Bobbsey Twins The Bobbsey Twins are the principal characters of what was , for many years , the Stratemeyer Syndicate 's longest-running series of children 's novels , penned under the pseudonym Laura Lee Hope . Edward Stratemeyer himself is believed to have written the first volume , in its original form in 1904 , and when the original series was halted in 1979 , it had reached an impressive total of 72 volumes . At least two abortive attempts to restart the series were launched after this , but neither achieved the popularity of the original series . The popular legend that Stratemeyer himself wrote all of the first three volumes of the series is believed to be pure fiction ; the second and third volumes are generally attributed to Lilian Garis , wife of Howard Garis , who is credited with volumes 4-28 and 41 . Elizabeth Ward is credited with volumes 29-35 , while Harriet Stratemeyer Adams is credited with 36-38 , 39 ( with Camilla McClave ) , 40 , 42 , 43 ( with Andrew Svenson ) , and 44-48 . Volumes 49-52 are generally attributed to Andrew Svenson , while 53-59 , and the 1960s rewrites of 1-4 , 7 , 11-13 , and 17 , are attributed to June Dunn . Grace Grote is generally regarded as the real author of 60-67 and the rewrites of 14 , 18 , 19 , and 20 , and Nancy Axelrad is credited with 68-72 . Of the 1960s rewrites not already mentioned , Vols. 5 and 16 are credited to Mary Donahoe , 6 and 25 to Patricia Doll , 8-10 and 15 to Bonnibel Weston , and 24 to Margery Howard . The Bobbsey family consists of the father , Richard , a successful lumber merchant , the mother , Mary ( referred to at least once as `` Edith '' ) , a `` stay-at-home mom , `` Bert and Nan , the older of two sets of fraternal twins , and Flossie and Freddie , the younger twins . Also living under the Bobbsey roof are Dinah and Sam Johnson , an African-American couple . Dinah is the Bobbsey family 's cook and housekeeper , while Sam has been variously described , depending on the vintage of any particular book , as the Bobbseys ' `` man of all work '' , their chauffeur , a neighborhood handyman , or a truck driver at the Bobbsey lumberyard ( in later volumes , Mr. Bobbsey 's most trusted employee ) . Other characters include Charlie Mason , Bert 's best friend , Nellie Parks , Nan 's best friend , Susie Larker , Flossie 's best friend , and Teddy Blake , Freddie 's best friend , as well as `` Aunt '' Sallie Pry , an elderly , nearly deaf woman , who was a close family friend , and Danny Rugg , a neighborhood bully and nemesis to the Bobbseys . They all live in the fictional city of Lakeport , on the shore of the equally fictional Lake Metoka , presumably somewhere in the Northeastern U.S. The Bobbseys have relatives `` in the country '' ( Richard Bobbsey 's brother Daniel and his family , introduced in Vol. 2 ) on a farm near the rural town of Meadowbrook ( in most books set there , that is also the name of the farm itself ) , and other relatives `` at the seashore '' ( Mary Bobbsey 's sister Emily Minturn and her family , introduced in Vol. 3 ) , who live in the seaside hamlet of Ocean Cliff . The earliest Bobbsey books were mainly episodic strings of adventures ; with the growing popularity of the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew , detective plots began to dominate the series . Even so , few of the mysteries involved violent crime , and quite a few did n't involve any crime at all . In 1960 , a project was begun to completely rewrite most of the older volumes , many of which became almost unrecognizable ( although in most cases , the rewritten versions were actually quite a bit better-written than the originals ) . This was done concurrently with the release of a new edition of the series , with picture covers , no dust jackets , and a lavender spine and back cover ( replacing the various green bindings that had been used before ) . Many of the cover paintings were originally dust-jacket paintings that had been added in the 1950s ( before which , a single common dust-jacket painting had been used throughout any given edition ) , but most were new with the `` purple '' edition . In all , 20 were completely rewritten , all but two with modernized titles , while 16 were never released in this edition , evidently having been deemed to be dated beyond economic salvage . Most of the rewrites were motivated by changing technology ( automobiles replacing horses and buggies ) or changing social standards ( particularly in how Sam and Dinah were portrayed ) . What is generally regarded as the most extreme rewrite is The Bobbsey Twins and Baby May , a story about the Bobbsey family 's adventures trying to find the parents of a foundling baby . Since , by the 1960s , modern social services had rendered the original story utterly implausible , an entirely new novel was written , about the twins ' adventures with a baseball-playing baby elephant ( The Bobbsey Twins ' Adventures with Baby May ) . This , however , had a ripple effect , as the original The Bobbsey Twins at Cherry Corners had been a sequel to the original Baby May . Thus , a second book had to be written , The Bobbsey Twins : The Mystery at Cherry Corners , incorporating only a very little bit of material from its original version . While many of the early volumes were constructed from whole cloth , with little or no connection to the real world , by 1917 ( The Bobbsey Twins in a Great City , Vol. 9 , rewritten in 1960 as The Bobbsey Twins ' Search in the Great City ) , they were beginning to visit real places , and by the 1950s , ( The Bobbsey Twins at Pilgrim Rock , Vol. 50 ) , those visits to real places were as well-researched as any fictional visits to real places . By 1971 , when the Bobbseys visited Colonial Willamsburg ( The Bobbsey Twins ' Red White and Blue Mystery , Vol. 64 ) , real places were being depicted in meticulous detail , down to the names of well-known hotels and restaurants ( and , in that particular case , even the color of Colonial Williamsburg shuttle buses ) . It is said that Vol. 68 , The Bobbsey Twins on the Sun-Moon Cruise , was the result of a research trip for a proposed Nancy Drew book : Harriet Stratemeyer Adams and Nancy Axelrad ( her personal assistant at the time ) took an actual eclipse cruise , but when they returned , the publisher was more interested in a new Bobbsey title . Many of the earliest Bobbsey novels can be found online , in Project Gutenberg e-texts . External links A table of release dates and revision history of the original Bobbsey Twins series Information on the ghostwriters behind `` Laura Lee Hope '' A general commentary on the series as a whole A general publication history of the series A compilation of persons , animals , places , and buildings found in the series as well as a timeline for each book Works by Laura Lee Hope at Project Gutenberg Categories : Characters in written fiction | Juvenile series | Fictional twins Laura+Lee+Hope Laura Lee Hope 