Giveaway! Comment at any time this week and you're entered to win a $15 gift certificate to a bookstore of your choice that's not Amazon, a funky Nancy Drew tote, or a signed copy of the fun-filled Nancy Drew "Clues for Real Life" book. If you contributed to--or if you pimp Nancy Drew week, you get an extra entry!
Fun facts about Nancy and her gang * Compiled with the help of Wikipedia, my vague memory, and Nancy Drew Consultant Jennifer Fisher (find her--and a ton of Nancy info at this awesome website: www.nancydrewsleuth.com)
The books:Edward Stratemeyer created Nancy Drew.
The first 56 titles in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series were published between 1930 and 1979 by Grosset & Dunlap. The credited author for all Nancy Drew titles is Carolyn Keene, but different authors worked on them—sometimes as many as three different people worked on a single book.
The first three books in the series: The Secret of the Old Clock, The Hidden Staircase, and The Bungalow Mystery all debuted on April 28, 1930.
All about Nancy:Our sensible, independent-minded teen sleuth Nancy Drew has solved over 500 cases!
Nancy is 16 in the early books, but her age was changed to 18 later on. You can kind of see why--in the books, she is graduated from high school, spends weekends with Ned at Emerson, and gets into life-threatening situations all the time.
Nancy’s mother died when Nancy was ten in the early books, but it was revised to her dying when Nancy was three later on.
Consultant
Fisher points out that in the early books, Nancy often wore glamorous heels and fashionable frocks while chasing suspects, climbing ladders, and sleuthing for “ghosts” in secret passageways. Click
here for an entertaining "through the ages" look at Nancy's looks.
Nancy's hair color is usually described as "red-gold" or "titian blond.” I never really got what titian meant, and it always bugged me, but I was too lazy to look it up. But I looked it up this week. Titian means a reddish-brown or golden-brown color, and it’s derived from an Italian painter, Tiziano Vecellio.
Nancy Drew packed heat, according to Fisher, carrying her father Carson Drew’s revolver in two early mysteries—the 1930 text of The Hidden Staircase and the 1931 text of The Secret at Shadow Ranch. Fisher points out that in contrast, in the 1965 Nancy Drew book, The Spider Sapphire Mystery, when confronted with guns, Nancy and her pal George Fayne tossed them into a brook.
The gang:Nancy’s two close friends, George Fayne and Bess Marvin, are cousins.
George is short for Georgia in the revised editions, but she was named for her grandfather in the original editions. She is tall and slim, with short black hair, and made being a tomboy look cool. Early in the series, George Fayne is described as bold, slightly clumsy, blunt, and forward, resulting in the nickname "George the Terrible" from series fans. According to Jennifer
Fisher, George’s favorite catch phrase was “Hypers!” (Like—Wow!)
Bess (short for Elizabeth) Marvin is slightly plump with luxurious set hair (but not clearly described as blonde until 1936) Bess has the most girlish appearance and attitude of the three, and loves to talk about boys. Bess tries to be proper, and is also easily frightened — once wrecking a car simply because she saw something unusual. One of Bess’ favorite foods was a gooey chocolate fudge sundae.
Nancy’s father, widower Carson Drew, is the most respected lawyer in River Heights. He assists Nancy on many cases and guides her in the right direction. He also looks up things for her because of the access he has to many files. He never seems to get very upset about Nancy’s peril, in my memory. His attitude is usually that of, “That’s my girl!”
Ned Nickerson, Nancy’s boyfriend, has been described as “tall, handsome, and athletic looking, with wavy dark hair, a ready smile, and brown eyes.” (The Mysterious Letter). Ned’s always excited to help with Nancy’s mysteries, and frequently finds clues dropping in his lap. He’s a star football player at Emerson college, and frequently invites Nancy up for dances and weekends. Bess’ and George’s boyfriends, Dave Evans and Burt Eddelton, attend Emerson, too. They also play football, but they’re on the second string. In some books, the descriptions of football games can go for pages!
Housekeeper Hannah: Nobody knows what the Drews' housekeeper, Hannah Gruen, actually looks like; she has never been described in any of the books. In the early stories, Hannah is depicted as Nancy’s servant, and follows her directives down to uniform appearance, menus and groceries. As the role of the middle-class and their servants changed, Hannah became more a member of the family, like Alice on the Brady Bunch.
River Heights: The Drew family lives in a three-story brick house in the fictional town of River Heights. According to Fisher, collectors and scholars have long argued that a basis for River Heights may be found in Iowa, Ohio, Illinois and even New Jersey, home of famous "Carolyn Keene," Harriet Stratemeyer Adams.
Nancy Drew and I go way back!
by Katie(babs)
My earliest memory of Nancy and me is around nine years old and reading
The Hidden Staircase, which is actually the second book in the series. Soon after I would go back to the first book,
The Secret of the Old Clock. By the time I was a freshman in high school I had read all 56 of the original series and went on to read the newer ones that equaled to 172 books. Even though these short, less than 200 page books where written over 70 years ago, Nancy Drew still stands the test of time. She was the epitome of "girl power!", a woman who can accomplish anything if she put her mind to it. She was always surrounded by wonderful friends and family, including a boyfriend who treated her with respect and love. Nancy was beloved by all and was able to solve any crime, big or small in a matter of a few days.
Carolyn Jean's idea for a Nancy Drew week couldn't have come at a more perfect time. I was in a quandary because I had no clue what type of birthday gift to give my cousin, who was turning nine years old. When CJ posted about her love for Nancy, a light bulb went off in my head! Why not give a few Nancy Drew books as a birthday gift? I quickly went to the closest Barnes and Noble, and in the Young Adult/ Kids section was almost every single Nancy Drew book that was ever published. There were too many rows of Nancy Drew to count, more so than any other series book I could see. I couldn't help smiling as I picked up both,
The Secret of the Hidden Clock and
The Hidden Staircase, which still has those old fashioned vintage covers that I remember from over 20 years ago. I was holding a piece of my childhood in my hands and a precious memory I didn't want to let go. I had to hold back from buying every single one of those Nancy Drew titles.
Because I had a few days before I would give these books away, I couldn't help myself and began reading
The Secret of the Old Clock. I felt like I was coming home. I hoped that my cousin would feel the same way I did. When I finally gave her the books, I held my breath, hoping she wouldn't roll her eyes. As she unwrapped the package, her eyes lit up and she was so excited to finally read Nancy Drew. I could breathe again. The next day we would see each other again because of another party. She was quick to give me another hug and mentioned how much she loved her present. She started reading,
The Hidden Staircase and wanted to act the scenes and pretend to be Nancy Drew.
The Nancy Drew Mysteries are the perfect books to hand down from generation to generation. Knowing that I was able to introduce another person to this treasure is a gift within itself. Hopefully when my cousin has a daughter or another child in her life who is of the perfect age to start reading, she will remember my present and will give her a few editions of Nancy Drew and share the love of reading, much like I have done with her.
Find Katie(babs) at
Ramblings on Romance, as well as a lot of other sites.
Random Thoughts on Nancy Drew
by Sarai
Okay, first off this was a girl that solved mysteries and not just any mysteries but ones that could end up with her dead or hurt. I thought she was so cool. She was so cool in fact I used to go around trying to solve "Mysteries" around my neighborhood. My neighbors, God love them, were mainly old so they would humor me. I still have my collection of old mysteries lying around the house. I had the whole yellow book collection and of course after that I went out and bought all of the Hardy boys (they were blue in case anyone cares), mainly b/c Nancy would sometimes make an appearance.
Those were fun times.
And do you guys remember all the times she traveled? I mean for Crap Sakes the girl was always going somewhere far away from home to solve mysteries. (Probably b/c all the thieves and killers were scared of the little shit, I mean think about it if every time you even thought about a heist near her you’d probably break out in cold sweats. The girl was that good.) I wished as a kid I could do all that traveling. And what’s worse, she would travel for fun then ruin the vaca by finding a mystery to solve. (Seriously girl, just once relax on the beach.)
Oh and what about Bess and George? I mean, I would so be one. They got the free trips and all the great bonuses without any of the effort or work. Seriously how could you go wrong with that?
Okay moving on to my favorite Nancy Drew book:
The Clue of the Whistling Bagpipes. And once again Nancy is flying to another place far away, this time Scotland—and her dad feeling bad for her, he allows George and Bess to join (seriously my dad would been like you are SOL— get used to life sucking.)
Needless to say, I don’t remember everything but as usual Nancy got the bad guys and a nice pat on the back. Man I loved those mysteries. In fact, I think that is why I still watch Scooby Doo to this day b/c they always get the bad guys in the end.
Find Sarai at
Thoughts of an Aspiring Writer,
Sarai is Reading What? and elsewhere.
The Clue of the Whistling Bagpipes: The blurb
Warnings not to go to Scotland can't stop Nancy Drew from setting out on a thrill-packed mystery adventure. Undaunted by the vicious threats, the attractive young detective, with her father and her two best friends, goes to visit her great-grandmother at an imposing estate in the Scottish Highlands, and to solve the mystery of a missing family heirloom.
And there is another mystery to be solved: the fate of flocks of stolen sheep. Baffling clues challenge Nancy's powers of deduction: a note written in the ancient Gaelic language, a deserted houseboat on Loch Lomond, a sinister red-bearded stranger in Edinburgh, eerie whistling noises in the Highlands. Startling discoveries in an old castle and in the ruins of a prehistoric fortress, on a rugged mountain slope and in a secluded glen, lead Nancy closer to finding the solutions to both mysteries.
Wearing a time-honored tartan, Nancy climbs the mountain of Ben Nevis in the dark of night and plays a tune historic heroism on the bagpipes -- all part of her daring plan to trap the sheep thieves and to recover the valuable family heirloom.
Part 1 of 2
The titles told you exactly what to expect in the book and the covers gave you so much more. This was never more true than with 
The successful debut of the Nancy Drew series in 1930 had a tremendous impact on purveyors of popular published works. Series originator Edward Stratemeyer had discovered an entirely new market of consumers with disposable income: American girls who were old enough to babysit but not yet old enough to drive. To meet the demands of this lucrative readership, Stratemeyer employed several ghostwriters to produce stories featuring the titian-haired teen sleuth and her easy-to-tell-apart friends.
