Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Nancy Drew

If you pay attention to my right sidebar, you may have noticed that I've been reading alot of Nancy Drew lately. This is for two reasons. First and foremost, my daughter is hugely into Nancy Drew books right now. This is what she can be found doing most of her waking hours:



I have 12 of them (the original series, not the modern rewrites) from my own childhood which she devoured, and then we went to the library and checked out a whole bunch more. Reading them together has been a fun point of connection between us.

And secondly, though they are very formulaic I realized they have several elements I really appreciate. Many of them contain characters who are superstitious or believe in ghosts to some degree. When Nancy solves the mystery, the "ghost" is always proved to be an actual person preying on people's fears. Reason always prevails. I like that! I also like that Nancy always keeps her cool even when she finds herself in dangerous situations. And I like that she is so observant and thoughtful in how she processes clues and other information. When I read them as a child they encouraged me to be more observant of the people around me and more aware of my surroundings, something I carried into adulthood.

To top it off, Nancy is pretty, a good driver, an excellent swimmer, serious minded but knows how to have fun, and is a sweet and respectful young lady. What's not to love!! The fact that they are easy reads which don't require much time or thought has absolutely nothing to do with my reading about one a day. Nothing at all.

;-)

(any suggestions for what to read when my Nancy Drew binge is over??)
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5 comments:

  1. karenJuly 1, 2009 at 8:25 PM

    The Happy Hollisters by Jerry West..though these might be for younger children than Nancy Drew.

    Elizabeth Enright's books about the Melendy Family. There are at least four books and maybe five. One of the books is called The Four Story Mistake,

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  2. lahbluebonnetJuly 1, 2009 at 9:18 PM

    Don't forget that she also climbed secretly into basements and secret passages wearing a skirt, heels and a hat. How times have changed!
    Blessings,
    Laurie

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  3. votemomJuly 2, 2009 at 5:27 AM

    emma read all the jeanette oke books about that age i think.... or maybe she was 13ish??

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  4. Whole Food PioneerJuly 2, 2009 at 7:49 AM

    Oh you bring back happy childhood memories! I devoured all the Nancy Drew and Trixie Beldon books I could get my hands on. Has she tried Trixie? Those were great when I was 12, but I haven't tried them lately.

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  5. LorettaJuly 21, 2009 at 5:39 AM

    For more girls' series books - How about Cherry Ames (nurse series) or Vicki Barr ("stewardess" series) or Dana Girls (twin sisters - same "author" as Nancy Drew) or Judy Bolton (authored by Margaret Sutton) These are not as easy to find as Nancy Drew, but they are just as enjoyable. I also second the suggestion about Trixie Belden. These are currently in reprint by Random House (with wording just as it was in the 1950's - no PC updates) and available at Barnes and Noble, I think.

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