Girls series books have been popular since the early 1840s, when books about Cousin Lucy, a young girl who learns about the world around her, first appeared. Since then, scores of series books have followed, several of them highly successful, and featuring some of the most enduring characters in fiction, such as Nancy Drew. In recent decades, series books like The Baby-Sitters Club and Sweet Valley High have become staples for young readers everywhere. In Sisters, Schoolgirls, and Sleuths: Girls' Series Books in America, Carolyn Carpan provides a social history of girls' series fiction published in America from the mid-19th century through the early 21st century. Carpan examines popular series, subgenres, themes, and characters found in approximately 100 series, noting how teenage girls are portrayed in girls' series fiction and how girls' series reflect or subvert the culture of the era in which they are produced. Her study also focuses on the creation, writing, and production of such books. This is the first study of American girls' series books to examine the entire genre from its beginnings in the 1840s to the present day, revealing facts about a sub-genre of children's and young adult literature that has rarely been studied. Appendixes in this volume include a listing of the girls' series covered in the book as well as important books about girls' series fiction.
- ISBN10 6612520272
- ISBN13 9786612520273
- Publish Date 16 December 2008 (first published 1 January 2008)
- Publish Status Active
- Out of Print 27 September 2011
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
- Format eBook
- Pages 181
- Language English