The Sugar Creek Gang is a series of 36 Christian

Christian

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...

 themed children's literature

Children's literature

Children's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...

 books written by Paul Hutchens

Paul Hutchens

Paul Hutchens was the author of a series with a total of 36 Christian-themed fictional books about the adventures of a group of children called"The Sugar Creek Gang"....

. The original series is set near Thorntown, Indiana

Thorntown, Indiana

Thorntown is a town in Sugar Creek Township, Boone County, Indiana, United States. The population was 1,562 at the 2000 census. Thorntown is located in northwestern Boone City, about halfway between Lafayette and Indianapolis.-Geography:...

, based upon the formative years of Paul and his six brothers, and chronicles adventure situations told from a faith-based didactic perspective. The first book The Sugar Creek Gang was published in 1940 and the final installment, The Brown Box Mystery, appeared in 1970. During the 1950s, Hutchens received oral and written feedback from his readers "that they practically grew up on Sugar Creek books as their main reading diet during juvenile days." In 2001, Pauline Hutchens Wilson took over her father's books with the release of "The Case of the Red Hot Possum" as the first book in "The New Sugar Creek Gang" series.

Series description

"The Sugar Creek Gang" series is popular in evangelical Christian homes, appears on grade school reading lists and remains in print with several editions ranking in the Amazon.com

Amazon.com

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's top 100 books. According to Moody Publishing, the original series sold over three million print copies. The books are available in DVD,CD and audio versions, and were broadcast as radio drama

Radio drama

Radio drama is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance, broadcast on radio or published on audio media, such as tape or CD. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine the characters and story...

tizations.

In 2004, the stories were made into a series of movies, directed by Joy Chapman and Owen Smith.

The Gang

"The Sugar Creek Gang" consists of six boys, and later an additional member was introduced. The group listing is:

Bill

Bill Collins is the narrator of the series. He has red hair and freckles, and is 10 years of age in the first book. Bill is one of two members of the gang to have no nickname. His best friend is Poetry, and he is a single child at first, but later has a little sister named Charlotte Ann. His father, (Theodore Collins) is a farmer, but Bill wants to be a doctor when he grows up.

Poetry (Leslie Thompson)

Poetry is sometimes called "the barrel-shaped member of the gang" because he is very chubby. He always boasts about his detective abilities, and usually has a tent pitched in his backyard. His nickname is "Poetry", because he has memorized so many poems, he can quote one for most any situation.

Dragonfly (Roy Gilbert)

Dragonfly is the skinniest and most allergic member of the gang. He usually sees things that are not there at all, or are there before the rest of the gang does. He is nicknamed "Dragonfly" because dragonflies have big eyes. He is also superstitious, probably because his mother is.

Little Jim (Jim Foote)

Little Jim is the youngest member of the gang, and he carries around a walking stick that he carved to look like a candy cane. He is a very good christian, and also an excellent piano player!

Circus (Dan Browne)

Circus has a beautiful singing voice, and has five sisters! His is nicknamed "Circus" because he has amazing athletic abilities, and can't resist climbing a tree or doing a cartwheel. His dad used to drink and was not a Christian, but became a Christian and changed his ways early in the series.

Big Jim

Big Jim is the leader of the gang, and is several years older than the rest of the gang. He grew up in another town, where he was in the Boy Scouts. He uses the skills he learned as a Scout to lead the gang well.

Tom

Tom Till is the newest member of the gang and the second member (after Bill) to have no nickname. He also looks a lot like Bill (for example, he also has red hair). He has a mean brother named Bob, and also a very mean father (John Till), and a very sweet mother. (He used to be in a mean gang of boys with his brother Bob, but later switched sides).

The New Sugar Creek Gang

"The New Sugar Creek Gang" is a six book series written by Pauline Hutchens Wilson, daughter of the original author, and Sandy Dengler. The "new gang" consists of five members: Bits, Tiny, Les, Lynn, and Mike.

Reading lists

"The Sugar Creek Gang" appears on the following reading lists:

• ATN Reading Lists.
• Cherokee Christian Schools
  Cherokee Christian Academy
  Cherokee Christian Academy is a private Christian school in Woodstock, Georgia, United States, enrolls students from kindergarten to 12th grade.- Tornado :...
  
   2005 Summer Reading List.
• Community Christian School 2010 Elementary Summer Reading List.
• Concord Christian Classical Literature Reading List Third Through Fifth Grade.
• Delaware Christian School
  Delaware Christian School
  Delaware Christian School is a K-12 Christian, non-denominational, private parochial school. It is located on Belle Avenue in Delaware, Ohio and has around 340 students. There is a 1:14 teacher:pupil ratio and by race, the school is 96% of white descent.-History:Delaware Christian School was...
  
  Suggested Summer Reading List.
• Highlands Christian Academy Summer Reading List.
• NFL Church 2010 5th Grade Summer Reading List.
• Summit Eagles 4th Grade Reading List 2010-2011.

Original series bibliography

#	Title	Original Title	First Published	Notes
1	The Swamp Robber	The Sugar Creek Gang	1940
2	The Killer Bear	We Killed A Bear	1940
3	The Winter Rescue	Further Adventures of the Sugar Creek Gang	1940
4	The Lost Campers	The Sugar Creek Gang Goes Camping	1941
5	The Chicago Adventure	The Sugar Creek Gang in Chicago	1941
6	The Secret Hideout	The Sugar Creek Gang in School	1942
7	The Mystery Cave	Mystery at Sugar Creek	1943
8	The Palm Tree Manhunt	The Sugar Creek Gang Flies to Cuba, On Palm Tree Island	1944
9	One Stormy Day	One Stormy Day at Sugar Creek	1946
10	The Mystery Thief	The New Sugar Creek Mystery	1946
11	Teacher Trouble	Shenanigans at Sugar Creek	1947
12	Screams in the Night	The Sugar Creek Gang Goes North	1947
13	The Indian Cemetery	Adventure in an Indian Cemetery	1947
14	The Treasure Hunt	The Sugar Creek Gang Digs for Treasure	1948
15	The Thousand Dollar Fish	North Woods Manhunt	1948
16	The Haunted House	The Haunted House at Sugar Creek	1949
17	Lost in the Blizzard	Lost in a Sugar Creek Blizzard	1950
18	On the Mexican Border	The Sugar Creek Gang on the Mexican Border	1950
19	The Green Tent Mystery	The Green Tent Mystery at Sugar Creek	1950
20	The Bull Fighter	10,000 Minutes at Sugar Creek	1952
21	The Trapline Thief	Trap Line Thief at Sugar Creek	1953
22	The Blue Cow	Blue Cow at Sugar Creek	1953
23	The Watermelon Mystery	Watermelon Mystery at Sugar Creek	1955
24	The Tree House Mystery	Old Stranger's Secret at Sugar Creek	1957
25	The Timber Wolf	The Sugar Creek Gang at Snow Goose Lodge	1957
26	Western Adventure	Sugar Creek Gang Goes Western	1957
27	The Killer Cat	We Killed a Wildcat at Sugar Creek	1958
28	Locked in the Attic	Down a Sugar Creek Chimney	1959
29	The Colorado Kidnapping	Wild Horse Canyon Mystery	1959
30	The Runaway Rescue	Runaway Rescue at Sugar Creek	1960
31	The Cemetery Vandals	The Worm Turns at Sugar Creek	1961
32	The Battle of the Bees	Sleeping Beauty at Sugar Creek	1962
33	The Case of the Missing Calf		1964
34	The Ghost Dog	Howling Dog in the Sugar Creek Swamp	1968
35	The White Boat Rescue	White Boat Rescue at Sugar Creek	1969
36	The Brown Box Mystery		1970

External links

• The Sugar Creek Gang DVD Series website Retrieved: 2010-07-06
• Sugar Creek Gang Audio CD information