List of Stratemeyer Syndicate series

Last updated February 10, 2024

This list of Stratemeyer Syndicate series gives the titles of all series produced by the book packaging firm the Stratemeyer Syndicate. The Syndicate was founded by Edward Stratemeyer and is best known for producing the Bobbsey Twins, Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Rover Boys, and Tom Swift series. The Syndicate produced these and many other series in assembly-line fashion: one person wrote the outline for a story or series of stories, another wrote the story itself, and often still another edited the work. Most Syndicate books were published under pseudonyms. The authors named in this list are those credited as having written the series; in most cases, the names are fictitious.

The Syndicate was founded in 1905.^[1]^[2] However, Edward Stratemeyer was writing series books and outlines and hiring ghostwriters before the Syndicate's incorporation; his Rover Boys series, first published in 1899 under the name Arthur M. Winfield, is sometimes considered the first Stratemeyer Syndicate series.^[3] For this reason, the list includes series beginning in 1899 with the Rover Boys. Series production was overseen by Edward Stratemeyer until his death in 1930, whereupon his daughter, Harriet Stratemeyer Adams oversaw the firm until her death in 1982. Nancy Axelrad briefly took the helm before selling the Syndicate and the rights to all its series to Simon & Schuster in 1984, which hired a different book-packager, Mega-Books, to handle future titles.^[4] Series begun in or before 1984 are therefore included in this list, but not series begun after the Syndicate's sale.

Not included in this list are proposed series, such as a Hardy Boys spin-off series featuring Chet Morton ^[5] or unpublished titles. Also not included are series such as the Judy Bolton Series, the Cherry Ames Nurse Stories, or the Trixie Belden Mysteries, as these were not produced by the Syndicate.

Unless otherwise noted, information is taken from Deidre Johnson's Stratemeyer Pseudonyms and Series Books. Dates given are those of original publication, followed, if applicable, by dates of re-issue.

Series

Series	Author	Begun	Ended	Re-issued	Volumes	Notes
Rover Boys	Arthur M. Winfield	1899	1926	n/a	30
Soldiers of Fortune	Edward Stratemeyer	1900	1906	n/a	4
Colonial	Edward Stratemeyer	1901	1906	n/a	6
Putnam Hall	Arthur M. Winfield	1901	1911	1921	6
Pan-American	Edward Stratemeyer	1902	1911	n/a	6
Frontier	Captain Ralph Bonehill	1903	1906	1908, 1912	3	^[6]
Outdoor Series	Captain Ralph Bonehill	1904	1905	1908	2	^[7]
Bobbsey Twins	Laura Lee Hope	1904	1979		72	^[8]
Dave Porter	Edward Stratemeyer	1905	1919	n/a	15
Deep Sea	Roy Rockwood	1905	1908	1918, 1926	4
Boy Hunters	Captain Ralph Bonehill	1906	1910	n/a	4
Boys of Business	Allen Chapman	1906	1908	n/a	4
Boys of Pluck	Allen Chapman	1906	1911	n/a	5
Great Marvel	Roy Rockwood	1906	1935	n/a	9
Motor Boys	Clarence Young	1906	1924	n/a	22
Ralph of the Railroad	Allen Chapman	1906	1933	n/a	11	^[9]
Jack Ranger	Clarence Young	1907	1911	n/a	6
Darewell Chums	Allen Chapman	1908	1911	1917	5
Dorothy Dale	Margaret Penrose	1908	1924	n/a	13
Lakeport	Edward Stratemeyer	1908	1912	n/a	6
Webster Series	Frank V. Webster	1909	1915	n/a	25
College Sports	Lester Chadwick	1910	1913	n/a	6
Motor Girls	Margaret Penrose	1910	1917	n/a	10
Tom Swift	Victor Appleton	1910	1941	n/a	40
Outdoor Chums	Captain Quincy Allen	1911	1916	n/a	8
Baseball Joe	Lester Chadwick	1912	1928	n/a	14
Boys of Columbia High	Graham B. Forbes	1912	1920	n/a	8
Pioneer Boys	Harrison Adams	1912	1928	n/a	8	^[10]
Racer Boys	Clarence Young	1912	1914	n/a	6
Tommy Tiptop	Raymond Stone	1912	1917	n/a	6
Up and Doing	Frederick Gordon	1912	1912	n/a	3
Dave Dashaway	Roy Rockwood	1913	1915	n/a	5
Fred Fenton Athletic Series	Allen Chapman	1913	1915	n/a	5
Motion Picture Chums	Victor Appleton	1913	1916	n/a	7	^[11]
Moving Picture Boys	Victor Appleton	1913	1922	n/a	15	^[11]
Outdoor Girls	Laura Lee Hope	1913	1933	n/a	23
Ruth Fielding	Alice B. Emerson	1913	1934	n/a	30
Saddle Boys	James Carson	1913	1915	n/a	5	^[12]
Speedwell Boys	Roy Rockwood	1913	1915	n/a	5
Tom Fairfield	Allen Chapman	1913	1915	n/a	5
Amy Bell Marlowe's Books for Girls	Amy Bell Marlowe	1914	1927	1933	10
Back to the Soil	Burbank L. Todd	1914	1915	n/a	2	^[13]
Do Something	Helen Beecher Long	1914	1919	n/a	5	^[14]
Fairview Boys	Frederick Gordon	1914	1917	n/a	6
Girls of Central High	Gertrude W. Morrison	1914	1919	n/a	7
Moving Picture Girls	Laura Lee Hope	1914	1916	n/a	7
University	Roy Eliot Stokes	1914	1914	n/a	2
Bobby Blake	Frank A. Warner	1915	1926	n/a	12
Corner House Girls	Grace Brooks Hill	1915	1926	n/a	13
Kneetime Animal Stories	Richard Barnum	1915	1922	n/a	17
White Ribbon Boys	Raymond Sperry, Jr.	1915	1916	n/a	2
Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue	Laura Lee Hope	1916	1931	n/a	20
Joe Strong	Vance Barnum	1916	1916	n/a	7
Nan Sherwood	Annie Roe Carr	1916	1937	n/a	7
Rushton Boys	Spencer Davenport	1916	1916	n/a	3
Y.M.C.A. Boys	Brooks Henderley	1916	1917	n/a	3
Motion Picture Comrades	Elmer Tracey Barnes	1917	1917	n/a	5
Air Service Boys	Charles Amory Beach	1918	1920	n/a	6
Carolyn	Ruth Belmore Endicott	1918	1919	n/a	2
Dave Fearless	Roy Rockwood	1918	1927	n/a	17
Six Little Bunkers	Laura Lee Hope	1918	1930	1933	14
Betty Gordon	Alice B. Emerson	1920	1932	n/a	15
Billie Bradley	Janet D. Wheeler	1920	1932	n/a	9
Four Little Blossoms	Mabel C. Hawley	1920	1930	1938	7
Make Believe Stories	Laura Lee Hope	1920	1923	n/a	12
Oriole	Amy Bell Marlowe	1920	1933	n/a	4	^[15]
Sunny Boy	Ramy Allison White	1920	1931	n/a	14
Frank and Andy	Vance Barnum	1921	1921	n/a	3
Radio Boys	Allen Chapman	1922	1930	n/a	13
Radio Girls	Margaret Penrose	1922	1924	n/a	4
Honey Bunch	Helen Louise Thorndyke	1923	1955	n/a	34
Riddle Club	Alice Dale Hardy	1924	1929	n/a	6
Blythe Girls	Laura Lee Hope	1925	1932	n/a	12
Don Sturdy	Victor Appleton	1925	1935	n/a	15
Flyaways	Alice Dale Hardy	1925	1925	n/a	3
Barton Books for Girls	May Hollis Barton	1926	1937	n/a	16
Bomba, the Jungle Boy	Roy Rockwood	1926	1938	1953, 1978	20
Frank Allen	Graham B. Forbes	1926	1927	n/a	17	^[16]
Garry Grayson Football Stories	Elmer A. Dawson	1926	1932	n/a	10
Movie Boys	Victor Appleton	1926	1927	n/a	17	^[11]
Nat Ridley Rapid Fire Detective Stories	Nat Ridley, Jr.	1926	1927	n/a	17
X Bar X Boys	James Cody Ferris	1926	1942	n/a	21
Hardy Boys Mystery Stories	Franklin W. Dixon	1927	2005	n/a	190	^[17]
Ted Scott Flying Stories	Franklin W. Dixon	1927	1943	n/a	20
Bob Chase Big Game Series	Frank A. Warner	1929	1930	n/a	4
Lanky Lawson	Harry Mason Roe	1929	1930	n/a	4
Roy Stover	Philip A. Bartlett	1929	1934	n/a	4	^[18]
Buck and Larry Baseball Stories	Elmer A. Dawson	1930	1932	n/a	5
Campfire Girls	Margaret Penrose	1930	1930	n/a	4
Nancy Drew Mystery Stories	Carolyn Keene	1930	2003	n/a	175	^[19]
Slim Tyler Air Stories	Richard H. Stone	1930	1936	n/a	7
Doris Force	Julia K. Duncan	1931	1932	n/a	4
Jerry Ford Wonder Stories	Fenworth Moore	1931	1932	1937	4
Perry Pierce	Clinton W. Locke	1931	1934	n/a	4
Sky Flyers	Eugene Martin	1931	1933	n/a	4	^[20]
Dana Girls Mystery Stories	Carolyn Keene	1934	1979	n/a	34	^[19]
Kay Tracey Mystery Stories	Frances K. Judd	1934	1942	1951–1953, 1961, 1964, 1978, 1980.	18
Mary and Jerry Mystery Stories	Francis Hunt	1935	1937	n/a	5
Mel Martin Baseball Stories	John R. Cooper	1947	1947	1952–1953	6
The Happy Hollisters	Jerry West	1953	1970	1979	33
Tom Swift, Jr.	Victor Appleton II	1954	1971	n/a	33	^[21]
Honey Bunch and Norman Stories	Helen Louise Thorndyke	1954	1963	n/a	12
Bret King Mystery Stories	Dan Scott	1960	1964	n/a	9
Linda Craig	Ann Sheldon	1962	1964	1981–1984	6	^[22]
Christopher Cool, TEEN Agent	Jack Lancer	1967	1969	n/a	6
Tolliver Adventure Series	Alan Stone	1967	1967	n/a	3
Wynn and Lonny Racing Series	Eric Speed	1975	1978	n/a	6
Nancy Drew Picture Books	Carolyn Keene	1977	1977	n/a	2
Tom Swift III	Victor Appleton	1981	1984	n/a	11	^[23]

Notes

↑ Keeline (2008), 20.
↑ Rehak (2006), 26.
↑ See Billman (1986).
↑ Plunkett-Powell (1993), 29.
↑ Moske (2000).
↑ Re-printed by Grosset & Dunlap as the "Flag and Frontier" series.
↑ Re-printed as the first two volumes in the "Lakeport" series.
↑ Weinstein (1999).
↑ Sometimes known simply as the "Railroad" series.
↑ Also known as the "Young Pioneers" series.
1 2 3 The first five volumes of the series were re-printed as the last five volumes of the "Moving Picture Boys" series. In turn, both the "Motion Picture Chums" and "Moving Picture Boys" were combined in 1926 as the "Movie Boys" series.
↑ The author is sometimes given as "Captain James Carson."
↑ Also known as the "Hiram" series.
↑ Also known as the "Janice Day" series.
↑ Also published as part of the "Amy Bell Marlowe's Books for Girls" series.
↑ Deidre Johnson notes that the last two volumes in the series, Frank Allen with the circus; or, The old ringmaster's secret and Frank Allen pitching his best; or, The baseball rivals of Columbia High may never have been published.
↑ Smith.
↑ Book Safari.
1 2 White.
↑ Also known as the "Randy Starr" series.
↑ Cooper (2007), "The Complete Tom Swift Jr. Homepage."
↑ Billman.
↑ Pepin (1997).

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Swift</span> Fictional literary character

Tom Swift is the main character of six series of American juvenile science fiction and adventure novels that emphasize science, invention, and technology. Inaugurated in 1910, the sequence of series comprises more than 100 volumes. The first Tom Swift – later, Tom Swift Sr. – was created by Edward Stratemeyer, the founder of the Stratemeyer Syndicate, a book packaging firm. Tom's adventures have been written by various ghostwriters, beginning with Howard Garis. Most of the books are credited to the collective pseudonym "Victor Appleton". The 33 volumes of the second series use the pseudonym Victor Appleton II for the author. For this series, and some later ones, the main character is "Tom Swift Jr." New titles have been published again from 2019 after a gap of about ten years, roughly the time that has passed before every resumption. Most of the series emphasized Tom's inventions. The books generally describe the effects of science and technology as wholly beneficial, and the role of the inventor in society as admirable and heroic.

Nancy Drew is a fictional character appearing in several mystery book series, movies, video games, and a TV show as a teenage amateur sleuth. The books are ghostwritten by a number of authors and published under the collective pseudonym Carolyn Keene. Created by the publisher Edward Stratemeyer as the female counterpart to his Hardy Boys series, the character first appeared in 1930 in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series, which lasted until 2003 and consisted of 175 novels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mildred Benson</span> American writer

Mildred Augustine Wirt Benson was an American journalist and writer of children's books. She wrote some of the earliest Nancy Drew mysteries and created the detective's adventurous personality. Benson wrote under the Stratemeyer Syndicate pen name, Carolyn Keene, from 1929 to 1947 and contributed to 23 of the first 30 Nancy Drew mysteries, which were bestsellers.

The Stratemeyer Syndicate was a publishing company that produced a number of mystery book series for children, including Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, the various Tom Swift series, the Bobbsey Twins, the Rover Boys, and others. They published and contracted the many pseudonymous authors doing the writing of the series from 1899 through 1987, when the syndicate partners sold the company to Simon & Schuster.

The Dana Girls was a series of young adult mystery novels produced by the Stratemeyer Syndicate. The title heroines, Jean and Louise Dana, are teenage sisters and amateur detectives who solve mysteries while at boarding school. The series was created in 1934 in an attempt to capitalize on the popularity of both the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories and the Hardy Boys series, but was less successful than either. The series was written by a number of ghostwriters and, despite going out-of-print twice, lasted from 1934 to 1979; the books have also been translated into a number of other languages. While subject to less critical attention than either Nancy Drew or the Hardy Boys, a number of critics have written about the series, most arguing that the Dana Girls' relative lack of success was due to the more dated nature of the series.

The Hardy Boys, brothers Frank and Joe Hardy, are fictional characters who appear in several mystery series for children and teens. The series revolves around teenagers who are amateur sleuths, solving cases that stumped their adult counterparts. The characters were created by American writer Edward Stratemeyer, the founder of book packaging firm Stratemeyer Syndicate. The books were written by several ghostwriters, most notably Leslie McFarlane, under the collective pseudonym Franklin W. Dixon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harriet Adams</span> American novelist (1892–1982)

Harriet Stratemeyer Adams was an American juvenile book packager, children's novelist, and publisher who was responsible for some 200 books over her literary career. She wrote the plot outlines for many books in the Nancy Drew series, using characters invented by her father, Edward Stratemeyer. Adams also oversaw other ghostwriters who wrote for these and many other series as a part of the Stratemeyer Syndicate, and rewrote many of the novels to update them starting in the late 1950s.

Franklin W. Dixon is the pen name used by a variety of different authors who were part of a team that wrote The Hardy Boys novels for the Stratemeyer Syndicate. Dixon was also the writer attributed for the Ted Scott Flying Stories series, published by Grosset & Dunlap.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward Stratemeyer</span> American book packager, publisher and writer (1862–1930)

Edward L. Stratemeyer was an American publisher, writer of children's fiction, and founder of the Stratemeyer Syndicate. He was one of the most prolific writers in the world, producing in excess of 1,300 books himself, selling in excess of 500 million copies. He also created many well-known fictional book series for juveniles, including The Rover Boys, The Bobbsey Twins, Tom Swift, The Hardy Boys, and Nancy Drew series, many of which sold millions of copies and remain in publication. On Stratemeyer's legacy, Fortune wrote: "As oil had its Rockefeller, literature had its Stratemeyer."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bobbsey Twins</span> Series of American childrens novels

The Bobbsey Twins are the principal characters of what was, for 75 years, the Stratemeyer Syndicate's longest-running series of American children's novels, written under the pseudonym Laura Lee Hope. The first of 72 books was published in 1904, the last in 1979, with a separate series of 30 books published from 1987 through 1992. The books related the adventures of the children of the upper-middle-class Bobbsey family, which included two sets of fraternal twins: Bert and Nan, who were twelve years old, and Flossie and Freddie, who were six.

Charles Leslie McFarlane was a Canadian journalist, novelist, screenwriter, and filmmaker, who is most famous for ghostwriting many of the early books in the very successful Hardy Boys series, using the pseudonym Franklin W. Dixon.

The House On The Cliff is the second book in the original The Hardy Boys Mystery Stories published by Grosset & Dunlap. The book ranks 72nd on the Publishers Weekly's All-Time Bestselling Children's Book List in the United States with 1,712,433 copies sold as of 2001. This book is one of the "Original 10" Hardy Boys books and is an excellent example of the writing style used by the Stratemeyer Syndicate's writers. This style influenced many other "youth adventure series" books that the Stratemeyer Syndicate also published, including the Nancy Drew series, the Tom Swift adventure series, the Bobbsey Twins and other lesser known series. All of them used a unique writing style that made them very recognizable as Stratemeyer product.

Andrew E. Svenson was an American children's author, publisher, and partner in the Stratemeyer Syndicate. Under a variety of pseudonyms, many shared with other authors, Svenson authored or coauthored more than 70 books for children, including books for the Hardy Boys, Bobbsey Twins, Tom Swift, and Honey Bunch series. He wrote the series The Happy Hollisters using the pseudonym Jerry West and The Tolliver Family as Alan Stone.

<i>Kay Tracey</i> Book series featuring girl detective

The Kay Tracey Mysteries were published under the name Frances K. Judd, a house pseudonym of the Stratemeyer Syndicate, a book packager. The series was conceived as a response to the popularity of the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories and likewise features a teenage girl detective. While the original entries in the series lasted only from 1934 to 1942, the books were updated, revised, and have been re-issued numerous times, most recently by Bantam Books in the 1980s, and have been translated into Swedish and French. Many critics see Kay Tracey as markedly inferior to Nancy Drew, but some find the series to be significant as one of a number of series that provided girls with a feminist role model prior to third-wave feminism.

The Nancy Drew Mystery Stories is the long-running "main" series of the Nancy Drew franchise, which was published under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene. There are 175 novels — plus 34 revised stories — that were published between 1930 and 2003 under the banner; Grosset & Dunlap published the first 56, and 34 revised stories, while Simon & Schuster published the series beginning with volume 57.

The Honey Bunch series of books were part of the Stratemeyer Syndicate's production of 20th century children's books featuring adventurous youngsters, which included the series Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys and the Bobbsey Twins. This series was written under the pseudonym Helen Louise Thorndyke, and published for most of its duration by Grosset & Dunlap. The series began in 1923 and chronicled a young girl named Honey Bunch on her various trips and adventures. Along with Laura Lee Hope's series Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue, it was one of their most famous series for younger children.

Walter Stanton Rogers was one of the primary illustrators used by the Stratemeyer Syndicate for its children's book series from the 1910s-1930s. For many collectors, Rogers, "with his many wonderful full-color dust jackets," was "a benchmark for a successful series-book illustrator."

<i>Confessions of a Teen Sleuth</i> Book by Chelsea Cain

Confessions of a Teen Sleuth: A Parody is a 2005 parody novel by American writer Chelsea Cain. The book is a parody of the Nancy Drew mystery series published under the collective pseudonym Carolyn Keene and created by Edward Stratemeyer. The novel purports to be the true story of Nancy Drew, who claims that Keene was a former college roommate who plagiarized her life story while also misrepresenting Drew in the process. It incorporates characters from the mystery series while also including or mentioning characters from other series such as The Hardy Boys, Cherry Ames, and Encyclopedia Brown.

References

Baumann, David M (July 2005). "The Checkered Flag: Last product of Stratemeyer Syndicate is a winner" (PDF). The Mystery and Adventure Series Review. 38. Retrieved 20 April 2009.
Billman, Carol (1986). The Secret of the Stratemeyer Syndicate . Ungar. ISBN 0-8044-2055-6.
Book Safari. "Series Books". Archived from the original on May 1, 2009. Retrieved 20 April 2009.
BookSleuth. "Boy's Series Information". Archived from the original on 22 February 2013. Retrieved 20 April 2009.
Cooper, Jonathan K (2007). "The Complete Tom Swift Jr. Home Page" . Retrieved 20 April 2009.
Johnson, Deidre (1982). Stratemeyer Pseudonyms and Series Books . Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-22632-6.
Keeline, James D (2008). Cornelius, Michael G; Gregg, Melanie E (eds.). "The Nancy Drew Mythtery Stories" in Nancy Drew and Her Sister Sleuths.
Moske, Jim (February 2000). "Stratemeyer Syndicate Records, 1832-1984" (PDF). The New York Public Library. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 29, 2009. Retrieved 6 April 2009.
Ogden, James (2003). "Rick Brant". Archived from the original on 15 April 2009. Retrieved 21 April 2009.
Pepin, Christopher James (1997). "Tom Swift III - Series 3 Book List". Archived from the original on 2009-10-21. Retrieved 20 April 2009.
Plunkett-Powell, Karen (1993). The Nancy Drew Scrapbook: 60 years of America's favorite teenage sleuth. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-09881-2.
Rehak, Melanie (2006). Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her. Harvest. ISBN 0-15-603056-X.
Salmonson, Jessica Amanda. "Collecting Roy Rockwood's Great Marvel Series". Archived from the original on 26 September 2009. Retrieved 20 April 2009.
Smith, Kevin Burton. "The Hardy Boys" . Retrieved 28 April 2009.
Weinstein, Michael P (1999). "The Story of the Bobbsey Twins" . Retrieved 20 April 2009.
White, Jennifer. "Series Books for Girls" . Retrieved 20 April 2009.

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[1] Keeline (2008), 20.

[2] Rehak (2006), 26.

[3] See Billman (1986).

[4] Plunkett-Powell (1993), 29.

[Moske-5] Moske (2000).

[6] Re-printed by Grosset & Dunlap as the "Flag and Frontier" series.

[7] Re-printed as the first two volumes in the "Lakeport" series.

[Weinstein-8] Weinstein (1999).

[9] Sometimes known simply as the "Railroad" series.

[10] Also known as the "Young Pioneers" series.

[movieboys-11] 1 2 3 The first five volumes of the series were re-printed as the last five volumes of the "Moving Picture Boys" series. In turn, both the "Motion Picture Chums" and "Moving Picture Boys" were combined in 1926 as the "Movie Boys" series.

[12] The author is sometimes given as "Captain James Carson."

[13] Also known as the "Hiram" series.

[14] Also known as the "Janice Day" series.

[15] Also published as part of the "Amy Bell Marlowe's Books for Girls" series.

[16] Deidre Johnson notes that the last two volumes in the series, Frank Allen with the circus; or, The old ringmaster's secret and Frank Allen pitching his best; or, The baseball rivals of Columbia High may never have been published.

[17] Smith.

[Book_Safari-18] Book Safari.

[White-19] 1 2 White.

[20] Also known as the "Randy Starr" series.

[21] Cooper (2007), "The Complete Tom Swift Jr. Homepage."

[22] Billman.

[Pepin-23] Pepin (1997).

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List of Stratemeyer Syndicate series

Contents

Series

Notes

Related Research Articles

References