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Spelling/grammar fix(es), Crosswicking


Mission City Press also released dolls to rival the Toys/AmericanGirl line (as TheMoralSubstitute) in the mid 2000s and added single books for two created characters: Laylie Colbert, an enslaved girl; and Kathleen McKenzie, a girl living through the Great Depression.

The original Elsie series is public domain and can be read on Project Gutenberg.

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Mission City Press also released dolls to rival the Toys/AmericanGirl line (as TheMoralSubstitute) in the mid 2000s and added single books for two created characters: Laylie Colbert, an enslaved girl; and Kathleen McKenzie, [=McKenzie=], a girl living through the Great Depression.

The original Elsie series is public domain PublicDomain and can be read on Project Gutenberg.Gutenberg.

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Not enough context (ZCE), General clarification on works content


This series (28 books in all) was written by Martha Finley and published from 1867-1905. Targeted specifically at young girls, these SliceOfLife books aimed to teach them how to be more Christlike by way of the adventures of the title character, a young girl born into a secular family who takes up Christianity. The first eight novels chronicle her maturation from a little girl to a widowed grandmother; further adventures of her and her descendants make up the remainder of the series. Wildly popular in its time, only Louisa May Alcott's work outsold these novels in the field of children's literature, and the series remains popular among Christian audiences today, if obscure to the general public.

Due to negative audience perceptions of the novels by modern audiences, at the TurnOfTheMillennium Mission City Press published an adaptation of the series, ''A Life of Faith -- Elsie Dinsmore'', that toned down the racism and parental abuse featured in the original texts. This ran for eight books and was succeeded by two additional eight-book series under the ''Life of Faith'' banner: ''Violet Travilla'', which focused on one of Elsie's daughters featured in the later novels, and ''Millie Keith'', an updated adaptation of another Finley-penned series.

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This The Elsie Dinsmore series (28 books in all) was written by Martha Finley and originally published from 1867-1905. Targeted specifically at young girls, these SliceOfLife books aimed to teach them how to be more Christlike by way of the adventures of the title character, a young girl born into a secular family who takes up Christianity.

The first eight novels chronicle her maturation from a little girl to a widowed grandmother; further adventures of her and her descendants make up the remainder of the series. Wildly popular in its time, only Louisa May Alcott's Creator/LouisaMayAlcott's work outsold these novels in the field of children's literature, and the literature. The series remains popular among Christian audiences today, if obscure to the general public.

public.

Due to negative audience perceptions of the novels by modern audiences, at the TurnOfTheMillennium Mission City Press published an adaptation of the series, ''A Life of Faith -- Elsie Dinsmore'', that toned down the racism and parental abuse featured in the original texts. This ran for eight books and was succeeded by two additional eight-book series under the ''Life of Faith'' banner: ''Violet Travilla'', which focused on one of Elsie's daughters featured in the later novels, and ''Millie Keith'', an updated adaptation of another Finley-penned series.
series.

Mission City Press also released dolls to rival the Toys/AmericanGirl line (as TheMoralSubstitute) in the mid 2000s and added single books for two created characters: Laylie Colbert, an enslaved girl; and Kathleen McKenzie, a girl living through the Great Depression.

The original Elsie series is public domain and can be read on Project Gutenberg.



!! These books provide examples of:

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!! These books The book series provide examples of:



* CharacterTitle: Elsie Dinsmore for the first book.

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* CharacterTitle: Elsie Dinsmore for the first book.book, and for the rest of the series as her name is included.



* FunetikAksent: How all slaves speak in the original novels. Due to the unfortunate implications and values dissonance, ''A Life of Faith'' changes this speak into standard English.

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* FunetikAksent: How all slaves speak in the original novels. Due to the unfortunate implications and values dissonance, the ''A Life of Faith'' series changes this speak into standard English.



* GoldDigger: Enna Dinsmore and Tom Jackson.

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%% * GoldDigger: Enna Dinsmore and Tom Jackson.



* TheIngenue: Elsie, to a now-ridiculous degree.

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%% * TheIngenue: Elsie, to a now-ridiculous degree.



* IntergenerationalFriendship: Mrs. Violet Travilla and Elsie.

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%% * IntergenerationalFriendship: Mrs. Violet Travilla and Elsie.



** [[spoiler: Arthur Dinsmore]] dies fighting for the Confederacy in the Civil War.

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** [[spoiler: Arthur [[spoiler:Arthur Dinsmore]] dies fighting for the Confederacy in the Civil War.



* LonelyRichKid: Elsie in the first book.
* MaidenAunt: Aunt Wealthy.
* {{Mammy}}: Aunt Chloe.
* TheMatchmaker: Wealthy Stanhope.
* MayDecemberRomance: Many, as these were desirable in the 19th century. The most prominent is [[spoiler: Edward Travilla and Elsie Dinsmore]], he being 17 years older than her, though to be fair, they do wait until she is 22.

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%% * LonelyRichKid: Elsie in the first book.
%% * MaidenAunt: Aunt Wealthy.
* {{Mammy}}: Aunt Chloe.
Chloe. She speaks in broken English and serves the family's every need.
%%
* TheMatchmaker: Wealthy Stanhope.
* MayDecemberRomance: Many, as these were desirable in the 19th century. The most prominent is [[spoiler: Edward [[spoiler:Edward Travilla and Elsie Dinsmore]], he being 17 years older than her, though her--though to be fair, they do wait until she is 22.



* TheMoralSubstitute: As a doll line, to Toys/AmericanGirl. The brand released in 1998, was purchased by Mission City Press in 2003, and rose to prominence in the mid 2000s before being quietly discontinued. The dolls had arms that were advertised by the brand as being able to let the dolls "clasp their hands in prayer."



* NiceToTheWaiter: Elsie treats her slaves well, from reading the Literature/TheBible with them, to buying them Christmas presents, and later when they are freed, pays them quite well. She is especially close with Aunt Chloe, whom she not only buys Aunt Chloe's husband, but also their granddaughter. She's somewhat better in the reprints, since she does have a desire to "love thy neighbor", slave or not.

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* NiceToTheWaiter: Elsie treats her slaves well, from well--from reading the Literature/TheBible with them, to buying them Christmas presents, and presents--and later when they are freed, pays them quite well. She is especially close with Aunt Chloe, whom Chloe--whom she not only buys Aunt Chloe's husband, but also their granddaughter. She's somewhat better in the reprints, since she does have a desire to "love thy neighbor", slave or not.



* OldMaid: Adelaide Dinsmore is 26 when she marries, and before then refers to herself as this, while Elsie assures her she isn't. Enna marries at 16 to avoid this fate, and it backfires on her.
* OldRetainer: Aunt Chloe, the mammy to first Elsie's mother, then Elsie herself, and finally Elsie's children.

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* OldMaid: Adelaide Dinsmore is 26 when she marries, marries and before then refers to herself as this, while Elsie assures her she isn't. Enna marries at 16 to avoid this fate, fate and it backfires on her.
* OldRetainer: Aunt Chloe, Chloe* the mammy to first Elsie's mother, then Elsie herself, and finally Elsie's children.



** Elsie's oldest daughter, also named Elsie, is nicknamed "Missy" in the reprints (most likely to avoid any confusion).
*** This was deliberately enforced by Mission City Press, as many characters share names with each other, this was done for the convenience of the child target audience.

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** Elsie's oldest daughter, also named Elsie, is nicknamed "Missy" in the reprints (most likely to avoid any confusion).
***
confusion). This was deliberately enforced by Mission City Press, as many characters share names with each other, other and this was done for the convenience of the child target audience.



** Aunt Chloe had four children, out of them, only one survived to adulthood to have her own child.

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** Aunt Chloe had four children, children; out of them, only one survived to adulthood to have her own child.



* ParentalNeglect:
** When he returns, Horace to Elsie.
** Elsie's grandfather as well.

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%% * ParentalNeglect:
%% ** When he returns, Horace to Elsie.
%% ** Elsie's grandfather as well.



* SecondLove: Rose to Horace

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%% * SecondLove: Rose to Horace



* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: We are never told where in the south where Elsie's family lives, though the reprints imply they live somewhere along the Virginia coast, as Kentucky is mentioned to be a neighboring state, as well as Violet's mission is stated to be in a port city about an hour away from her home.

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* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: We are never told where ''where'' in the south where Elsie's family lives, though the reprints imply they live somewhere along the Virginia coast, coast as Kentucky is mentioned to be a neighboring state, as well as Violet's mission is stated to be in a port city about an hour away from her home.
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Overprotective Dad has been disambiguated


* TheAtoner: Horace Jr becomes an OverprotectiveDad because of the way he treated Elsie in the first two books.

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* TheAtoner: Horace Jr becomes an OverprotectiveDad overprotective because of the way he treated Elsie in the first two books.
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Due to negative audience perceptions of novels by modern audiences, at the TurnOfTheMillennium Mission City Press published an adaptation of the series, ''A Life of Faith -- Elsie Dinsmore'', that toned down the racism and parental abuse featured in the original texts. This ran for eight books and was succeeded by two additional eight-book series under the ''Life of Faith'' banner: ''Violet Travilla'', which focused on one of Elsie's daughters featured in the later novels, and ''Millie Keith'', an updated adaptation of another Finley-penned series.

to:

Due to negative audience perceptions of the novels by modern audiences, at the TurnOfTheMillennium Mission City Press published an adaptation of the series, ''A Life of Faith -- Elsie Dinsmore'', that toned down the racism and parental abuse featured in the original texts. This ran for eight books and was succeeded by two additional eight-book series under the ''Life of Faith'' banner: ''Violet Travilla'', which focused on one of Elsie's daughters featured in the later novels, and ''Millie Keith'', an updated adaptation of another Finley-penned series.
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Due to ValuesDissonance and the resultant UnfortunateImplications found in these novels by modern audiences, at the TurnOfTheMillennium Mission City Press published an adaptation of the series, ''A Life of Faith -- Elsie Dinsmore'', that toned down the racism and parental abuse featured in the original texts. This ran for eight books and was succeeded by two additional eight-book series under the ''Life of Faith'' banner: ''Violet Travilla'', which focused on one of Elsie's daughters featured in the later novels, and ''Millie Keith'', an updated adaptation of another Finley-penned series.

to:

Due to ValuesDissonance and the resultant UnfortunateImplications found in these negative audience perceptions of novels by modern audiences, at the TurnOfTheMillennium Mission City Press published an adaptation of the series, ''A Life of Faith -- Elsie Dinsmore'', that toned down the racism and parental abuse featured in the original texts. This ran for eight books and was succeeded by two additional eight-book series under the ''Life of Faith'' banner: ''Violet Travilla'', which focused on one of Elsie's daughters featured in the later novels, and ''Millie Keith'', an updated adaptation of another Finley-penned series.
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Dewicking Ill Boy


* IllBoy: Herbert Carrington. We are never told what he is ill with, though it is mentioned he walks with crutches and has to rest often. The reprints imply he has a mild form of polio.
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