I have finished rereading the Beverly Gray series. I will have some comments to post, but I have not finished writing them yet.
Very conveniently, I just acquired the final volume I needed in the Girl Scouts Series by Edith Lavell. As is frequently the case with these older series, it was not the final volume that I still needed; rather, it was volume 2, The Girl Scouts at Camp. I now have the complete set of ten volumes in hardcover with dust jacket. I have been working on this set since sometime in 2005. It has taken a long time since I restricted my purchases to books with dust jackets.
The books in the series are:
1. The Girl Scouts at Miss Allen's School, 1922
2. The Girl Scouts at Camp, 1922
3. The Girl Scouts' Good Turn, 1922
4. The Girl Scouts' Canoe Trip, 1922
5. The Girl Scouts' Rivals, 1922
6. The Girl Scouts on the Ranch, 1923
7. The Girl Scouts' Vacation Adventure, 1924
8. The Girl Scouts' Motor Trip, 1924
9. The Girl Scouts' Captain, 1925
10. The Girl Scouts' Director, 1925
I have already read the Mary Louise Gay series, which was also written by Edith Lavell. Since I enjoyed those books very much, I expect that I will also enjoy Lavell's Girl Scouts Series. As I now have the complete set, I have begun to read the first book, The Girl Scouts at Miss Allen's School.
I am currently on the third chapter. It has been interesting thus far, with new students Ruth Henry and Marjorie Wilkinson arriving at Miss Allen's School. Ruth Henry is described as a small girl with dark hair, and Marjorie Wilkinson is described as having fair hair. The two girls are good friends but are unable to room together since they did not enroll soon enough. Marjorie appears to be the main character in the series.
I am having a little trouble keeping up with all of the characters so far, as quite a few have been introduced rather rapidly with very little descriptive information (shades of Beverly Gray here). In addition to Marjorie and Ruth, we have:
Ethel Todd—Ruth's roommate, a sophomore and member of the sorority
Marion Guard—a sophomore and member of the sorority
Lily Andrews—Marjorie's roommate who is very rich and overweight
Ada Mearns—a sophomore
Doris Sands—a freshman
Evelyn Hopkins—a freshman
Mae Van Horn—a freshman
To this point, the storyline centers around Ruth Henry wishing to join the exclusive sorority while Marjorie does not appear to be interested. I skipped ahead a little bit, and it looks like the sorority may get disbanded, and the girls become Girl Scouts. Aside from the bit about the Girl Scouts, this book is reminding me of the second Ruth Fielding book, Ruth Fielding at Briarwood Hall.
I am also wondering whether this series could have influenced Clair Blank with the Beverly Gray series. After all, the Beverly Gray series begins with Beverly and her friend, Anne White, entering college. They are unable to room together as they arrive too late. They have way too many friends who all seem alike, just like the girls in this first Girl Scouts book.
2 comments:
Jennifer,
My name is MeLynda Rinker and I am married to Robert Lavell Rinker who is the grandson of Edith Lavell, author of the Linda Carlton, Girl Scout, and Mary Lou Series books. Your blog is the most amazing collection of information I have found about Edith and we are trying to find more information.
I also have information to share if you are interested and somehow I think you might be! :) I have an entire collection of original manuscripts by Edith as well as the only two known autographs in existence.
I am currently searching for the Linda Carlton Perilous Summer book and the Hollywood Flight book. As you know, A.L. Burt sold the other Linda Carlton books to Saalfield which has been sold in 1977 to the Kent State University, but the last two books seem to have disappeared. I can get photocopies of them from the Library of Congress, but I am interested in finding the original books. Any ideas of how to find them?
Thank you for your time and help.
Sincerely,
MeLYnda Rinker
Thanks for posting a comment. I would love any and all information that you feel like sharing. It is very hard to learn about the authors of the more obscure series, and we know just about nothing about them. I have surmised from the jacket's descriptions that Edith Lavell was a real person and not a pseudonym, and I have always wanted to know more about her.
Edith Lavell's books are some of my more favorite books from the obscure series that I have read, so I would love even simple biographic information such as Edith Lavell's dates of birth and death. I'd love to be able to add information like that to my site, and of course I would cite you as the source.
The Hollywood Flight and Perilous Summer books are brutally hard to find. I dislike using the word "rare" since many people abuse it, but those two books are actually extremely rare. I have a copy of Hollywood Flight, which may be the only copy that has sold in around five years. I do not have Perilous Summer, and it is the number one item on my want list.
I search Google frequently in case someone, somewhere, has placed a copy of Perilous Summer up for sale, but I have had no luck. All I can suggest is that you, like me, search everywhere on the internet for the two books. They will show up eventually.
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