I can't help it! I love the simplicity of the mysteries and yet whenever I read them (I still read them to this day, so sue me) I still sit on the edge of my seat and get so involved I finish the book before I can put it down! And what girl doesn't love Nancy Drew's clothes! What boy doesn't want Nancy Drew or the Hardy Boy's convertibles?
Some facts for you about Nancy Drew:
The first book in the Nancy Drew mysteries was The Mystery of the Old Clock. The series was started in the early 1930s. Although the series was created by Edward Stratemeyer it has been written by a number of ghostwriters throughout the years, but they have all used the pen name "Carolyn Keene".
Even though the series started in the '30s the different stories culture changed as the time changed, up to today when Nancy Drew and her friends have cell phones and internet. Bess and George are Nancy Drew's best friends, and have been since the '30s. In the 1980s a new series started called The Nancy Drew Files. The original series ended in 2004 and a new series started called Girl Detective. At the same time that the series have changed, the authors and so forth so has Nancy Drew and her friends. Some authors have made her very talkative and fearless while others have portrayed her as more passive and docile. Nancy Drew has appeared in five films and two different TV shows. There have been over 80 million copies of the Nancy Drew books sold and it has been translated into four dozen different languages.
But before Nancy Drew was even dreamed up their were two brother detectives that were already solving mysteries: The Hardy Boys. Their first book was called The Tower Treasure.
The Hardy Boys have not been as popular as Nancy Drew, but they too were created by Edward Stratemeyer. Like Nancy Drew they were written by a number of ghostwriters that all wrote under the name of "Franklin W. Dixon". These two brothers started solving mysteries in 1927, but in 1959 the books was revised to eliminate what was considered racism in the books. In the 1980s a new Hardy Boys series started called The Hardy Boy Casefiles that involved murder and espionage, steering away from the original kid friendly series. In 2005 The Hardy Boys series ended and was replaced by an updated version called the Undercover Brothers.
Edward Stratemeyer
The genius who started it all!
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