The Outdoor Girls

Dusty Shelves 7 Comments

Laura Lee Hope | Fiction 1913

212 pages

four-hearts

Laura Lee Hope is the pseudonym for a group of authors who wrote The Bobsey Twins, The Outdoor Girls, and five other multi-book series for children. When my Aunt Helen died in 2009, I found a box of The Outdoor Girls in her basement. She had 19 of the 23-book series, published between 1913 and 1933.  She signed them “Helen Sigetich” and often included a date, 1926 in the first one, or her address, 6550 McGraw.  I bought three more to fill in the gaps, but have not yet put my hands on the rare 23rd volume, The Outdoor Girls in Desert Valley.

I read three of them over the last few days, to see what these century-old stories were like.  I am impressed with the number of adventures the girls find themselves in, from discovering a lost $500 bill with a note attached, to finding the truth about the white ghost with chains on Elm island. The authors use big words like obdurate and auspicious, and, even as a mature adult in another century, I did not feel talked down to.

It was fun to explore this series of books, set in a time when telephones were not yet in every home, much less any other technology.

I am most curious to know if any of you read this series while a young person?  I read The Hardy Boys religiously, and an occasional Nancy Drew, but never anything by Laura Lee Hope.  What do you remember?

 

7 responses on “The Outdoor Girls”

    1. Andrea Sigetich Post author

      What did you read as a young girl, or don’t you recall?

  2. Rene

    I don’t remember reading them, but I bet I did read some of them. My Mom read to us a lot of Jack London and Laura Ingalls Wilder.

    1. Andrea Sigetich Post author

      Wilder …. I know that name. What did she write?

  3. mary cary Crawford

    How interesting, Andrea! I have never heard of this series. I am so glad you took them and filled in the gaps. And the title fits you.
    I read The Hardy Boys – growing up with 4 brothers, there were several of them laying around the house. My series of choice was Cherry Ames, a nurse. Read a few Nancy Drews but never was a big fan. I also read all the Dr. Doolittle books available the Detroit Public Library, Redford Branch.

    I have a couple of books that my parents owned as young people. I kept them for the signatures. It is a strange but comforting connection.

    1. Andrea Sigetich Post author

      Somehow it doesn’t surprise me that you and I were both Hardy Boys fans. It was my first book club … Sandy and Mary(?) and I would read them and discuss. I never heard of Cherry Ames!