It was a dark and stormy night ...

I’m not much of a packrat. My philosophy is that if I can’t use something within the next two weeks, I generally don’t need to keep it. One of the exceptions to my rule, however, is my schoolwork from college. For some reason I have all the papers and exams I had written, and every now and then like to pull them out for perusal. The following excerpt is from the 28-page semester summary I submitted as a final exam in my Interpersonal Communications class (circa June 1999):

When you were very young, what media figures (TV or radio or books) served as models for you? What effect did they have on you?

First of all, you’re asking me to remember when I was very young. That was a long time ago! The media figures that immediately come to mind are Nancy Drew, Beaver Cleaver and Bozo the Clown. What a combo, huh? Nancy Drew’s stories always impressed upon me that if you really put your mind to it, you can always come up with a solution to your problems. The Beav was an adventurous sort (usually due to the encouragement of his dubious sidekick) who taught me that it is okay to step off the straight and narrow path as long as you are willing to accept the consequences that may accompany such behavior. And Bozo? Laughter is indeed the best medicine!

Yes, like millions of other young readers, I loved Nancy Drew.  Didn’t you? The teenage detective was independent and gutsy and kind and intelligent and successful … a super sleuth who could do it all. Is it any wonder why she is one of the best role models for adolescent girls?

The story of the American heroine began in 1930. She was the brainchild of Edward Stratemeyer, owner of Stratemeyer Syndicate, who had already created the Hardy Boys, The Bobbsey Twins and Tom Swift. This new girls’ mystery series was authored by “Carolyn Keene,” a pseudonym for the myriad of writers who penned Nancy’s adventures, and initially published by Grosset & Dunlap.

The history of these books through the years is interesting, if not a bit confusing. The first 34 volumes of the original texts contained 25 chapters and were published between 1930 and 1956. Then, in an effort to modernize them to remove racial and gender stereotypes, as well as to update the language and plots for current-day readers, the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories were rewritten and condensed in 1959. The ensuing 56 titles of these 20-chapter books were published from 1959 to 1979. Various paperback series followed, as did movies and television shows and games and cookbooks. Whew!

Nancy didn’t enter my life until the late 1960s. By that time the original blue hard covers with dust jackets bearing the illustrations of Russell H. Tandy were out of print and replaced by yellow spine books with pictures printed directly on their covers. Fortunately, in 1991, Applewood Books began releasing unedited facsimile reprints of the first editions. Unfortunately, only the first 21 volumes were made available. So I’m now on the lookout for volumes 22 through 34 of the original novels I have yet to own. I have no doubt they’ll someday turn up in an obscure bookstore or someone’s attic, but I won’t be able to accomplish No. 49 on my Bucket List—reread the original Nancy Drew mysteries—until I find them!

I may be well beyond the books’ target age of 8- to 12-year-olds, but I’m still very young at heart and enjoy them just as much now as I did back then. Nancy Drew remains classic and timeless. She not only provides a window into the past but, even after all these years, stories that I still love to read!