Valerie Tripp

Friday, June 20, 2003
11:00 am - 12:30 pm

Panel Four: Women's Private Lives

Valerie Tripp is the author of many books in The American Girls Collection, an historical fiction series for young readers, ages seven to twelve. To research her characters' time periods -- Molly, 1944; Kit, 1934; Samantha, 1904; Josefina, 1824; and Felicity, 1774 -- Tripp reads extensively; consults with historians, curators, educators, and archivists; visits historical sites, museums, and libraries; and when possible, interviews women who were born at the same time as her characters. Letters, diaries, advertisements, recipes, lullabies, oral histories, and other sources help make her stories accurate, authentic, and alive. A review of her work in the School Library Journal noted that her "characters are engaging, the plotting brisk, and the situations ones to which contemporary girls can relate. Accurate historical data is incorporated painlessly into the stories and fleshed out in 'Peek into the Past' sections." In addition to writing books and plays for the American Girls series, Tripp is the author of An Introduction to Williamsburg, a guide to Colonial Williamsburg for young audiences, was a writer for the Addison-Wesley Reading Program from 1974 to 1980, and has created educational materials for The Hampton-Brown Company and other major publishers.