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Nancy Drew Books

Teenage female sleuth Nancy Drew was created specifically to appeal to girls who had been enjoying their brothers' copies of the Hardy Boys books. The Hardy Boys adventure mysteries had first been published by the Stratemeyer Syndicate in 1927 and were met with astounding success. Young boys (and girls) enjoyed the adventures of the two Hardys, Frank and Joe, as the lads solved crimes in their hometown of Bayport.

Edward Stratemeyer was the genius of the juvenile publishing world. Recognizing the success of his Hardy Boys series, Stratemeyer knew that young girls would enjoy reading about a heroine of their own. As he did with all of his book series, Stratemeyer assigned a pseudonym as the author. Carolyn Keene was the name attributed as the author of all of the Nancy Drew books but, in actuality, the books were written by various authors at different times throughout the decades.

In 1930, the first Nancy Drew mystery debuted. A plucky teenager, Nancy lived in an affluent neighborhood in a large home with her father Carson Drew, a famous lawyer. Because her mother had died when Nancy was only ten, the Drew household in River Heights also included Hannah Gruen, a loving and motherly housekeeper.

Like her predecessors, the Hardys, Nancy has plenty of good friends she could count on when she needed help investigating a mystery. In early books, her best friend is Helen Corning. In later books, Nancy is often joined by two girlfriends, George (Georgia) Fane and Bess Marvin. Always ready to help out is Nancy's favorite boyfriend, Ned Nickerson. Ned is a nice guy but seems so completely infatuated with Nancy that he is usually under her thumb and following her orders to the letter.

Nancy herself is certainly a girl to be reckoned with. She drives a sporty car and drives it fast. At times (in the early editions) she even carries a gun, and she is never without her trusty flashlight. Positively fearless, Nancy Drew has been known to break into locked houses, brazenly confront policemen and refuses to let anything stand in her way when following clues she feels are important.

Sadly, as the series progressed, the character of Nancy Drew was somewhat watered down. In the 1940s and 1950s, Nancy became more demure and less individualistic. By the 1960s and '70s, there was more attention paid to fashion and make-up in Nancy's world. The teenager was often making trips to Chicago or New York City with her Aunt Eloise in order to give the books a more cosmopolitan flair but she still was on the lookout for mysteries to solve.

175 Nancy Drew books were published from 1930 until 2003. In addition, Nancy has appeared in several movies most notably the film series starring Bonita Granville in the title role which were popular in the late 1930s. More recently, a new Nancy Drew movie was released in mid-2007 starring Emma Roberts (the niece of actress Julia Roberts).

There has also been a television show (The Hardy Boys / Nancy Drew Mysteries) in the late 1970s and almost two dozen Nancy Drew computer games. Guess there are still girls who dream about adventure and yearn to solve secret puzzles. That's what Nancy Drew is all about.