The Bluebird Books

The Bluebird Books was is a series of novels popular with teenage girls in the 1910s and 1920s. The series was begun by L. Frank Baum using his Edith Van Dyne pseudonym, then continued by at least three others, all using the same pseudonym. Baum wrote the first four books in the series, possibly with help from his son, Harry Neal Baum, on the third. The fifth book is based on a fragment by Baum and written by an unknown author. The last five books were written by Emma Speed Sampson. The origin of the title is uncertain, but the books were all published in hardcover with blue cloth.

The series began with "Mary Louise". Originally written as a tribute to Baum's favorite sister, Mary Louise Baum Brewster, Baum's publisher, Reilly & Britton, rejected that manuscript, now lost, and Baum came up with a new one. [Katharine M. Rogers. "L. Frank Baum: Creator of Oz". St. Martin's Press, 2002 ISBN 0-312-30174-X p. 220.] Although she remained titular, Baum seemed to lose interest in the character and focus on the dashing girl detective, Josie O'Gorman. Sampson finally relented and named the last few books after this character.

After the success of this series, Baum stopped work on the "Aunt Jane's Nieces" series for which he also used the Edith Van Dyne name. Eventually, in 1918, he partially rewrote and added four more chapters to that series' final book to give it something of a conclusion.

Books in the series

#Mary Louise (1915)
#Mary Louise in the Country (1916)
#Mary Louise Solves a Mystery (1917)
#Mary Louise and the Liberty Girls (1918)
#Mary Louise Adopts a Soldier (1919)
#Mary Louise at Dorfield (1920)
#Mary Louise Stands the Test (1921)
#Mary Louise and Josie O'Gorman (1922)
#Josie O'Gorman (1923)
#Josie O'Gorman and the Meddlesome Major (1924)

References