Meet THE HAPPY HOLLISTERS

MY WIFE loved reading The Happy Hollisters series when she was a child.

I never read them myself, but I do remember their colorful jacket covers. I thought they were just fine for what they were trying to do; depicting family oriented, light mystery-adventures aimed primarily at grade school level readers. But back in those days I was more enamored with the art found on teen series books such as Tom Swift Jr., Nancy Drew, Rick Brant and The Hardy Boys. To me those were more mature, more supreme.

Recently though I was given a complete set of the original Hollister books in hardcover, so I decided to actually read one this time around while also getting reacquainted with the cover art and interior illustrations in each book. And boy am I glad I did! Now I have an even greater respect for what the author and the illustrator were able to accomplish. 

Given when they were written, the 1950s and '60s, the series appears to have barely dated, if at all. In fact, the books feel remarkably suitable for any child to read, even allowing for today's widespread, cultural divisions. I mean, kids are kids, and families are families, no matter where they're from. But I'm no expert in these matters, I just know what I like.

And I found out that I really LIKE The Happy Hollisters!

"You're IT!"

The first book in the series was titled The Happy Hollisters, and it was published by Doubleday & Company in 1953. The 33rd and last volume was published in 1969, and every volume issued in-between that seventeen year span had the same design and font as on the first. All of the jacket art and interior illustrations were produced by one woman, the remarkable Helen Stroud Hamilton (1921-2014). She created more than 1,100 illustrations for the series, only occasionally collaborating with her artist husband William on some of the more technical illustrations. The quality of her illustrations are consistently excellent in each book.

The series was developed by by the Stratemeyer Syndicate but all 33 volumes were written by Andrew E. Svenson (1919-1975), under his Jerry West pseudonym. A journalist by trade, Svenson was hired by the Syndicate in 1948 to contribute to their growing lineup of juvenile series books. And contribute he did! Under various pseudonyms he wrote more than 80 mystery and adventure novels for children, tweens and teens alike. An amazing achievement, and one Svenson can proudly hang his hat on!

Now let's meet our perfect nuclear family: Pete, Pam, Zip, Ricky, Holly, White Nose, Sue, Mrs. Hollister, and Mr. Hollister. This revealing introduction was placed on the back of every jacket of every volume issued.

What amazed me about this first volume was just how much action Svenson packed into it. Literally loads!

Here's what happens in the just the first half of VOLUME 1 alone:

• The Hollister's move from the town of Crestwood to Shoreham. 
• Ricky almost breaks his nose while helping the movers. 
• Sue becomes a stowaway on one of the moving vans. 
• The kids cross paths with Joey Brill, the town bully. 
• Pete heroically stops their car from crashing. 
• One of the moving vans disappears along with all of their toys. 
• A mysterious intruder is seen inside their attic. 
• A trap door is found in the attic which leads to a secret staircase. 
• Zip saves Sue from drowning in the lake. 
• The missing van is found, but completely empty.
  
• Mr. Hollister opens his new hardware store in town. 
• Joey pushes a stack of cans over on top of the kids. 
• Holly gets her face shoved into a bowl of ice cream. 
• Joey punches Pete and POW, Pete punches back.
• Joey claims the Hollister house is haunted. 
• The missing toys start showing up in secondhand stores. 
• A hidden room is discovered in their house. 
• Pam and Holly get stranded on an island. 
• Holly falls into a quicksand pit. 
• The kids find a cat and her kittens living in the cellar. 
• Joey tries to dunk the cat in the lake after claiming it's his. 
• Joey is caught cheating to win a store prize. 
• The Hollister's go on a picnic at the State Park. 
• Ricky narrowly escapes getting hurt on a carousel. 
• Pam wins a midget car race. 
• Pam gets chased by a strange dog. 
• A prowler is reported breaking into their house. 
• Pete, Ricky and their new friend Dave build a dog cart...

Whew! And just think, there's another 90 pages to go in this book. Wow!

CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE

WIENER ROAST!  Each Doubleday volume shared the same endpages illustration, showing the Hollister family on a camping trip. When I was a kid I was so desperate to go camping that I joined the Cub Scouts. Then I was told it was only the Boy Scouts who were allowed to go camping! When my Dad learned of my disappointment he volunteered to take me camping anytime I wanted to go. I promptly turned in my merit badge the very next day. Ha!

BELOW are are a few of my favorite illustrations from VOLUME 1:

STOP THAT RUNAWAY CAR!  Pete Hollister embodies the kind of principals we should all aspire to own: courage, loyalty, leadership, and most especially in this situation, resourcefulness!

DISCOVERY!  Is there anything better than capturing a frog from a pond, or poking a dead animal with a stick? Yes--finding a trap door in an old house!

HELP! IT'S QUICKSAND!  I don't know why quicksand in books, television shows and movies made them all that much better when we were kids--but it sure did!

BRO-JECTS!  My brothers and I built an awesome bicycle ramp one year, but the best thing we ever built together was a mad scientist's laboratory in our crawlspace. We charged the neighborhood kids 25 cents each to enter. We made a bundle that Halloween, and then spent it all on candy and comics!

BELOW are some of my favorite Happy Hollister covers by Helen Stroud Hamilton, accompanied by an illustration from each book.

VOLUME 2:  The Happy Hollisters on a River Trip (1953).

A FOUR-POUND MUSKONG BASS!  I'm a trout man myself, but I have wrestled a few bass in my time, including a whopping seven pounder out of the now sadly drained Bonny Reservoir in Eastern Colorado.

VOLUME 3:  The Happy Hollisters at Sea Gull Beach (1953).

SPOUTING CACHALOT!  I suppose every kid wants to see a whale, or fly in a helicopter, but I don't remember anyone who ever did. Not in my land-locked, urban neighborhood anyway.

VOLUME 6:  The Happy Hollisters at Snowflake Camp (1953).

POW! PETE FIGHTS BACK!  In the fifth grade I befriended a new kid named Mark Fraley who went out of his way to beat up bullies and punks. That meant that every kid who was being picked on in my school was able to spend the next two years before entering middle school free from being bullied. Mark moved away after that and I don't know where he is today, but I do hope he's fared well.

VOLUME 12:  The Happy Hollisters and the Old Clipper Ship (1956).

LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION!  We had a Super 8 mm video camera when I was a kid, along with a projector and a portable screen, and while we didn't try to shoot a movie like the Hollister's did, we did act like silly HAMS on all our home videos.

VOLUME 19:  The Happy Hollisters and the Mystery at Missile Town (1961).

BLAST-OFF!  Some day I'd like to see an actual rocket launch from Cape Canaveral just like the Hollisters did. It would be even more awesome if it was the first manned flight going to Mars!

VOLUME 21:  The Happy Hollisters and the Haunted House Mystery (1962).

WHAT A VIEW!  My brothers and I built a tree-house in our backyard one year. Our friend Tom Coon, who lived across the street, couldn't wait to fall out of it and break his leg. Sure, we felt bad for Tom, but getting to sign his cast was great!

TODAY, The Happy Hollisters have been republished in paperback format as well as in kindle format by the Svenson Group, Inc., on behalf of the Hollister Family Properties Trust. To purchase an entire 33 book set, or perhaps a variety of nifty starter sets in quantities of either 3, 4, 6 or 8, please visit The Happy Hollisters website. You'll be glad you did.

They even have T-Shirts for sale!  I mean, HOW COOL IS THAT!

 

[© August 2020, Jeffersen]