Meet Valerie Tripp: American Girl Book Author

Meet Valerie Tripp, author of American Girl books about Maryellen, Molly, Kit, Samantha, Josefina, and, of course, Williamsburg’s own Felicity Merriman. Bring your books to be signed—and your questions! Valerie is happy to explain how Colonial Williamsburg provided her with inspiration, solid historical background, and boundless delight while she was creating Felicity’s stories.

Valerie Tripp (Yale ’73; Harvard GSE ’82) is the award-winning author of American Girl books, plays, and short stories about Felicity, Josefina, Samantha, Kit, Molly, and Maryellen, as well as the Welliewisher and Hopscotch Hill School series. Tripp also wrote a STEM series for National Geographic Kids and is the executive editor of the Boys Camp series. She has adapted classics for Sterling Publishers and has written numerous leveled readers, songs, stories, nonfiction essays, skills book pages, poems, and plays for educational publishers. Tripp has spoken at The Smithsonian, The New York Historical Society, Mt. Vernon, The Daughters of the American Revolution Annual Luncheon, Yale University, Harvard Graduate School of Education, and The Library of Congress, in addition to countless schools, libraries, writers’ groups, book stores, scout troops, and organizations that encourage young women such as Girls on the Run and Yes, She Can.