The Value and Scarcity of Beverly Gray at the World's Fair

In this post, I expand upon what I mentioned about Beverly Gray at the World's Fair last night on Facebook.

I shared a photo of the book from my collection (first on the left) and the three extras that I currently have in my possession.

I wrote:

I mentioned in today's blog post that I have three extra copies of Beverly Gray at the World's Fair right now.  Here you can see them.  The first book is my copy, shown to indicate that the other three are indeed extras.  The second book is on eBay right now and is the second-lowest price of the books shown for sale online via BookFinder.com.  The third and fourth books are unlisted extras.

If you're looking for a copy of World's Fair, someone on AbeBooks has one available at a total cost of $73.90.  That's a lower price than you usually see.  Most sellers try to get $200+ for the bare book and $400+ if the book has a jacket.  Those prices are now too high.  The value appears to be starting to fall.  It will really drop off in five years (sorry, actually six but it's getting close) when the book enters the public domain.

As I expected, last night someone purchased the World's Fair book that I mentioned.  It was a good deal, and I'm glad someone got it.

What's going on with World's Fair right now is really just a crack in the veneer.  There are signs of the value going down.  The fact that I have been able to acquire three extras in the last year at reasonable prices is one sign.  That didn't use to happen.  That also has happened with Vicki Barr #15 The Mystery of Flight 908 in the last few years.  At one point, I had two or three extra copies of it.

20 years ago, the idea of having extra duplicate copies of these extremely scarce books was unthinkable.  The books aren't as scarce now.  They are still pricey for the most part, but the values are reaching the tipping point where we will soon see them fall off greatly.  More copies are showing up at reasonable prices.

This is because of the aging collector base.  Many collectors are downsizing, and the books are entering the secondhand market in greater quantities than perhaps they ever have.  This is causing the prices to decrease.

Furthermore, the aging collector base means that series like Beverly Gray will sharply decline in popularity.  Even now, Beverly Gray is only known to people in the series book community.  As the collector base ages, fewer and fewer people will care.  This has already happened with all of the very early series books.  Series like Poppy Ott, Jerry Todd, the Rover Boys, and the Corner House Girls still have fans, but they are mentioned very seldom in the discussion groups.  Most series book fans just aren't interested in the early series.

Even Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys are not immune.  There is an obvious crack in the Hardy Boys veneer, since the Hardy Boys Adventures series hasn't had a new title since 2023.  Simon & Schuster has said that the Adventures series will have a new title in 2025.  [Note: The Hardy Boys Adventures series was cancelled in 2023.]  Even if they do release a new title, the publishing gap isn't helping interest in the series.  What I saw the last time I was in Barnes & Noble was dire.

Nancy Drew is in a slightly better position than the Hardy Boys, but only because Nancy Drew has been more popular than the Hardy Boys for most of the history of the two series. 

Beverly Gray at the World's Fair will become public domain on January 1, 2031.  When that happens, the value will really fall off.  I expect in 2031 that the bare book copies of World's Fair will collapse in value.  The copies in dust jacket should retain more of their value, since some collectors will always desire books with jackets.

I have one copy of World's Fair on eBay right now, and it's the worst condition of my three extras.  It's not bad, but you can clearly see in my photo that it is in lower-grade condition than the other copies.  I have been gradually lowering the price.  I just went from $134.99 to $129.99 last night.  I may have to reduce the price a bit more before it sells.  A few years ago, a World's Fair book priced at $129.99 would have sold pretty quickly.

Beverly Gray at the World's Fair Detailed Summary

I decided to write a detailed summary of Beverly Gray at the World's Fair since this book is not in the public domain and cannot be shared online.  This is the type of summary that I typically dislike which is the style that many people use when they review books.  I do not like this kind of summary because I would rather read the actual book than read a lengthy play-by-play of what is in the book.

In this case, most people cannot find a copy of Beverly Gray at the World's Fair to read, so a detailed summary should be helpful to those who don't own the book, since the book contains rather important events in the continuity of the Beverly Gray series.

Beverly Gray at the World's Fair should become public domain in 2031.  Unfortunately, that is still quite a few years away.

I have made certain to mention anything that is important to the chronology of the series.  There are quite a few conversations that I do not mention.  The conversations are interesting if reading the entire book, but they don't move much along in the plot.  Beverly Gray fans will understand that there is much inconsequential banter between Beverly and her friends, especially with Lenora, and I did not feel it necessary to try to summarize all of that.

I scanned a few key passages in the book and have shared them here.  The scans were kept to a bare minimum to avoid running afoul of the copyright law.

The following summary spoils the entire plot of Beverly Gray at the World's Fair.

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Lois leaves for France to spend a year studying art.  Connie and Kathleen arrive in New York just after Lois departs and are disappointed that they missed her.  Connie and Kathleen will be living with Beverly and Lenora in the girls' apartment.

Lenora and Connie decide to go to Chicago to see the Century of Progress at the Chicago World's Fair.  The girls will stay with Virginia, who lives in Chicago.  Beverly and Kathleen decide that they will stay in New York to work.

Kathleen spots Mr. Crandall's name in the newspaper.  Mr. Crandall first met Shirley at Vernon College and promised her an acting role on the stage.  After Shirley graduated, Mr. Crandall hired her.  Unfortunately, Mr. Crandall just recently died of a heart attack.  The girls have not heard from Shirley in some time and wonder whether she is okay.  Mr. Crandall's play will surely close, and Shirley will have to find another role.

Beverly chances to meet Roger Garrett one day, and he informs her that he and Shirley's parents have heard about Mr. Crandall's death.  No one has heard from Shirley, and it is doubtful that Shirley will return since Shirley and her parents had a terrible argument when she left home.  Beverly was unaware that Shirley had argued with her parents, and this raises her concern for her friend.

Connie and Lenora leave for Chicago by train.  Meanwhile, Charlie Blaine asks Beverly to cover the Century of Progress in Chicago.  When Beverly arrives home, she finds Larry Owens waiting for her.  Larry is about to fly to Chicago, so Beverly agrees to go with him.  Right after Beverly leaves, Jim Stanton, who has just returned from South America, arrives at the apartment looking for Beverly.  Kathleen gives Beverly's Chicago address to Jim.

Beverly arrives in Chicago before the girls do, but she can't remember Virginia's address.  Beverly registers at a hotel and decides to meet Connie and Lenora when their train arrives the next day.

Beverly goes to find a restaurant and sees Shirley looking in a shop window.  Beverly can tell that Shirley is not doing well.  She is pale and worried.  Shirley reveals that her play closed weeks ago.  She cannot find another acting job or any other kind of job for that matter.

Shirley tells Beverly about the horrible fight that she and her parents had when she decided to go into theater.  They told her that she shouldn't ever bother to come home again.  Beverly wants to help Shirley, but Shirley refuses.  She wants to succeed without help from anybody.  She will not go home to be bossed by her mother.  She must get work on her own.

Click or tap on each image in order to view at a higher resolution.

Beverly resolves to help Shirley no matter what.  After Shirley leaves the restaurant, Beverly follows her at a distance.  She sees Shirley enter a dirty three-story building.  Beverly steps inside as Shirley disappears up the staircase.  A sinister looking woman appears and calls after Shirley, but Shirley ignores her.

The landlady tells Beverly that the rent must be paid by tomorrow or else Shirley must leave.  Beverly decides to pay the rent for Shirley and then goes back to her hotel.  The next day, Beverly returns to speak to Shirley, but Shirley has moved out, probably because she discovered that her rent had been paid.

Beverly meets Connie and Lenora at the train station, much to their shock, then the girls get settled at Virginia's house.  They immediately head out to the fairgrounds to begin their tour of the exhibits.

Lenora purchases a movie camera, the Cine-Kodak Eight.  Lenora uses the movie camera to make memories of the exhibits and to film her friends while they are unaware.  The girls later enjoy watching the movies.

The girls go to see a show at the lagoon theater.  The show is like a circus, and it also features diving and swimming.  Paul Graham, a young diver, is announced as the next performer.  When he dives, something goes wrong causing him to hit the water at a strange angle.  Paul does not surface and has to be rescued.

When Beverly learns that Virginia knows Paul and his sister, June, she has Virginia take her to June's dressing room.  Once there, the girls learn that Paul is dead and that he had been shot before he hit the water!  There was no water in Paul's lungs, so he definitely did not drown.

Beverly spots Inspector Dugan, who was visiting the Century of Progress but is now investigating the murder.  Beverly strikes up an agreement with Dugan and the Chicago police.  Beverly will get the story first so long as she keeps quiet for now about what she knows.

The police suspect Paul's brother, George, because of a shared inheritance.  Beverly suspects John Cummings, who is a friend of June and Paul's family.  Beverly keeps the murder a secret from Connie and Lenora, because they would tell everyone.  Unknown to Beverly, Lenora follows her and figures out some of what is going on.  Beverly relents and tells Lenora everything, making sure that she keeps it a secret.  Later, Connie is told about the affair.

The girls go back to the lagoon and talk to the boat pilots.  They learn that at the time of the murder, one boat had a passenger who had a violin case with him.

Both June and her brother, George, have accidents while working in the circus.  The accidents easily could have been fatal.  Later, Lenora reveals that she filmed John Cummings loosening the wires that support June's trapeze.  Beverly is now certain that Cummings is the culprit.

Beverly receives a short message in the mail.  The note reads, "Thanks so much, S."  The envelope also includes the exact amount of money that Beverly paid for Shirley's rent.

The girls briefly discuss a new actress, Dale Arden, who is very good.  They have not yet seen her perform.

Cummings is confronted about the loose wires, but he claims that he was trying to fix them.  The girls remain certain that he is guilty.

Lenora reveals that she saw a violin case in Cummings' room that morning.  Beverly thinks of the boat passenger who carried a violin case.  Lenora coaxes Beverly into searching Cummings' room for the violin case.  Against Beverly's judgment, she agrees to search the room.  The girls find and take the case.  As the girls leave, they see Cummings, and hope that they weren't spotted.  The only item found inside the violin case is a bullet, which Lenora then loses.

Beverly is later accosted by John Cummings, who makes it clear that he saw her with the violin case on the previous day.  Cummings warns Beverly not to do anything rash.  Even though Cummings did not admit to anything, Beverly is certain that he is the murderer.

The girls visit Lake Geneva for the day.  Another boat rams the girls' boat, throwing all of them in the water.  Beverly is knocked out and has to be rescued by the other girls.  Upon awakening, Beverly recalls seeing the pilot of the other boat, and she believes that he was Cummings.

The bullet has been found again, and the girls take it to the police, who try to interview Cummings.  The man has disappeared.  Later, Beverly sees him digging through June's trunk in her dressing room.  Beverly searches June's trunk and finds a pawn ticket.  She doesn't know whose pawn ticket it is, but Beverly decides to turn it in to see what was pawned.  The pawned item is a sawed-off shotgun.

The girls go to the police, where they learn that Cummings insisted that the police search June's dressing room.  It is believed that Cummings planted the pawn ticket in order to cast blame for the murder on June.  While the police close in on Cummings, Beverly phones the story to Charlie Blaine.

The girls once again discuss the new star, Dale Arden, and think about going to see her.  Dale Arden was originally the understudy to the star of a play.  The star took ill on opening night, and Dale Arden performed, apparently much better than the actual star.  Ever since that night, Dale has played the role.  The girls wish that Shirley could get a chance like that.  Later, the girls see Shirley in an expensive car.

The girls have 10 days left in Chicago, and the girls give Beverly a surprise party for her birthday.  Beverly is shocked to see Jim Stanton, since she thought he was still in South America.  Jim once again begins to ask Beverly to marry him, but Beverly cuts him off.  Roger Garrett then sits with Beverly, and tries to put his arm around her.  Beverly immediately suggests that they dance.  Later, Beverly wonders what is wrong with her.  Why does she not want romance?

Beverly and Jim sit on a bench at the fairgrounds with Judy, who is Virginia's young niece.  Shortly after Judy wanders off, Beverly and Jim learn that a lion has escaped from the circus.  Beverly finds the lion as it is about to attack Judy.  Beverly lunges in front to push Judy away and gets raked on the shoulder.  Fortunately, Beverly will be alright.

The girls view a television demonstration at the exhibit.

With regret, the girls return home to New York City.  They settle back into their daily routines, and Beverly vows to start her novel.  As the days pass, Beverly works tirelessly on the novel and then sends it off to a publisher.  Beverly is devastated when the novel is rejected.  Jim finally convinces her to continue sending it off to publishers.

Roger decides to give a theater party.  Dale Arden's play is coming to New York City, and Roger wants to take all of his friends to see her.  When Dale Arden steps onto the stage, Beverly is shocked to discover that she is Shirley.  In just a few weeks, Shirley has become more confident with the ability to hold the audience's attention constantly.

During the second act, the girls notice that something is wrong with Shirley.  Her voice falters, and then she collapses.  Beverly and her friends go backstage to see her.  Shirley is very ill from overwork, and she desperately needs to take a vacation.

The young people spirit Shirley away from the theater and have her stay at their apartment.  Roger informs his friends that he owns a yacht, the Susabella.  He proposes that all of them go on an ocean cruise around the world.  He insists that Shirley needs a rest.  He points out how much Lenora loves adventure and how Beverly wants to travel.  The entire group agrees, and Roger says that they can depart as soon as everything is ready.

Beverly reflects on the future, deciding that whether she can go on the cruise depends upon whether her book is published.

Beverly Gray #5 Beverly Gray's Career and #6 Beverly Gray at the World's Fair

In Beverly Gray's Career, Beverly has graduated from Vernon College.  Beverly, Lois, and Lenora take an apartment together in New York City.  Charlie Blaine is now editor of the newspaper.  He hires Beverly to be a reporter.

This book introduces Hope Rodgers, who is an occasional character in the series, and Omar El Hamil, the Hindu, who will reappear slightly later in the series.  Roger Garrett is also introduced in this book, and he is an important recurring character.

I feel like Beverly Gray's Career is the book where the series begins to hit its stride.  This is probably a good starting book for most people who want to try the series.

In Beverly Gray at the World's Fair, Beverly and her friends visit the Century of Progress in Chicago.  While at the exhibition, the friends witness a murder and set out to solve it.  Meanwhile, Shirley loses her acting role and must find a way to become successful.

I enjoyed this book the first time I read it many years ago.  I read it for the second time in around 2008 and did not like it.  I was bored by the story.  I did not care about the man who died, and I did not like reading about the Century of Progress exhibits.

This time I set myself the task of writing a detailed summary of the story, which will appear in my next post.  I read a few chapters, paused to type up the major events, and then continued reading in the same fashion.  My interest in sharing the summary heightened my interest in the book, and I thoroughly enjoyed it this time, easily the most of the three times I have read the book.

Note:  I did read additional Beverly Gray titles after these books, but I am disinterested in writing reviews at this time.  At least you do get the detailed summary of Beverly Gray at the World's Fair.

The Beverly Gray College Books

I decided to read the Beverly Gray series again.  I have read the complete set, except for World's Fair, four times.  I have read World's Fair twice.

Note:  I didn't get very far.  The pandemic has affected me, and I lost interest during Beverly Gray's Romance.  I wrote only three Beverly Gray posts, quitting at World's Fair.  Beverly Gray is my second favorite series after Nancy Drew, but I am just not in the mood for vintage series books at this time.

The original name of the series was "The Beverly Gray College Mystery Series."  Fortunately, the series eventually became so much more than that.

The first four books are titled:

1.  Beverly Gray, Freshman
2.  Beverly Gray, Sophomore
3.  Beverly Gray, Junior
4.  Beverly Gray, Senior

In these books, Beverly Gray attends Vernon College.  Beverly rooms with Shirley Parker and later becomes friendly with her.  Beverly's other college friends are Lenora Whitehill, Lois Mason, Rosalie Arnold, and Anne White.  This group of girls becomes the Alpha Deltas.  Beverly meets reporter Charlie Blaine and aviator Larry Owens.

Beverly makes periodic trips home for holidays, where she spends time with the Lucky Circle, a large group of friends who are hard to appreciate.  Anne White is also a member of the Lucky Circle.

The Beverly Gray series has one significant flaw, which is that it has way too many characters.  The Lucky Circle group bores me.  The Alpha Deltas are better, since most of that group play an important role in the majority of the books in the series.  I don't get much out of the Lucky Circle group.

The only member of the Lucky Circle that matters at all (aside from Beverly and Anne) is Jim Stanton, who will play a role in many of the books.

I have always known that Clair Blank was influenced by early series books such as Marjorie Dean.  When I previously read the Beverly Gray series, I had not read Marjorie Dean.  Since I have now done so, I can easily see where Clair Blank structured the first four books to be like the Marjorie Dean books.

Beverly's mother, Helen Chadwick, is the most beloved former student of Vernon College.  Helen is basically Marjorie Dean.  So I consider Beverly Gray to be Marjorie Dean's daughter, for all practical purposes.

Parts of the first four books are slow in places, in particular the passages with the Lucky Circle.  I struggle to tolerate scenes that have an excessive number of named characters.  I have mentioned before that many authors make a big mistake when they include too many named characters in their books.  Focusing on a small number of characters is always better.

I skimmed all of the scenes with the Lucky Circle.  I also found the banter between Lenora and Lois to be unbearable and skimmed that as well.  I typically love Lenora and her interactions with the other characters, but on this reading, I did not care for the teasing between Lenora and Lois.  I found it obnoxious and not fun during the college books.

The first four books are like the prequel to the Beverly Gray series.  I mention this because other people have been turned off from reading the Beverly Gray series based on the college books.  The rest of the Beverly Gray series is a bit different.

Beverly Gray Series - Titles and Collecting Information

This is the text of an eBay guide that I created in 2006.  The guides are now orphaned pages that can only be found through an Internet search.  eBay plans to delete the guides in April 2018.

This eBay guide was viewed approximately 7,300 times.

The Beverly Gray series is a 26 volume series that was printed from 1934 until around 1955.  The series was written by Clair Blank, whose full name was Clarissa Mabel Blank Moyer.  The original title of the series was the Beverly Gray College Mystery Series, and by the 1950s the title of the series was shortened to the Beverly Gray Mystery Stories and sometimes the Beverly Gray Series.

The series was originally published by the A.L. Burt Company, and the Burt printings are rather difficult to acquire, especially in dust jacket.  Volumes 1 through 8 were published by A.L. Burt.  Grosset and Dunlap began publishing the series beginning with Beverly Gray on a Treasure Hunt.  One A.L. Burt title, volume 6, Beverly Gray at the World's Fair, went out of print when the series went to Grosset and Dunlap, because it was thought that the World's Fair setting dated the volume too greatly.  As a result, Beverly Gray on a World Cruise became volume 6 in the series, and it was as though Beverly Gray at the World's Fair had never existed.

The omission of Beverly Gray at the World's Fair from the Grosset and Dunlap catalog is regrettable, because it made World's Fair a very scarce book.  The events that occur during World's Fair are crucial to the series and should never have been omitted from the series.  Clair Blank even tried to get Grosset and Dunlap to either reprint the title or allow her to write another volume to put in its place.  Clair Blank knew that the missing volume left quite a gap in the series, but Grosset and Dunlap would not listen.  Fortunately, Beverly Gray at the World's Fair has been reprinted by American Web Books in the last few years, so getting a copy of the story is not as impossible at it once was.

The Beverly Gray series is a series which should best be read in order.  The series is like a soap opera with exciting events occurring constantly, and Beverly's adventures flow from one volume into the next.  The Beverly Gray series is one of my favorite series, second only to Nancy Drew.  This series appeals to my sense of adventure, even more than the Nancy Drew series does.

List of titles in the Beverly Gray series:

   1. Beverly Gray, Freshman, 1934
   2. Beverly Gray, Sophomore, 1934
   3. Beverly Gray, Junior, 1934
   4. Beverly Gray, Senior, 1934
   5. Beverly Gray's Career, 1935
   6. Beverly Gray at the World's Fair, 1935
7/6. Beverly Gray on a World Cruise, 1936
8/7. Beverly Gray in the Orient, 1937
   8. Beverly Gray on a Treasure Hunt, 1938
   9. Beverly Gray's Return, 1939
 10. Beverly Gray, Reporter, 1940
 11. Beverly Gray's Romance, 1941
 12. Beverly Gray's Quest, 1942
 13. Beverly Gray's Problem, 1943
 14. Beverly Gray's Adventure, 1944
 15. Beverly Gray's Challenge, 1945
 16. Beverly Gray's Journey, 1946
 17. Beverly Gray's Assignment, 1947
 18. Beverly Gray's Mystery, 1948
 19. Beverly Gray's Vacation, 1949
 20. Beverly Gray's Fortune, 1950
 21. Beverly Gray's Secret, 1951
 22. Beverly Gray's Island Mystery, 1952
 23. Beverly Gray's Discovery, 1953
 24. Beverly Gray's Scoop, 1954
 25. Beverly Gray's Surprise, 1955

Formats:

Volumes 1 through 8, meaning Freshman through Orient, were originally published by the A.L. Burt Company.  These books are 8 1/8 inches high and about 1 1/3 inches thick.  The books have a glossy frontispiece illustration, which features the same illustration as the front panel of the dust jacket.

Volume 6 went out of print when the series changed to Grosset and Dunlap, so the original volumes 7 and 8 became volumes 6 and 7.  The earliest Grosset and Dunlap printings are slightly more than 8 inches high and are about 1 1/3 inches thick, thus about the same size as the A.L. Burt books.  At least volumes 1 through 11 were printed in this tall, thick format by Grosset and Dunlap.  The early Grosset and Dunlap books up through volume 9 have glossy frontispiece illustrations that are the same illustrations as the front panel of the dust jackets.  By volume 11, the series had switched to plain paper frontispiece illustrations that depict a different illustration than the dust jacket.

The books became less thick through the early 1940s and by 1950 had changed to the tweed format like the other Grosset and Dunlap series books of that era.  Volume 24 was the last title that was issued in dust jacket.  Volume 25 was only printed in picture cover under the Clover Books division of Grosset and Dunlap.  Volumes 16 through 24 were also printed by Clover Books.

I have more information available about the Beverly Gray series on my website.

Nancy Drew Flying Saucer DJ and Adventure Girls Boxed Set

 ***This is my 1000th post.  Woo-hoo!***

I purchased this Adventure Girls Saalfield boxed set recently.  Normally, I have no use for Saalfield books because they have pulp paper.  I always make an exception when they come in a nice vintage Saalfield box.

This is my fourth Saalfield boxed set.  All four boxes are different in either color or design.

I also upgraded my copy of Nancy Drew #58, The Flying Saucer Mystery, in the Wanderer hardcover edition with dust jacket.  My old book is at the top, and my new book is at the bottom.

Neither book is a library discard.  My old book is the first printing, but the back panel of the jacket has damage.  My new book is the third printing and is in better condition.  While I would rather have a first printing, I also want to have an extremely nice copy.  I had decided previously that condition is more important than the printing, so I will keep my new third printing book.

Upgrading My Adventure Girls Books

The seller of the Beverly Gray books also had the complete set of Adventure Girls books.  He mentioned the Adventure Girls books before my Beverly Gray package was shipped, but I waited until after I received the Beverly Gray books to indicate my interest.  The seller did not show the spines of any of the books in the photos, so I wanted to make sure that the books were in as good of condition as expected before I bought any additional books.

Since the Beverly Gray books met my expectations, I let the seller know I was interested and was able to purchase the Adventure Girls books on the day that they were listed.  These are the books that I purchased.

These books are in better shape than the ones I already had.  My books were not in very nice shape overall.  The following pictures are of the books that I will be selling as a result of this transaction.

It was neat being able to upgrade all of my early Beverly Gray books and my entire Adventure Girls set.

Upgrading My Beverly Gray Books

Around a month ago, I saw that a seller had listed a bunch of Beverly Gray books on eBay in individual Buy It Now lots ranging from $30 to $65 each.  What caught my eye is that the books appeared to be all very early or first printings and had dust jackets in excellent condition.  I found my A. L. Burt edition books and determined that at least a couple of the Burt books offered by this seller would easily be upgrades to my books.  I determined that the other Burt books might be upgrades and that a good many of the Grosset and Dunlap books might also be upgrades. 

I first bought the Burt books that were of the greatest interest.  Next, I bought the other Burt books.  I then gave it some more thought, since I knew that my overall cost was rising quickly.  Did I want to get all of them?  Not only was this a chance to upgrade a bunch of books, this was also an investment in my Bonanza booth.  The worst case scenario would be that I would be selling some very nice Beverly Gray books in my booth for approximately what I paid for them.  It took around half an hour for me to finish thinking about it, but I ended up purchasing all of the books at a total cost of close to $600.

I was very pleased when I received the books in the mail.  Below, you will see a photograph of the spines, which is the part of the dust jacket that is always in the worst condition.  The spines have light wear, and only one of them is faded.  The front panels are in excellent condition.

Click on the image to see a larger version.

I will be keeping all of the books except for Junior which has a faded spine and is in worse condition than the one I already had.  The rest of the books are in better condition than mine.  Freshman, Sophomore, and Senior appear to be first printings since the jackets list the first four titles.  Career is an early printing and the same printing as mine, but in better shape.

World Cruise and Orient appear to be first printings and are about the same condition as mine.  The main reason I will sell mine is because my copies of these two books have water stains on the back panels of the dust jackets. 

Return is the first printing and slightly better than mine.  Treasure Hunt is the second printing and in better condition than my first printing.  For that title, I will keep both mine and this one.  Reporter and Romance are the first printings and in better shape than mine.

In addition to Junior from the above photo, these are the books from my collection that I will be selling as a result of this transaction.

It is always quite satisfying to buy a number of excellent condition books that are firsts and early printings, especially when those books are upgrades to books in my collection.  I greatly enjoyed this transaction.

Billie Bradley at Treasure Cove

Billie Bradley at Twin Lakes ends rather strangely for a volume that is not the final title in the series.

And so, with a glorious summer gloriously ended and countless others just as glorious opening up before them, we must reluctantly bid good-bye to Billie and her chums, hoping that some day we shall meet them all again.

Aside from the awkwardness of the overuse of "glorious," this ending is odd for volume 5 in a 9 volume series. I noticed that the copyright for volume 5 is 1922, and the copyright for volume 6 is 1928. The series must have been over at volume 5, and then six years later, the series was resurrected for some unknown reason. It is odd.

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I have mentioned before that Clair Blank must have read some of these earlier series books and was influenced by them. Since Clair Blank died decades before series book fans became organized, we will never know which series she read in her childhood. I have noticed similarities to the Beverly Gray series in the later Ruth Fielding titles, the Betty Gordon books, and the Outdoor Girls series. I pointed out that the banter between Billie and her friends in Billie Bradley on Lighthouse Island reminds me of the banter between Beverly Gray and her friends.

Billie Bradley at Treasure Cove reads like a Beverly Gray book and is probably my favorite book in the Billie Bradley series so far. The entire book feels like a Beverly Gray book. The treasure hunt that occurs in this book is the primary reason. A group of young people, following a map given to an acquaintance by a man now dead, digging in the sand on a beach by a cliff, fearful that others might notice what they are doing... doesn't that remind you of something?

Additionally, Billie Bradley at Treasure Cove has some of the same over-the-top excitement that appears in the Beverly Gray series. The book opens with a harrowing scene that is on par with any of the wildly improbable situations that Beverly Gray and her friends experience. Here are some excerpts from what happens on pages 7 through 14:

Boom!

"Goodness! What's that?"

A deafening explosion had shattered the silence. The girls felt the ground quake beneath their feet.

Billie Bradley looked wildly around her.

"It's an earthquake!" she cried. "Oh dear! what next!"

Next was a series of harsh explosions that frightened the girls badly and sent them scurrying to the trees for shelter.

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Another detonation shook the earth.

Something whizzed through the air so close above Billie Bradley's head that she gasped and flung herself flat upon the ground.

They heard an object strike in the woods not far from them. There was a rending, tearing sound and the limb of a tree struck the ground.

.......................
Instantly the place was bombarded by flying missiles. Whether these were bullets or bits of hurtling rock the girls did not know—and did not stop to find out.

They dashed madly into the woods, driven by an appalling dread, to find refuge, somewhere, anywhere from the rain of death.

.......................
Explosion followed explosion. The noise was deafening, terrifying. With hands pressed close over their ears, the girls crowded close to the rock, hoping that it would prove a real protection.

That has to be one of the most potent scenes that I have ever read in a series book outside of the Beverly Gray series.

Billie Bradley on Lighthouse Island

I finished Billie Bradley at Three Towers Hall. Near the end of the book, Billie's friends have the boys send a telegram to Miss Walters, the head of the school, asking her to return. Later that day, Miss Walters does return. She states that she was going to stay longer, "but something told me that I might be needed, and that something was right." Nothing is mentioned about the boys' telegram. It sounds to me like Miss Walters never read it. Miss Walters acts like she knows nothing about the girls' problems, and the telegram gave a few details. Why did the author have the boys send a telegram if Miss Walters decides to conveniently return on her own?

Billie Bradley on Lighthouse Island begins in a properly spooky fashion with Billie, Vi, and Laura lost in the woods near Three Towers Hall. As luck would have it, rain begins to fall, so the girls try to find shelter. They find a strange cabin with a low door. Not unexpectedly, the owner comes along while the girls are in the cabin. The man looks kind of crazy and acts strange, thus making for a frightening experience. Of course the girls are not assaulted and come out of the experience uninjured.

This book has one of those predictable mysteries that are the staple of many Stratemeyer series books. The publisher's brief summary of the book reads:

One of Billie's friends owned a summer bungalow on Lighthouse Island, near the coast. The school girls made up a party and visited the Island. There was a storm and a wreck, and three little children were washed ashore.

In the book, the strange man in the woods, Hugo Billings, seems lonely and unhappy. Meanwhile, a new teacher at Three Towers Hall, Miss Arbuckle, loses her photo album, and Billie finds it in the woods. When Billie returns the album to Miss Arbuckle, the woman grabs the album and finds a picture of three children, crying, "My darlings, my darlings...I couldn't lose your pictures after losing you. They were all I had left of you, and I couldn't lose them, I couldn't..."

This must be another one of those stories in which the parent(s) and children are reunited at the end of the story. See? I already know how it ends. All that I do not know for certain is whether Hugo Billings is the children's father or some other relative to Miss Arbuckle. Regardless, I know that he is connected to them.

The banter between Billie and her friends reminds me of Beverly Gray and her friends, with the result that I really like Billie and her friends. From pages 100-101:

"Are we going to form our Detective Club?" asked Connie suddenly out of the silence.

The girls stared at her a minute as if she had roused them out of sleep.

"For goodness sake, what made you think of that now?" asked Laura a little peevishly. "I'm so tired I don't want to form clubs or anything else. All I want is to get out somewhere where I can stretch my legs, get some supper, and go to bed. I'm dead."

"You're making lots of noise for a dead one," chuckled Billie, and Laura made a face at her.

"But no one's answered my question," broke in Connie plaintively. "I thought you girls loved mysteries and things."

"Well, who says we don't?" cried Laura. "Just show me a good live mystery and I'll forget I'm all tied up in knots and everything."

"Just listen to her!" exclaimed Connie indignantly. "Do you mean to say you've forgotten that we have a mystery already?"

"Oh—that," said Laura slowly, while a light began to dawn. "Yes, I did forget about it; we've been so busy getting ready and everything."

The banter is similar enough to that which occurs in the Beverly Gray series that I almost forget which series I am reading. It also does not help that one of the girls is named Connie, which is a name used for one of Beverly's friends. Additionally, Billie and Laura's names start with the same letters as Beverly and Lenora's names.

Last year, I speculated about which series were Clair Blank's inspirations for the Beverly Gray series. In one post, I concluded that Ruth Fielding was a likely candidate and gave further evidence in another post. At a later date, I mentioned that the Beverly Gray series was a lot like many of the earlier series books that have large casts of characters, such as the Outdoor Girls. I am only on my third Billie Bradley book, but I feel that Billie Bradley can also be added to the list of likely sources for Clair Blank's creativity.

The Beverly Gray Burt Blue Ribbon Books

The A.L. Burt Company was the original publisher of the Beverly Gray series by Clair Blank. Volumes 1 through 8 were published by A.L. Burt. The A.L. Burt books are gray hardcover books with blue endpapers.

The A.L. Burt Company was sold to Blue Ribbon Books, Inc. in 1937. The Beverly Gray Blue Ribbon Books have "Burt" on the lower spine instead of "A.L. Burt." Some of the Blue Ribbon Books are gray like the original Burt editions, but the others have different colors of binding. I have one that is red and one that is pink.

The pink book is faded on the front cover and spine, and the back cover is a slightly darker shade.

The red book has dark blue endpapers:

The pink book has very light blue endpapers that look faded:


Blue Ribbon Books, Inc. published the Beverly Gray series for a very short period of time as the series was soon sold to Grosset and Dunlap. All of the Burt books are quite scarce, but the Blue Ribbon Burt Books are even scarcer than the earlier Burt editions. Most examples that come up for sale are the earlier gray books.

Another Adventure Girls Boxed Set

I have owned one Saalfield Adventure Girls boxed set for quite a long time, but recently, I purchased a second Saalfield Adventure Girls boxed set. My new boxed set has a different design than the one that I already had.


This is the Adventure Girls boxed set that I already had:


As seen below, the books are not the same height, so the boxed sets are not the same size:


Since the taller Saalfield books are the same height as the Adventure Girls books that were published by the A. L. Burt Company, I assume that the taller Saalfield books are older than the shorter ones. The A. L. Burt Company sold much of its series book inventory to Saalfield in 1938, while its Beverly Gray books were sold to Grosset and Dunlap. Grosset and Dunlap kept its first Beverly Gray books at the same height as the A. L. Burt books, so it is likely that Saalfield did the same with the Adventure Girls books. Probably the taller books are from the late 1930s, and the shorter books are from the 1940s.

An Interesting Adventure Girls Book

Around a year ago, I bought an A. L. Burt edition of one of the Adventure Girls books to upgrade one in my collection. Nearly all of the Adventure Girls books that come up for sale are the Saalfield reprints, so it is rather difficult to get the A. L. Burt books with intact dust jackets.


The book is The Adventure Girls in the Air, and I was quite surprised by something I noticed inside the book in the lower right corner of the front free endpaper.



"AUTHOR'S COPY" is ink-stamped on the front free endpaper. The only explanation that I can think of is that this book was one of the books that A. L. Burt sent to Clair Blank when the Adventure Girls series was first published. If so, this book is not only a true first printing, but more importantly, it was once the personal property of Clair Blank. How neat is that?

Thoughts on Beverly Gray Part V

The Beverly Gray series is best read in order, since the events are sequential. It is one of my all-time favorite series, just behind Nancy Drew. I feel like everyone who likes series books should at least give it a try. For those who wish to try out the Beverly Gray series, there are certain titles that will work.

The first four books, Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, and Senior, can be read without having read any of the others. Each book's plot takes place during one of Beverly's years in college. In fact, the first book that I read in the Beverly Gray series was Beverly Gray, Junior. I had found an A. L. Burt edition with dust jacket in a used bookstore. I bought it since I knew it had value and could always sell it if I didn't like it. The book made quite an impression on me. I still remember vividly where I was and the circumstances surrounding my reading of it. I also remember that I immediately began buying Beverly Gray books on eBay, and at that particular time, the pickings were slim. After a while, though, I had the complete set except for World's Fair.

It is only the series books that are the most important to me for which I remember the first reading so clearly. The other ones are Nancy Drew, Judy Bolton, and Trixie Belden. I believe I read my first Nancy Drew book in the summer that I turned seven. I remember so clearly spending a few hours reading the opening chapters of The Secret of the Old Clock while sprawled in a chair in the living room. That one day was the origin of my love of reading.

To go back to Beverly Gray, Career and World's Fair could probably be read just to try out the series (not that anyone who wants to try the series is randomly going to find World's Fair first), but I would not suggest these two titles as they are somewhat transitional between the College books and the World Cruise books.

World Cruise, Orient, Treasure Hunt, and Return are the books during which Beverly Gray and her friends take their world cruise. They travel to Great Britain, then through Europe, Egypt, the Middle East, India, China, and finally to some Pacific Island where there are cannibals. These books are best read as a group. They could be read as someone's introduction to the series, provided that World Cruise is the first one. The remaining titles in this group would be harder to follow as someone's first exposure to the series. This group of books is my favorite part of the series.

Reporter and Romance could both be read to try out the series, since the stories are mostly complete within each volume. Quest is another book in which Beverly travels to an exotic location and meets up with cannibals, and the story is complete in itself. Problem is the first Beverly Gray book that is like a Nancy Drew mystery. This story is complete in itself.

Adventure, Challenge, Journey, and Assignment are also all like the Nancy Drew mysteries and are good books to sample. Assignment is one of my favorites in the entire series.

Mystery and Vacation are both books that could be used to sample the series, but I do not recommend using either of them. I did not enjoy either book this time through, so I feel that they are among the weaker books in the series.

Fortune has Beverly and her friends back in an exotic location with superstitious natives and is also a good stand-alone book to try out.

Island Mystery, Discovery, Scoop, and Surprise are among the best books in the series, and any of them would be a good one to read as the first book.

As partially indicated above, my favorite Beverly Gray books are #6-9, #12, #13, #17, and #20-25.

Why do I like the Beverly Gray series? It is because the series appeals to my sense of adventure. Thrilling events occur almost constantly, so there is seldom a dull moment. Humor is also a very important part of the Beverly Gray series, and the character of Lenora Whitehill is a hoot.

Some people prefer their books to be plausible, so anyone who is like that will not like the Beverly Gray series. Most of Beverly's adventures are over-the-top and unlikely to happen in real life. The Beverly Gray series is like a soap opera, and it was described as a soap opera in one of the Yellowback Library articles. It is quite unlike any other vintage juvenile series. If you have never read a Beverly Gray book, give it a try. You have nothing to lose.

Thoughts on Beverly Gray Part IV

In June, I commented that the Ruth Fielding series was a likely inspiration for the Beverly Gray series. The plot elements from Beverly Gray, Senior are similar to plot elements in both Ruth Fielding in Moving Pictures and Ruth Fielding at Golden Pass. Additionally, the plot of Ruth Fielding and Her Greatest Triumph is very much like the plot of some of the Beverly Gray books in which Beverly and her friends travel to exotic locations.

As I thought about it some more, I made a couple more connections. Ruth Fielding's dormitory burns down in Ruth Fielding in Moving Pictures. Beverly Gray's dormitory meets the same fate in Beverly Gray, Freshman.

In the Adventure Girls series, also written by Clair Blank, the Adventure Girls attend Briarhurst College. Ruth Fielding's first school is Briarwood Hall. Coincidence? Maybe, maybe not.

I pointed out in a recent post that the first Girl Scouts book by Edith Lavell reminds me not only of Ruth Fielding but of Beverly Gray. In The Girl Scouts at Miss Allen's School, two friends, Marjorie Wilkinson and Ruth Henry are unable to room together, just like how friends Beverly Gray and Anne White are unable to room together in Beverly Gray, Freshman. Additionally, The Girl Scouts at Miss Allen's School has a large number of characters, too many to keep straight, and very little descriptive information is given, just like in the Beverly Gray books.

It is clear that several of these earlier series influenced Clair Blank. In Yellowback Library, No. 55, Anita Susan Grossman states:

Talking with people who were close to her, I learned of a Clair Moyer who was fun-loving and sociable. She may not have belonged to the Alpha Delta sorority, but she had a group of four friends who met regularly for years. One can see the kind of person she was from her stories, where friendship plays such a large role, and the key words are "merry," "gay," and "hilarious." Unlike other mystery series of the 1930s and 40s, the focus is on the group as much as the titular heroine. What we recall about many of the Beverly Gray books is not one particular detail, but the sense of a group of young people of both sexes travelling the globe to seek adventure . . . Part of this is due to the conventions of the genres within which she worked: one thinks of the Linger-Nots, the Meadow-Brook Girls, Blythe Girls, Motor Girls, Outdoor Girls, Campfire Girls, and other such peripatetic groups with names suggestive of outdoor activity; and also of school series whose individual books are framed by the academic calendar rather than by any single plot line. The episodic nature of the Beverly Gray books harks back to these earlier, more leisurely series, in contrast to the tightly-plotted Nancy Drew books, where every conversation has a direct bearing on the mystery, and humor is generally absent.

I agree on all points. The Beverly Gray series is like the earlier series books in that the books have a large cast of characters and the interaction between the characters is very important. At the same time, the action is greatly sped up, so the series is also very similar to the Nancy Drew because something exciting is always happening.

—to be continued

Thoughts on Beverly Gray Part III

The idea that the Beverly Gray series could have influenced some of the Nancy Drew mysteries has occurred to me as I have read through some of the Beverly Gray books. There are at least two instances in which a certain plot element in a Beverly Gray book appeared later in a Nancy Drew book. It could just be a coincidence, but it is something to consider.

During volumes 6 through 8 (Grosset and Dunlap numbering), Beverly Gray and her friends cruise around the world on The Susabella. In volume 6, Beverly's friend, Jim, explains how he was given half of a treasure map (pages 76-77):

"That is he gave me half of it," Jim said. From his pocket he brought a soiled, ragged piece of paper and spread it out on the red-checkered tablecloth. "He believed if he kept half and I had only half I could not run off with his treasure and no one would bother to steal only a half from him." He ran his finger along the ragged edge. "You see neither half is any good without the other. I couldn't find the treasure without his half."

"But could he find it without your half?" Lenora asked.

Jim shook his head. "No, and that is one thing I can't understand. Slim must have been hard pressed for a friend and a means to preserve the map or he never would have trusted me with half of it."

Without getting into too many plot-spoiling details, Beverly eventually sees the other half of the treasure map before it is destroyed, memorizes it, and copies it down from memory. In Beverly Gray on a Treasure Hunt, the friends travel to a Pacific island in search of the treasure with their enemies in hot pursuit and even must deal with a stowaway. After their arrival on the island, Beverly's enemies attack, holding the ship's crew hostage.

This is all rather similar to the plot of the Nancy Drew mystery, The Quest of the Missing Map, and of course, the Nancy Drew book was published after Beverly Gray volumes 6 through 8. In The Quest of the Missing Map, Nancy becomes friends with the Smith family, who has a torn half of a treasure map. From pages 19-20 of the original text version:

"Father took a parchment map from the safe," Mr. Smith went on, "but instead of giving it to either of us, he tore it diagonally from corner to corner into two pieces. 'You're to share the treasure equally,' said he, 'and to make sure of that I am dividing the map in such a way that no one can find the buried chest without both sections.' "

Much of the plot of the Nancy Drew book centers around the search for the other half of the map. Meanwhile, villains pursue Nancy at every turn in hopes of obtaining the Smith family's half of the map. Nancy even memorizes the map and makes a copy of it. Once Nancy and her friends have obtained both halves of the map, they sail to the treasure island. The villains pursue Nancy and her friends on their trip to the treasure island, and one of the villains stows away on their boat. Upon their arrival to the treasure island, Nancy and her friends discover that the villains had arrived before them.

There is also a strong similarity between one scene in Beverly Gray's Return and a scene in the Nancy Drew mystery, The Clue in the Old Stagecoach. In Beverly Gray's Return (pages 135-139), Beverly and two other people are asked to meet one of the villains at a certain house. As Beverly and her two companions wait, the Countess de la Fournay arrives and urges them to leave immediately, for there is grave danger. After the group leaves with the Countess in her car, they see the house explode from a nearby hillside. They are shaken by their narrow escape.

In The Clue in the Old Stagecoach (pages 136-139), the Monteiths request that Nancy meet them at a deserted farmhouse so that they can a discuss a mystery that the Monteiths need help solving. Nancy, Bess, and George arrive at the appointed time and wait outside near their car, deciding not to wait inside the farmhouse. Soon, the earth begins shaking, and the farmhouse collapses. Nancy and her friends are horrified that they were nearly killed.

I also find some similarity between one of the Beverly Gray books and one of the Vicki Barr books. Beverly Gray's Secret was published in 1951 while Peril Over the Airport was published in 1953. In Beverly Gray's Secret, Beverly goes undercover at Barton Airline to discover whether Mr. Barton is guilty of producing counterfeit money. Beverly notices right off that Mr. Barton is very disorganized and relies too much on his employees. At the end of the story, it is revealed that someone was trying to ruin Mr. Barton's airline so that he would sell out. In Peril Over the Airport, Vicki Barr takes flight lessons from Bill Avery, who runs an airport. Bill is very disorganized. Just like in the Beverly Gray book, someone tries to force Bill Avery out of business.

—to be continued

Thoughts on Beverly Gray Part II

Beverly Gray's Vacation was one of the books that the reviewer in MASR did not like. One of the reasons was because The Susabella goes to the rescue of another ship shortly before it reaches Canada. The rescue does not advance the plot in any fashion and is pointless aside from adding to the length of the book. This type of event frequently happens in the Beverly Gray series. To understand why, we must go back to the beginning of the series when it was first published by A. L. Burt.

In Yellowback Library, Issue No. 55, Anita Susan Grossman writes about the publishing history of the Beverly Gray series:

All in all, the correspondence with Burt reveals not only the astonishing speed of mail service by modern-day standards (letters pass between the New York office and Philadelphia and back in two days) but an equally commendable promptness with which the publisher read manuscripts submitted to them. The rapid pace set by the publisher--and followed by the author--found its counterpart in the plot of the Beverly Gray books themselves, where events follow one another in breathless, pell-mell fashion. A more demanding publisher might have asked about matters of coherence and plot logic, but from the written evidence, the Burt Company's chief concern was the number of words in the manuscript and the speed with which their commodity could be supplied to the juvenile market. Literary criticism was limited to general remarks in passing.

Also from the Yellowback Library article:

Within ten days Van Deventer reported that their reader enjoyed The Adventure Girls at K Bar O very much and "thought a series of this nature would be a good one to add to our list." How soon could she supply them with two other volumes of at least 45,000 to 50,000 words?

A. L. Burt apparently cared more about the length of the books and how quickly they could be published than the tightness of the plots. Since Clair Blank was asked to increase the length of her stories, she probably did this by adding events that were not necessary to the central plot. Each of the early Beverly Gray books is lacking a central plot that is followed from start to finish; rather, each story consists of several subplots that are loosely tied together. The typical Beverly Gray story often meanders from one unrelated event to another. I have to think that even Grosset and Dunlap did not make specific demands of Clair Blank, at least at first, as some of the Grosset and Dunlap books also have loosely-connected plots.

I did notice some changes in the Grosset and Dunlap books towards the end of the Beverly Gray series. In each of the earlier books, the main story arc (or the last part of the several unconnected story arcs) ends by at least one to two chapters before the end of the book. In the last one to two chapters, the story shifts into a new plot. This new plot is the lead-in for the next book.

By the final ten volumes in the series, the last chapter of the book resolves the plot of the current book, and there is no longer a chapter that leads into the next book. The final paragraph of each book may mention something about Beverly having further adventures, but there is not necessarily any indication of what the adventures will be. Some of the books have a short teaser that is placed after the end of the story, such as this one at the end of Beverly Gray's Vacation:

One of Beverly's most thrilling adventures lies ahead of her, as she and her gay companions set sail once more in the yacht Susabella. Don't miss the next exciting story, BEVERLY GRAY'S FORTUNE.

Another change that occurred is that the stories became shorter. The Burt books are around 250 pages each, longer than the usual Grosset and Dunlap series book, which in the 1930s, tended to be around 220 pages. The earlier Grosset and Dunlap titles up to Beverly Gray's Romance are around 230-250 pages. Beverly Gray's Quest and Beverly Gray's Problem are 210-220 pages long. Beverly Gray's Challenge is 207 pages. The rest of the books in the series are around 180 pages long.

—to be continued

Thoughts on Beverly Gray Part I

Back in April, I made some comments about the Beverly Gray series, and I mentioned the article that appeared in Issue 31 of The Mystery and Adventure Series Review. The reviewer gave his opinion about the final ten volumes of the Beverly Gray series, which are the only ones that he read. The reviewer felt that the books were not all written by the same person since some of the books are better than others, and also because a few of the books do not have the usual large cast of unnecessary characters.

In the past month, I have reread all of the Beverly Gray books, in some cases skimming a title or two, but I have gone back through all of them. This was my fourth time through the entire series, with the exception of World's Fair in which this was my third time. I feel like the same person did write the entire series. The characterizations remain consistent throughout the series, and the interactions between the characters are also consistent. When I read the Ruth Fielding series, the characterizations and interactions between characters shifted slightly each time the ghostwriter changed from Foster to Ward to Wirt. Of course, I knew to look for a difference, since I knew that the Fielding books were written by different people, but the differences in the Ruth Fielding books are tangible.

Some of the Beverly Gray books are better than others, and this was one reason why the reviewer in MASR thought that there were different writers. A point I wish to make is that Mildred Wirt Benson wrote many of the early Dana Girls books, which are generally considered to be not as good as the early Nancy Drew books. It has been speculated that the Dana Girls books received the rejected Nancy Drew plots. The Dana Girls books tend to have wacky stories that can be a bit hard to believe, regardless of which ghostwriter was involved. Even a good writer can produce something that is not quite up to par due to a weak plot, or in Benson's case, a weak plot outline provided by the Syndicate.

Clair Blank had some great ideas for most of the Beverly Gray stories, but she fell a bit short on some of the plots. In my fourth journey through the series, I found that the titles that I did not like quite as much as the rest are Beverly Gray at the World's Fair, Beverly Gray's Mystery, and Beverly Gray's Vacation. I do recall that I loved all of the books in the series the first two times that I read them; I want to make that clear. However, after repeated readings, some books are not going to hold up as well.

I did not like these titles as much because I found that I did not care that much about what happened to certain secondary characters. In Beverly Gray at the World's Fair, I found that I did not care about the man who died, and I did not care about his sister. I also grew tired of the endless descriptions of the World's Fair. In Beverly Gray's Mystery, I did not care about the missing horse, Star of the East, or his owner, and there were too many people running around with foreign-sounding names.

In Beverly Gray's Vacation, the plot centers around Phyllis Tanner, who is a secondary character who does not appear that often. Phyllis is in trouble because her brother, Neal, is accused of theft. Even though Beverly and her friends have never met Neal, they are certain he is innocent, although their host and everybody else is certain that Neal is guilty. It was not a particularly compelling read this time, and I did not care about Neal or Phyllis at all.

—to be continued

Beverly Gray's Return

The cover art for this book is simply awful. It is one of the worst in the entire series. In fact, I hate this one the most. It is even worse than the horrific Beverly Gray's Quest. At least Beverly Gray's Quest has some character to it and looks kind of like comic book art.

So, I was looking at this cover art and then looked at the frontispiece, which is the same illustration, but in gray and white on glossy paper. The glossy frontispiece might be just slightly better since it doesn't have the horrible colors.

The caption of the frontispiece reads, "Beverly stared after her friend in amazement." The scene is from page 49:

Shirley was coming aboard and Beverly ran to meet her. Shirley smiled briefly and swept past to go below deck. Beverly stared after her friend in amazement.

Reading the actual scene in the book only makes the illustration worse. "Shirley smiled briefly and swept past to go below deck." The illustration has Shirley going in the wrong direction, onto the deck instead below deck. Okay, so perhaps the illustration is instead depicting when Shirley came back up and left the boat, even though Beverly isn't staring after her in amazement in that part of the scene. However, Shirley is still heading in the wrong direction, away from the gangway, which is where Beverly is standing.

It actually looks as though Shirley is holding onto the frame of the entrance while she looks at the sailboats out in the water. In fact, it looks like Shirley could be hiding from the sailboats, and Beverly is watching her. The illustration does not match the intended scene and looks almost as though Grosset and Dunlap took some random illustration of people on a boat and made it apply to a scene in this book.

This is a perfect example of when a person should not judge a book by its cover. The book is excellent, and the dust jacket illustration is awful