Back in 1930 , a certain " daughter sleuthhound " appeared on the scenery driving a sporty blue roadster at top speed as she solvedmysteriesinbookswith names like " The Hidden Staircase " and " The Mystery at Lilac Inn . " Who could this be ? Why , Nancy Drew of trend .
" Nancy Drew grew out of the Depression and want to give minor something to remember about other than problems at home,“said Nancy Axelrod , a author and editor in chief involved with the family that published the Nancy Drew Word , in the book " Nancy Drew and Company . " Throughout the tenner , and various iterations , the fancied heroine has remained very pop . Here are five secret we ’ve uncovered about Nancy Drew .
1. Who Was Carolyn Keene?
Carolyn Keene is list as the source of all the Nancy Drew books . But there was no such someone . From the beginning , there was a stable ofwritersfor the series , none of whom had that name . Twenty - three of the first 30 books were written by a journalist named Mildred Wirt Benson , under the direction of Edward Stratemeyer , who developed several serial books for children ( Ever read the Hardy Boys , Bobbsey Twins or Tom Swift ? Those were his creations too . ) Stratemeyer came up with the characters and synopsis and farmed out the content to various ghostwriters to end .
But you could say that Benson was the one who made Nancy what she became . Tired of the " namby - pamby " girl ' seriesof the metre , Benson made Nancy an independent , adventurous miss ( with her own car ! ) who work out mysteries by herself , occasionally referring to her father Carson Drew , a attorney , for advice .
" I sort of wish the character from the beginning , " Bensontold The New York Times in 1993 . " Now that kind of woman is vulgar , but then it was a new construct , though not to me . I just of course thought that girls could do the things boys did . " Yet , she added shockingly , " I ’m so pallid of Nancy Drew I could chuck . "
Another series writer was Harriet Stratemeyer Adams ( Edward ’s daughter)who wrote Nos . 33 - 56 , plus No . 31 . And a handful of man also ghostwrote as well .
2. Why Did Nancy Drew Change?
Edward Stratemeyer died suddenly in 1930 , the same year the series premier , and Harriett Adams take over the pool . Under her guidance , Nancy underwent a enceinte revision in 1959 , becoming more sedate and less bigheaded . Take , for instance , the first ledger " The Secret of the Old Clock . " " 1930 Nancy was more excited and chided herself . She was a small less perfect and more real,“wrote Nancy Drew expert Jennifer Fisher . " 1930 Nancy refer to the Topham girls as ' vapid puppet ' and said they do not merit the Crowley fortune . By 1959 , this rather un - Nancy like doings was shoulder upon Hannah Gruen . "
In the revision , Nancy mature from 16 to 18 ( so she could legally drive in all 50 states ) , switch over her roadster for a convertible ( to keep up with the times ) and had more of a familial kinship with the housekeeper Hannah Gruen ; in the beginning , she play more of a servant role . Hannah , who was always described as " motherly , " offer a somewhat parental frame for Nancy , whose mother , we ’re render to understand , died when Nancy was 3 . But at the same clip she was n’t so much of a parent as to foreclose Nancy from take in charge her various dangerous undertaking . Adams also polish off some of the racially stereotypical characters that had clouded the original series .
In 2004,another set of revisions followed , which put the Nancy Drew record book into the first person , and had her tooling around in a intercrossed vehicle ( still blue ) and help Hannah with domestic chore . Her good friends continue the " agreeably plump " Bess Marvin and her cousin , the athletic tomboy George Fayne .
3. Is It True the Critics Hated the Books?
Yes , even wholesome Nancy was not a oecumenical deary with adults when she first debuted . Many librarians consider these playscript to be " methamphetamine " and a " menace to good reading " because of their formulaic plots and character . In 1957,writer Phyllis Fenner complainedthat Nancy was " saucy " and " strongheaded " while performing " all kind of stunt , [ and solving ] mysteries involving high-pitched - power cars and expensive perfumes . " Opposition largely fall aside as educators began embracing series record , comics and graphic novel as ways to get children to get more concerned in meter reading .
4. What Became of Helen Corning?
You commemorate her ? She was Nancy ’s sidekick in the early books before Bess and George showed up . In the original seriesHelen Corningwas portrayed as a bit of a gossip who was always up for some play . She bolt down in and out of several books , subbing for Bess and George when they were n’t useable ; she also happened to date Buck Rodman , Ned Nickerson ’s roommate ( Ned was Nancy ’s " unshakable , " as they used to say . ) In the 1959 revisions , Helen Corning got engage in the 2nd Holy Scripture " The Hidden Staircase " and by the tenth , " The Passage to Larkspur Lane , " she was matrimonial to Jim Archer , and hardly seen again — which allowed Bess and George to assume bigger roles . Decades later , Helenwas resurrectedas part of the newer incarnation of the series , " Nancy Drew , Girl Detective " which run 2004 - 2012 .
5. How Many Nancy Drew Books Are There?
Harriet Stratemeyer Adams died in 1982 , and the series syndicate was sold to Simon and Schuster who go to work creating a whole lot of spinoffs , many of which Adams would not have approved of . " I feel you overstepped your attitude in trying to revamp Nancy ’s character,“Adams write to an editorback when she was warring with the previous newspaper publisher Grosset and Dunlap . " She is not all those terrible things you charge her of and in many illustration you have actually want to make her negative . And do n’t forget , every Shakespearian disaster has plenty of temper in it ! "
The classical serial publication ran to 56 books , but the current total is over 175 . Let ’s see if you’re able to keep all these spinoffs straight : In the 1980s , there was theNancy Drew files(which hold up for 125 books ) and was more focused on Latinian language as well as closed book . The " On Campus " serial publication of the nineties had Nancy attending Wilder University , while the " Nancy Drew Notebooks " targeted the very young with report about Nancy and her friends in simple school .
The current embodiment of the classic Nancy Drew series is called " The Nancy Drew Diaries " and debuted in 2013 . Nevertheless , the books will sound familiar to any Nancy Drew reader , retiring or present : " Nancy , Bess , and George airstream to enchant an international jewel thief " reads the synopsis for " The Stolen Show . "
