Mabel C. Hawley

Mabel C. Hawley is a pen name used by the American author Josephine Lawrence for the "Four Little Blossoms" series of children's novels. Written for the Stratemeyer Syndicate between 1920 and 1930, the series comprises seven volumes, four of which are held in this collection: Four Little Blossoms at Oak Hill School, Four Little Blossoms and Their Winter Fun, Four Little Blossoms at Brookside Farm, and Four Little Blossoms on Apple Tree Island. Lawrence was born in Newark, New Jersey, worked as a newspaper children's page editor, and wrote roughly one hundred children's books as well as several adult novels. Public information about this pen name is limited and mainly concerns her true identity and the background of the series; the stories draw on everyday childhood settings such as school, farm, island, and winter activities, and belong to early twentieth-century American series fiction for young readers.