(It was an odd series. Generally about 90% of the book was about the person's life as a kid, and then a few pages about what they did as adults. Also, every one was exactly 200 pages. If the text itself didn't get to 200, then there would be timelines or lists of places they lived or other stuff like that thrown onto the end to make it to 200.)
This sounds like the series at my grade 3-5 school that I zipped through back in the mid-70s. They even had a "biography" for Virginia Dare, in which they made up an entire life for her after the Lost Colony disappeared, complete with an explanation for "CROATAN" carved on the tree.
My library had these, too! For some reasons the ones about Robert E. Lee, Sitting Bull, and Tecumseh are the ones that stuck in my head, but I must've read at least a dozen of them.
The ones that I remember most are Helen Keller (because I was obsessed with her anyway), Herbert Hoover, and Mary Mapes Dodge. Also Abe Lincoln. I think I read all the ones that the library had, which was probably at least 40 or so.
Are these the little orange cloth-bound books, with silhouettes as illustrations? I had my mom's (including a Virginia Dare one!) and loved them. I think she had Jane Addams, Dolley Madison, Mary Todd, and Clara Barton.
Dear Universe,
Please make sure I'll get a ride to the show I'm about to see tonight with my friend. It will make everything better, and much more important, easier.
Sincerely,
She Who Doesn't Even Want To Start Looking At The Maps And Schedules Of The Buses And Taxi She'll Need To Get To The Venue And Back, And Would Love To Wear The New Crush Dress
I think I read those same books! Did they have a religious bent by any chance? I remember one on Teddy Roosevelt.
I don't remember a lot of religion in them, but it's been a while (almost 35 years!), so I could be mistaken.
I don't remember a religious bent, but I might have just kind of put that under "old-fashioned book." I don't recall what color the covers were.
I definitely remember that, in the Hebert Hoover one, his aunt and uncle spoke with "thee" and "thou" and so on.
But the 200 pages thing was consistent. Every single one, they somehow made it to exactly 200 pages.
I'm trying to figure out a way to google this series to find out if it had a name. So far, no luck.
They even had a "biography" for Virginia Dare, in which they made up an entire life for her after the Lost Colony disappeared, complete with an explanation for "CROATAN" carved on the tree.
how odd.I was just thinking of this series the other day. My sister read tons of them - and because a once a week library trip was no where near enough books, I read all her books to. The Virginia Dare one confused me completely -- because it was presented as"true" ( because it explained why some indians had blue eyes), but there was no way to prove it ---all just guess work.
DH remembers the one about John Deere
