Betty Cavanna (June 24, 1909 – August 13, 2001) was the author of popular teen romance novels, mysteries, and children's books for 45 years.[2] She also wrote under the names Elizabeth Headley[3] and Betsy Allen.[4] She was nominated for the Edgar Award for Best Juvenile in 1970 and 1972.[1]
Personal life
Cavanna had infantile paralysis when she was four years old, which left her unable to walk for several years. Later, she was able to walk with a steel brace.[4] Her first job was on a Camden newspaper at age 12.[3] Cavanna studied journalism at Douglass College, which is now part of Rutgers University.[4] After college, she worked for a newspaper in Bayonne. Later, she worked in publicity and advertising for the Presbyterian Board of Christian Education in Philadelphia.[3]
Cavanna married Edward Headley in 1940 and they had one son. Headley died in 1952. In 1957, she married George Russell Harrison, a writer and a dean of science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Harrison died in 1979. For the last few years of her life, Cavanna lived in Vézelay, France. She died at age 92 in 2001.[4]
Writing career
Cavanna began writing in 1940. She published serials in American Girl, Boys Today, Gateway for Girls, Pioneer for Boys and other teenage magazines.[4]
Like many novels for teen girls of the era (notably Rosamond du Jardin's and Anne Emery's, which are often discussed with Cavanna's), her plots favored romance and conformity.[5] The choice of the right dress and the right boyfriend were often the key to happiness.[6] Cavanna's heroines generally had a special interest or ambition, and tended to be not typically "pretty".[7] Her early romance novels presented a protagonist facing a personal problem, but her later novels matured to focus on a social or moral problem.[8]
Cavanna wrote the Connie Blair books, a career and mystery series, as "Betsy Allen". A friend of Cavanna's wrote the final book in the series in 1958, The Mystery of the Ruby Queens.[9] In the 1960s, Cavanna wrote a series of books about the lives of boys in foreign countries. Her husband, George Harrison, took the photographs used in the books.[4]
Richard Alm characterizes Cavanna as "a writer of some importance".[10] Cavanna's books have been translated into several foreign languages. Her manuscripts and correspondence are preserved in the de Grummond Collection at the University of Southern Mississippi.[11]
Books
As Betty Cavanna
1943, Puppy Stakes
1944, The Black Spaniel Mystery
1945, Going on Sixteen
1946, Secret Passage
1946, Spurs for Suzanna
1947, A Girl Can Dream
1948, Paintbox Summer
1950, Spring Comes Riding
1951, Two's Company
1953, Lasso Your Heart
1954, Love, Laurie
1955, Six on Easy Street
1955, Passport to Romance
1955, The First Book of Seashells
1956, The Boy Next Door
1957, Angel on Skis
1958, Stars in Her Eyes
1959, The Scarlet Sail
1960, Accent on April
1960, Arne of Norway
1961, Lucho of Peru
1961, The First Book of Wildflowers
1961, Fancy Free
1961, A Touch of Magic
1962, A Time for Tenderness
1962, Paulo of Brazil
1962, Pepe of Argentina
1962, Chico of Guatemala
1963, Lo Chau of Hong Kong
1963, Almost Like Sisters
1964, Jenny Kimura
1964, Noko of Japan
1964, Carlos of Mexico
1965, Doug of Australia
1965, Tavi of the South Seas
1965, Mystery at Love's Creek
1966, A Breath of Fresh Air
1966, Ali of Egypt
1966, Demetrios of Greece
1966, The First Book of Wool
1967, The Country Cousin
1968, Mystery in Marrakech
1969, Spice Island Mystery
1969, The First Book of Fiji
1970, The First Book of Morocco
1971, Mystery on Safari
1971, The Ghost of Ballyhooly
1972, Mystery in the Museum
1973, Petey
1974, Joyride, Morrow
1975, Ruffles and Drums
1976, Mystery of the Emerald Buddha
1978, Runaway Voyage
1981, Stamp Twice for Murder
1981, The Surfer and the City Girl
1983, Storm in Her Heart
1984, Romance on Trial
1984, Wanted: A Girl for the Horses
1987, Banner Year
As Elizabeth Headley
1946, A Date for Diane
1947, Take a Call, Topsy! (reprinted under name Betty Cavanna as Ballet Fever in 1978)
1949, She's My Girl! (reprinted under name Betty Cavanna as You Can't Take Twenty Dogs on a Date in 1979)
1951, Catchpenny Street (reprinted under name Betty Cavanna in 1975)
^ abcdefCommire, Anne (1983). Something About the Author, Volume 30. Gale. p. 71. ISBN9780810300552.
^Litton, Joyce A. (1994). "From Seventeenth Summer to Miss Teen Sweet Valley: Female and Male Sex Roles in Teen Romances, 1942-91". In Harry Eiss (ed.). Images of the Child. Bowling Green State University Popular Press. pp. 19–34. ISBN-0-87972-653-9.
^Kaufman, Joanne (7 Jan 2018). "For the Love of Malt Shop Novels". New York Times Book Review.
^Martinec, Barbara (March 1971). "Popular--But Not Just a Part of the Crowd: Implications of Formula Fiction for Teenagers". The English Journal. 60 (3): 341. doi:10.2307/812938. JSTOR812938.
^Carpan, Carolyn. (2009). Sisters, schoolgirls, and sleuths: girls' series books in America. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press. p. 94. ISBN9780810857568. OCLC245021822.
