1930s:
Many Shirley books were made in the 1930s including: coloring books, movie books, big little books, scrapbooks, and general books about Shirley. The coloring books sell for around $50 if uncolored, and less the more coloring that they have in them. All of the authorized coloring books of Shirley from the 1930s were made by the Saalfield publishing Company. Click here to see pictures
The movie books came out when each of her movies came out. They were paperback and contained black and white photographs from the film along with a short story about the film. These sell for around $30-45. Click here to see pictures
Other movie books came out which were Shirley Temple editions of the actual novel that the Shirley movie was based on, such as The Little Colonel by Anne Fellows Johnston, these were large hardback books which contained the full story (as the author wrote it, not as the Shirley movie presented it) but had a color picture of Shirley on the cover along with black and white pictures of Shirley in the movie version inside. These are worth about $20.
The big little books were adorable little hardcover books (produced by Saalfield), only about 2 or 3 inches in length and width. There are many versions of these books, many focused on Shirley herself, others focused on telling the stories of Shirley's movies. Its hard to find these without binder wear nowadays. In excellent condition, they sell for around $20-30. Click here to see pictures.
The scrapbooks are the most collectible of the Shirley books. These were large (almost 12" x 12") paperback books with blank paper inside. Many little girls who were big fans of Shirley lovingly filled their books with all kinds of newspaper and magazine articles, pictures, cutouts, giveaway items that they could find. A scrapbook filled to the brim with Shirley momentos can go for as much as $300. The blank books usually sell for around $40-50. Click here to see pictures.
The general books about Shirley were quite varied. One of the most popular is the Five Little Books about me which was a boxed set of 5 Shirley books: In Starring Roles, Twinkletoes, Little Playmate, On the Movie Lot, and Just a Little Girl. The boxed set can sell for $125-200 depending on overall condition. Others included Shirley Temple at Play which was a large book with beautiful color drawings of Shirley playing on every other page. Shirley's mom even contributed with How I raised Shirley Temple. All of these were soft cover, and usually they had a color picture on the front and back cover along with black and white pictures throughout, they sell for around $20-50. Click here to see pictures. Numerous others were made including a Shirley Temple flip book, a hardcover Shirley biography, etc.
1940s:
In the 1940s, Shirley was a teenager. Two mystery books were published including Shirley Temple and the Screaming Spector and Spirit of Dragonwood. Shirley also co-wrote a small autobiography with the help of Look magazine called My Young Life.
Because of Shirley's renewed popularity, many more Shirley books were produced. This time, Random House was authorized to create them. Two main types were made: storybooks and movie books. The story books such as Shirley Temple Fairyland, Shirley Temple Storybook, Shirley Temple Nursery Rhymes, and Shirley Temple Stories that Never Grow Old. These were usually large hardcover books with a number familiar childrens' stories in them. Many had drawings of a child that looked like Shirley. These usually sell for around $25. The movie books were similar to the ones made in the 1930s, they had color pictures of Shirley on the cover and black and white pictures inside. They usually sell for around $15, and the Shirley Temple Treasury, which was 4 stories in one book usually sells for around $25.
Saalfield came out with many Shirley coloring books at this time, as was the case with the paper dolls, the details and artistry in these did not come close to those of the 1930s. These usually sell for around $20-35. Many records were released by 20th Century Fox at this time which had Shirley singing some of her most popular songs.
1970s-present:
Nowadays many biographies are being written about Shirley, including her own which came out in 1988 called Child Star. Given the popularity of Shirley collectibles, a number of books about Shirley collectibles have also been published including Pat Smith's Shirley Temple Dolls and Collectibles Volumes 1 & 2, Ed Pardella's Shirley Temple Dolls and Fashions Volumes 1 & 2, and the latest, Suzanne Mancuso's Shirley Tempe ID and Price Guide (which I am partial to since it features many of my dolls:)).