Sally Baxter, Girl Reporter #1: The Runaway Princess

So I've been away for so long that you would be justified in wondering whether I had died. Well I'm actually still alive and kicking, I was just giving the blog scene a bit of a rest and reevaluating what I wanted to do with this blog. I've decided that I'm going to up the volume of posts on this blog. I've always written a short response to every book I've read for years and years. It will now be available on this blog, instead of in my scrappy old notebooks. The posts will be quick, painless and in a dash-and-run style. For books that merit deeper discussion, longer and more in depth reviews can be found on my more serious book blog, here.

Hey, I read a lot of books, okay?

 
So onto Sally Baxter. She's one of the lesser known titular girls series heroines when you put them up there with Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden. I found my copy of this first novel in the series in massive book sale at my university for about 50c. It's missing the spine and they must've consequently thought that no one would want it. I was ecstatic.

[For a very neat, informative and organised website on the main series books for girls, see here. This has been a valuable resource to me. For really hardcore girls-series fans, an exhaustive list of girls series books published from 1840 to 1991 is available here.]

The first book in this series deals with the beginning of Sally's career in a well-known newspaper company, the Evening Cry. Sally has some hard knocks as a junior reporter and the editor's niece, but eventually she is given the chance to prove herself when assigned the scoop of the year - an Italian princess Roma might have some secret romance with famous Irish singer Pat Sullivan. To get the story, Sally must help Roma and Pat marry - but there's Roma's evil aunt and Countess standing in the way.
 
The Sally Baxter series, if I can judge by this first book, is a quintessential girls series book. It has the fast-paced plot with many complications like roots branching off the main stem. Sally gathers a small entourage of friends by the end of the book, achieving the requisite feel-good, homey atmosphere. There is plenty of excitement, fun and good food. Most importantly, it is reminiscent of a past society and culture and style of literature. There's a simplicity and naivete permeating the entire book. Sally, despite being a reporter, still maintains her integrity. Rather than scooping Roma's story immediately, she wants to make sure the marriage eventuates. She befriends a girl called Gabriella whose family has been the victim of the Countess's cruel manipulation. The groom, Pat Sullivan, belongs to a bygone era of celebrities who are more humans than deities - and he knows it. It is this childlike and wide-eyed, innocence that makes me keep this book. It is as close as we can get to being children again.

So of course Sally gets the scoop. Of course Roma and Pat marry with a happily ever after. Sally's world is a safe, predictable and sunny place.