Annuals

Jane Shaw's first short story, Amanda's Spies, was pubished in the first Collins Girls' Annual in 1941. Her last short story, Jumble Sale, was published in the last Collins Girls' Annual in 1963. She was the only author to have stories published in both books and was a regular contributor throughout the 22 years that the annual was published. She also penned stories for other Collins annuals during this time, such as the Children's Annual. These tended to be stories for a younger audience, with titles like Tiger Kitten and The Dog that Couldn't Learn Tricks. Although the first Girls' Annual came out in 1941, annuals were by no means a new concept. Collins had been publishing the predecessor Schoolgirls' Annual since the 1920s.