The Girl Scouts Series

The Girl Scouts Series
by Edith Lavell


Marjorie had been too popular lately; she was having things her own way entirely too much.  It was not good for any one girl to receive so much attention, Ruth thought; for the sake of the others in the troop, as well as for herself, she had regarded her prank as veritably charitable.  But now she was almost beginning to regret it.  For she knew that when the girl did finally appear, she would be the petted heroine of the party even though Ruth herself might win the cup.  And who knew? Mr. Andrews might even suggest that the winner compete with Marjorie and Frieda!  It was a strange thing that Ruth Henry had not learned by this time that her underhand scheming never got her anywheres.  But each time she seemed to forget, and tried her mean practices all over again.

                                                                  —page 178, The Girl Scouts' Canoe Trip


This ten volume series was published by A. L. Burt in hardcover with dust jacket from 1922 through 1925.  The books each have a glossy frontispiece illustration, which is the same illustration that appears on the dust jacket of each book.

The series was written by Edith Lavell, who is described in the advertisements for the series as "an author of wide experience in Scouts' craft as Director of Girl Scouts of Philadelphia."

Titles in the Girl Scouts Series:


  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

The series follows the adventures of Marjorie Wilkinson and the other members of the Girl Scouts Pansy troop of Miss Allen's school.  Miss Allen's school is located somewhere in the general area near Philadelphia, not surprising since the author, Edith Lavell, lived in Philadelphia.

At the beginning of the series, Marjorie Wilkinson and Ruth Henry arrive at Miss Allen's school as incoming freshmen.  At this time, the two girls are best friends, but they soon become rivals due to Ruth's jealousy.  During volumes one through five, Ruth plays tricks on Marjorie in order to cripple Marjorie's achievements as a Girl Scout.  Ruth's pranks gradually become worse and worse until they reach the level of criminal activity.  Ruth is a very vicious young lady.  Ruth is only present in volumes one through five.

In volume six, Marjorie and her friends graduate from Miss Allen's school.  Marjorie graduates from college at the beginning of volume ten.  By the end of volume ten, nine years have passed since the beginning of the series.  Such a great amount of time passes because most of the books take place during the girls' summer vacations.  In most cases, each book begins a year after the end of the last book so that very little time is actually spent in school.

This series has a very large amount of Girl Scout lore.  Edith Lavell was a Girl Scouts Director in Philadelphia and only someone with a vast amount of knowledge about the Girl Scouts would be able to place such a large amount of information in the books.

The books in this series are rather scarce, both with and without dust jackets.  The last few titles are the hardest to find.  Volume one also seems to be one of the harder to find volumes, which I am at a loss to explain.  Volume three may be the easiest to find volume.  The bare books usually sell for $5.00 to $10.00, and the books with intact dust jackets sell for around $25.00 to $75.00.

Summaries

Book and Dust Jacket Gallery

My Girl Scouts series blog posts

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