About the Author

The Happy Hollisters by Jerry West was actually written by Andrew E. Svenson, a prolific yet somewhat anonymous, writer of books for children. Jerry West was the pen name Svenson used when he started writing The Happy Hollisters for the Stratemeyer Syndicate. The Stratemeyer Syndicate was a book packager, well-known for its development of children's book series including Tom Swift, The Bobbsey Twins, The Hardy Boys, and Nancy Drew. Many of these series were intended to have long publishing lives, and were written by multiple authors using the same pseudonym. The Happy Hollisters, however, were all written by Andrew Svenson, whose identity as Jerry West was kept secret until several years after his death in 1975. Andrew Svenson was born in Belleville, NJ, in 1910, and his interest in writing started early. He was editor of his high school newspaper and yearbook at Barringer High School in Newark, and then went on to study Creative Writing at the University of Pittsburgh. After his graduation in 1932, he worked as a reporter and editor for the Newark Star Eagle and the Newark Evening News. He also taught creative writing courses at Rutgers University and Upsala College. Andrew Svenson was encouraged by his friend Howard Garis (author of Uncle Wiggily) to try his hand at juvenile fiction. He joined the Stratemeyer Syndicate as a writer in 1948, where he contributed to established series as Franklin W. Dixon (The Hardy Boys) and as Laura Lee Hope (The Bobbsey Twins). The first volume in his own original series, The Happy Hollisters, was published in 1953 by Doubleday & Company, and he was made a partner in the Stratemeyer Syndicate in 1961. As he wrote and developed 33 titles in The Happy Hollisters, he was also creating additional series for children under other pen names: Bret King by Dan Scott and The Tollivers by Alan Stone, one of the first series written about and for African-American children. Under various pseudonyms, Andrew Svenson wrote more than 80 adventure and mystery novels for children, which were published in 17 languages and sold millions of copies. The Hollister family was modeled on his own family and he often used actual Svenson family events and travels as the foundation for The Happy Hollisters books. He also kept copious newspaper clippings for story ideas, and interviewed hundreds of school children and teachers for additional suggestions. These ideas were then worked into his storylines, adding an educational element that was appreciated by parents and educators alike. The children loved the stories for their elements of danger and excitement geared to their comprehension level. After his death in 1975, the Stratemeyer Syndicate assigned all rights to The Happy Hollisters to his widow, Marian Svenson; they subsequently became the property of The Hollister Family Properties Trust. The current publication was initiated by Andrew E. Svenson III, grandson of the author, on behalf of The Hollister Family Properties Trust. Helen Stroud Hamilton created more than 1,100 illustrations for The Happy Hollisters book series, between 1953 and 1969. Born in Philadelphia, PA in 1921, Helen Stroud began drawing and painting as a child. Her mother, who worked full time, was also an accomplished painter and often took her daughter on weekend sketch sessions in the hills outside the city. After high school, Helen studied art history at Wellesley College and continued to draw and paint on her own. After graduation, she returned to Philadelphia, where she was appointed as an instructor at the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art (Now University of the Arts). There, she met a WWII veteran, William H. Hamilton, and they married in 1950. Both artists embarked on careers as illustrators. One of the first contracts she received (in 1952) was to illustrate the nascent Happy Hollisters book series. There were times when Bill would help by drawing images that were particularly hard for her to render (like bicycle wheels in perspective!). Over the years, both artists illustrated many textbooks magazines and books for Prentice Hall, Doubleday, Winston, Lippincott and other publishers. The couple lived in a house in the hilly Pennsylvania woods, on the border between Lafayette Hill and Philadelphia. There, they raised four children while both worked full time (plus!) in workspaces they set up in the house. Helen worked in a large studio on the third floor of the house. It was lined with bookcases and file cases filled with visual reference materials. Her studio also housed a large loom, a gigantic antique desk, her childhood dollhouse and many boxes of paper. A sofa and several armchairs invited the children (and others) to curl up with books to read. The children were also invited to create freely in the space, using her stock of paper, scissors and paint. For each illustration in the Happy Hollister book series, she first made a draft drawing with pencil, then finalized it with pen and ink. For the covers, she would create and submit watercolor compositions. Once it was approved, she would create a larger, final version in watercolor or gouache paint. Having established the look for each character in the book, over time she playfully designated each of her children as one character, and often asked them to hold a certain pose, so she could make a sketch for a particular drawing. She maintained many sketchbooks, drawing people, animals, objects and landscape, for practice, reference and enjoyment. She and Andrew Svenson (the author) were in frequent contact by phone and mail. He often sent visual reference to her for the specific themes and locations of each different project. She used this material as well as images from her own reference files to visually portray his mystery stories. In addition to her illustration work, Helen was an accomplished painter, collagist and weaver. Her work has been shown in museums, and is part of the permanent art collection of the Library of Congress.