Nancy Drew Mysteries

School will soon be out and I encourage all of my young readers to read some good classic children’s books during the summer.  Years ago, my daughter recently found my old copy of Mystery at Lilac Inn dated 1930.  That was one of the first “chapter” books I read for fun as a child.  I found it in my grandmother’s basement and it may have been one of my first “antiques”! 

I believe I wrote a brief story about the Nancy Drew Series several years back but I thought it might be nice if we could revisit the girl detective and maybe get some girls out there (and boys) to do reading and sleuthing!  I bet they have Nancy Drew on the Kindle nowadays.

One of the funny things about these books is that the author is Carolyn Keene, who is not even a real person. Franklin W. Dixon is a pseudonym for the writer of the Hardy Boys. Old Franklin didn’t exist either!

The mastermind behind these books was actually Edward Stratemeyer who had a publishing syndicate.  He would write the basic outline or “skeleton” for the story and then had many ghostwriters fill in and write the “meat” of the story.  These writers were paid $175 per book with no royalties and that fee dropped during the depression years.  Madeline Wirt was actually one of the writers who wrote many of the Nancy Drew stories.  Stratemeyer had published the Hardy Boys books, the Rover Boys, the Bobbsey Twins and many other children’s stories before introducing the spunky sixteen-year-old Nancy to the general public.  Nancy Drew was created at a time when the culture was changing for young girls and they could identify with an independent, intelligent figure that showed them they could be or do anything.

The Nancy Drew books became a great success and sold out the first Christmas they were introduced. Stratemeyer died in 1931, leaving the business to his two daughters, who kept the series and the business going for many years. This was a major accomplishment as there were very few businesses owned and operated by women. The company was eventually sold to Simon and Schuster in the 1980s. 

Nancy evolved over the years to adapt to the culture. Dust jackets echoed these changes in Miss Drew’s wardrobe and hairstyles. In the 1950s, some of the stories were rewritten because some folks thought that the books exhibited racial discrimination, while others thought that children’s attention spans had been shortened due to the new media called “television!”

In the late 1930’s, four movies were produced based on Nancy Drew and also a weekly series on the small screen starring Pamela Sue Martin in the late 1970’s.  There was also a board game produced as well.  People just couldn’t get enough of the spunky mystery-solver! 

There are so many websites out there that you can find further information on this topic.  Some are dedicated to the history of the book, some are reviews of all the books, there is a question-and-answer site, and so much more!  I hope I have inspired you to look further into the subject, pick up a book or go solve a mystery!  Happy Collecting!