I truly believe most of my girl power energy came from a mixture of Spice Girls, American Girl dolls, and the Dear America series. The latter was extremely impactful for me as a kid — there was something about diving into historical fiction, written as if the author was also a young girl experiencing everything for the first time, and feeling a deep connection. It’s something I’ve wanted my own girls to feel, too, and while they have plenty of Baby-Sitters Club books, my old American Girl series, and all of the empowering graphic novels they could dream of, something was still missing.
But not for long. Because the Dear America series is coming back.
If you were a young girl in the ‘90s or ever happened to walk into a library or book fair, you must remember the covers. Featuring an illustrated girl at the center, with a semi-transparent/faded setting illustration in the background, these books were enormously popular.
They were published by Scholastic starting in 1996, and there were tons of them. Each book stood alone as its own story, but represented one girl’s story during a particular time period. There were books from the Civil Rights era, colonial times, the Great Depression, and beyond, but there were also books themed around specific voices, such as immigrants and Native Americans.
There were also stories centered around historical events, like the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire and the sinking of the Titanic.
While you can still purchase these books, Scholastic is now repackaging the Dear America series in a gorgeous deluxe paperback, complete with new cover art. Releasing April 7, 2026, the first two Dear America stories to come back are Kristiana Gregory’s The Winter of Red Snow — a story about the Revolutionary War — and Kathryn Lasky’s A Journey to the New World — a story focused on the Mayflower voyage. The series is recommended for ages 9 to 12.
And although these new redesigns are in paperback, they’ll still feel as luxurious and special as any other book on the shelf, thanks to their gold foil and French flaps. Much like our own bookworm childhoods, kids will also be able to look for new Dear America books to drop throughout the year, and a re-release in Fall 2026 of Voyage on the Great Titanic is already in the works.
Look, it’s no secret that these are extremely unprecedented times (a phrase I am extremely tired of), and diving back into history is always a good way to sort of get your feet under you when there is so much change and turmoil and stress happening around you.
I found great comfort in books like the Dear America series as a kid — especially as a young girl growing up in the ’90s being told we were the future, only to feel completely overwhelmed and terrified about what that meant. With voices similar to mine sharing how they survived (and triumphed) through other big moments in American history, I was able to feel a little more empowered and ready to take on whatever came.
It also, it must be said, made me want to document my own life from start to finish.
Bringing this series back into paperback editions and revamping it feels like a promise to my own girls: Your voice matters because these voices matter.
You can find the repackaged Dear America series online and in stores on April 7, 2026.
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