There is an abundance of girls’ series books which I was not previously aware of, probably because my hometown library didn’t have them. Many are from the same production houses that churned out the well-known Nancy Drew and Cherry Ames series. They all stick to the usual formulas: titles with a set pattern, either a mystery/adventure, or female career to follow, and standard characters (often a dead parent(s) or other interesting family situation for the heroine, always perky sidekicks, sometimes annoying adversaries). The three books I’ve recently encountered are: “Puzzle in Purple, A Connie Blair Mystery” (thanks Lisa! There’s also “Clue in Blue” and “Riddle in Red”), “Betty Gordon at Rainbow Ranch” (a Stratemeyer Syndicate series), and “The Secret of Magnolia Manor, The Vicki Barr Flight Stewardess Series”. Reading these books is like watching sitcoms. You know the formula, what to expect from the characters, and there’s not much underneath. Since they are all from earlier decades (1920’s-1940’s), I enjoy them as snapshots of history. I try to imagine what a girl in those times was getting from these books and how women are presented in them. Sometimes it’s not as bad as I expect. Many of them were written with the goal of encouraging independent thought. But the social differences are always pretty extreme! And the racism is, unfortunately, often worse than the outdated female roles.