Has there ever been a more perfect heroine than Nancy Drew?
She solves mysteries so effortlessly that the police often look to her for advice. She is beautiful, talented, athletic, and has a loyal group of friends. Her boyfriend, Ned Nickerson, is an equally high achiever: captain of the Emerson College football team, President of his fraternity, and top of his class!
She’s perfect in so many ways but what’s even better is the fact that she has almost complete freedom to do whatever she wishes, from taking off in her convertible to flying overseas to solve a case. It’s easy to see why so many girls devoured this series.
I can vividly remember discovering my first Nancy Drew book, at the Pen Centre public library branch when I was around 7 years old (yes, the Pen Centre had a branch right beside Eaton’s!). It was The Mystery of Lilac Inn and it was a classic mystery story, with hidden panels, ghostly figures, and a diamond theft. I loved the twists and turns but, even more, I just wanted to BE Nancy.
Many readers have shared that feeling, which is part of Nancy’s enduring appeal. Nancy Drew stands out in popular culture, but not everyone is as familiar with the controversy and the history around the mystery stories!
Fun Facts about The Nancy Drew Mystery Stories:
There never was a Carolyn Keene.
The Nancy Drew Mystery Stories were ghostwritten by a series of authors throughout the years.
Children LOVED Nancy Drew, but teachers and librarians did not!
Years ago, the immense popularity of series books (think The Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden) was a source of frustration for librarians and teachers who felt they were a “menace to good reading.” (see: “The Menace of the Series Book” by Lucy Kinloch, 1935)
Children still loved Nancy, despite the concerns raised by adults. A child’s review from 1932 where she writes: “The Nancy Drew Mystery Stories” are my favorite books…the book became very exciting…”:
Marjorie Thorsen’s book review of The Mystery at Lilac Inn.
Nancy evolved over the years
In the earliest Nancy Drew books (1920s-1940s), Nancy was a blonde 16-year-old girl who took incredible risks. There were plane crashes and Nancy was gagged and bound in a few stories. The books were long (200+ pages) with 25 chapters.
In the 1950s, Nancy’s character was transformed to be a demure, Grace Kelly-like girl with “titian” hair who was now 18 years old. She was still daring and intelligent, but she also dabbled in flower arranging and attended balls and fraternity parties. The books became shorter (20 chapters) and older books were revised to be easier to read and to (thankfully) remove racist language.
Collecting the Books is challenging
It’s difficult to ascertain if a hardcover Nancy Drew is an original because there were so many iterations of the books. The originals had dustjackets, some books had blue inside covers with reenactments of the stories, and some had different illustrators. There have also been reprints of the original series, which adds to the confusion!
While I don’t have any true originals from the 1920s/1930s, I love the book collection that I do have. Some of my copies belonged to girls in the 1950s and it’s fun to see their inscriptions and how they marked off the stories they had read in the series or planned to read next. It’s fun to think that Nancy Drew has appealed to girls for over 100 years and that there is even a television show still running featuring this famous detective!
