Annabel, A Novel for Young Folks

Author(s):
Metcalf, Suzanne (L. Frank Baum)

Illustrator(s):
Hall, H. Putnam

Publisher:
Reilly & Britton, Chicago

Year: 1906

At the beginning of the 20th century thousands of American novels were written for a teenage audience. Both in and out of series, these titles seldom had literary merit and are now forgotten. Reilly & Britton saw the potential for quick profit in producing these pot-boilers, and they succeeded in getting their most important author to try his hand at writing them. Annabel is the first in a long line of pseudonymous works that Baum prepared, using several pen names so as not to jeopardize the success of one series by the failure of another. Young Will Carden works hard, seeks his long lost father, confronts the eccentric Mr. Jordan, and wins the girl.