Practically a pariah among historians and critics of children's literature, Martha Finley was popular with readers. Though reviewers ignored her, for more than three generations her Elsie Dinsmore outsold every other juvenile book with the exception of Little Women, and, according to one source, the sad-eyed, humble but resolute Elsie "attained more widespread interest and affection" than any other character in juvenile fiction except Huckleberry Finn. Although she is remembered only for the Elsie books, Finley wrote prodigiously, about one hundred books in all, the first of which was a Sunday school story published by the Presbyterian Board of Publication. Most of her writing, which included many Sunday school stories by the end of her career, was for children. The few adult novels she attempted never attracted much of an audience. By contrast, the twenty-eight volumes of her Elsie Dinsmore series, one of the first American series for...