miss Pickerell Tackles the Stereotypes: Gender, Science Education, and Mid-century Science Fiction
Liz W. Faber

Chapter 9: “More like Americans”: Sydney Taylor’s Queering of Historical Fiction Girls’ Series Melanie J. Fishbane

Chapter 10: “To prove their worth in a man’s world”: Depicting and Encouraging White Women’s Growing Professional Opportunities in Betty Baxter Anderson’s 1940s Career Novels Karen Keely

Chapter 11: Inventing the Career Girl Narrative in Vicki Barr
Michael Cornelius

Chapter 12: Student Dancer: Education, Community, and Love in Regina J. Woody’s Dance-Career Novels
Jill E. Anderson

Product details

Published 15 Jun 2024
Format Ebook (Epub & Mobi)
Edition 1st
Extent 296
ISBN 9781666946680
Imprint Lexington Books
Illustrations 1 Table
Series Children and Youth in Popular Culture
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

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