Lois Lenski's American Regional Series

In our previous posts, we have mentioned Lois Lenski's American Regional Series. The first book of this series is Bayou Suzette. It was published in 1943. Lois Lenski received the Martha Kinney Cooper Ohioana Library Award in 1944 for this book. She also received Newbery Medal in 1945 for one of her best selling book Strawberry Girl (1945). Other famous books of the regional series include Houseboat Girl, Coal Camp Girl, Corn Farm Boy, Boom Town Boy, Prairie School, Cotton in my Sack.

Bayou Suzette

Bayou Suzette (1943)

Suzette, a loveable young white girl, and Marteel, an orphan Indian girl who comes to live with her family, become constant and close friends. The bayou country of Louisiana serves as a colorful backdrop for the girls' lively adventures which include surviving a major flood in the Louisiana bayou country

Strawberry Girl

Cover of Strawberry Girl (1945)

The second book of the American Regional Series is Strawberry Girl. Lois Lenski won Newbery Medal for this book. It was published in 1945. This realistic fiction children's book is based on the story of Florida. The story of the book deals with two families, the Boyers, and the Slaters.

Birdie Boyer was a Florida Cracker. She belonged to a large "Strawberry Family", who lived on the Flatwoods farm in the lake section of the state. They raised strawberry for the living. 

Through all the hazards of the uncertain crop- battling against dry weather and grass fires, the roving hogs and cattle of their neighbors; Birdie dreamed of an education that would include playing with organ. In the end, she not only won the title 'Strawberry girl' but also learning as well. This is a story full of entertainment and fun and the excitement of real life in Florida. 

Birdie the 'Strawberry Girl'

Lois Lenski has used again her gift for catching the flavor and drama of life in a remote corner of America. It is the second of a series of regional stories through which she promised to introduce other fascinating and little-known background of boys and girls. This story took place beside the popular Louisiana story, Bayou Suzette, that we have just mentioned. The eighty-four illustrations are distinguished for their action and fascinating detail. They add a great picture of Florida life at a time when old Florida changes to a new. 

Cotton in my Sack

Some images of
Cotton in my Sack (1949)

This story is about a girl named Joanda who lives in Arkansas. She picks cotton with her brothers, sisters, and parents. They had a little dog named Trouble. Getting the long sacks full means more money for groceries and 'play-parties' in town on Saturday. Joanda knows what fun it is to spend money she has earned herself. She also knows what it means when the money is all gone and the family fortunes are at ebb tide. Whatever happens, Joanda knows her help is greatly needed. She always shares in the family's ups and downs, whether it is caring for her baby sister, helping to make a meager Christmas, or facing the mysterious loss of a load of cotton that was to mean the beginning of independence for the family.
Lois Lenski, through her regional series, tried to draw the images of children from different part of the country. When the cotton-picking children in Arkansas read Strawberry Girl, they wrote to miss Lenski asking her to write a book about them. This led to a visit to Arkansas by the author to make their acquaintance and learn their life, and a subsequent visit to see the cotton crop picked and to draw, on the spot, the pictures that make this book, like the others of the series, a true, colorful and sympathetic record of life in its region. 

Houseboat Girl

Houseboat Girl (1954)

The main character of this book is Patsy, who shared her own feeling and experiences about living in a houseboat in the Mississippi River. At first, she was upset as she was leaving her house and her friends. She was confident that the trip downriver would be very boring and she would miss her friends a lot. But later she learned to love the ever-changing river, where she even learned to swim.

This book is based on the experiences of real families living on the Mississippi River in the summer of 1954.

Illinois State University Special Collection has the rare handwritten manuscript and scrapbook of Houseboat Girl. From the scrapbook, we can find the real 'Houseboat Girl' and her brothers and sisters and pets. It is really amazing how miss Lenski described these true stories in this book.

Coal Camp Girl

Cover of Coal Camp Girl (1959)

Like Lois Lenski's other regional books, the book Coal Camp Girl was written based on the true stories of children living in the coal mining town of West Virginia. The main character of this story is a 9-year-old girl named Tina Wilson. The author depicted her stories in a vivid way. 

The sharp blast of the mine whistle echoed to the valley, sending Tina on flying feet down to greet her father as he returned from his day's work at the coal mine. It was a custom for every father to have a treat in his bucket, and the miners' children scrambled to be the first to get theirs. But the mine whistle could mean other things in the lives of the miners and their families. Sometimes it was the signal for disasters. And sometimes it did not blow at all when the mines were closed and there was no work for the men. Tina and her brother and their friends not only learned some hard lessons about hunger and hardship that winter, but they also learned about hope and courage. And there were lots of happy times too; square dance, a wedding, and rides on grandfather's ponies.