These notebooks tell the story of "The Busy Green Family", the imaginary family created and illustrated in crayon by Gladys Whitehead in 1911 when she was eight years old. In her book, Recollections II (1986), Miss Whitehead refers back to the summer she and her friends created these booklets. In her own words she says, "We made pictures of going to the store, going to Grandma's, going to school, going shopping to Newark, and just ordinary every day simple living events."

The interior is inscribed, "Please handle with care, Miss Gladys Whitehead, age 8, 1911 June 28."