Nancy Drew

Top Secret

Who remembers Nancy Drew?

• Think about what the name Nancy Drew means to you.

• What do you remember about her?

• What do you remember of the character of Nancy Drew, how she handled problem solving, and how she was a role model for girls?

The Beginnings of Nancy Drew

• Nancy Drew is a fictional character, the heroine detective of a popular mystery series.

• The first manuscripts were written by Mildred A. Wirt Benson for the Stratemeyer Syndicate.

• Mildred Benson wrote the first 22 books.

The Beginnings of Nancy Drew

• Stratemeyer Syndicate was known for publishing book series using one invented author's name for all books, no matter who wrote them.

• Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Tom Swift, and dozens of other series books were written to order based on a formula by Edward Stratemeyer.

The Beginnings of Nancy Drew

• In the case of Nancy Drew, the name Carolyn Keene was chosen.

• Research reveals that there was no Carolyn Keene (whom we all KNOW was the author!).

• Edward Stratemeyer wrote outlines for the first four stories in the series, but died before the books were published.

Nancy Drew

• More than 200 million books sold worldwide.

• In the 1960s, early titles were revised or changed completely to eliminate outdated references such as “roadsters," “running boards," and “rumble seats."

• The original books have 25 chapters while the revised editions have only 20.

• Volumes 1 through 34 were printed in the original format.

Nancy Drew• The original series

numbering one through fifty-six were all written by the Stratemeyer syndicate. In the 1980s the syndicate experienced financial problems, and their publisher, Simon & Schuster, bought the company and all of the rights to the Nancy Drew series and other novels.

Nancy Drew Stereotypes• The stereotypes that the Nancy Drew

books had, including what we now call classism, sexism, racism, anti-Semitism, anti gypsies, and immigrants did not depict or promote what we now call multiculturalism.

• They were of course a product of their times.

• It is important to note, over the years from 1930 to today, the stories were rewritten and continually made to conform to their eras.

• In fact, the latest pictures of Nancy look more like Barbie than Nancy!

Nancy Drew Fans• Some teachers love the series

because it hooks kids on reading.

• The young sleuth is also a good role model - she's active and smart, and her supportive boyfriend Ned Nickerson stands in the background and applauds her.

• But it feeds an old debate - is it better to give kids a book they love to get them excited about reading, or should class assignments involve a higher caliber of literature?

Nancy Drew• Most librarians of the time

considered all series books bad, like comic books, and the librarians who didn't ban them at least discouraged them.

• As far as the librarians were concerned, the Nancy Drew novels were not "literature," and the books kept children from reading "literature.”

Nancy DrewOriginal Nancy, 1930 to 1940• From the beginning,she was depicted

as an independent-minded teenager, usually sixteen, but gradually aging to eighteen by the mid 1940s.

• Being affluent, she maintained an active social, volunteer, and sleuthing schedule, as well as participating in athletics and the arts.

• She was never shown as working for a living or acquiring job skills.

Nancy DrewBy end of the 1930s, Nancy was dressing along the lines of a sophisticated young woman, with smart suits, matching hats, gloves, and handbags.

Nancy Drew Mysteries

– Nancy lived in a three-story brick house in the fictional town of River Heights, a few hours from Chicago.

– She also traveled to several different regions in the United States and international destinations, including France, Peru, Scotland, Hong Kong and Africa.

Nancy Drew’s Cohorts

Her family and friends included:

• father, Carson Drew

• housekeeper, Hannah Gruen

• her cosmopolitan Aunt Eloise in New York

• a dog named Togo

• Helen Corning, a friend who comes and goes

• close friends, George (Georgia) Fayne and Bess Marvin

• boyfriend, Ned Nickerson

Nancy Drew’s Family

• She lived with her father, attorney Carson Drew.

• The original series stated Nancy's mother died when she was ten years old.

• In later revisions, her mother died when she was three.

Nancy Drew’s Family

• Carson was a world-renowned lawyer, who consequently had a rather healthy income.

• Nancy was free to do her detecting without worrying about money.

• Carson may have supplied the income, but that is about all he supplied in the way of typical parental support.

Nancy Drew’s Family

• He often helped her on cases by doing some of the legwork, and he imposed no parental constraints on her.

• This made Carson appear as more of a sidekick to Nancy.

• Since Nancy’s mother died when she was three, the ‘‘smothering mother’’ (over protective) role is totally eliminated.

Nancy Drew

• Nancy pursued hobbies, art, music, dancing, and various athletics.

• She entered, trespassed, sneaked about, opened locked doors, lockers, chests, and drawers.

• Nancy was very courageous.

• She received threats that would terrify most people and ignored them.

• This was related to her inability to break a commitment.

• She was very determined in the pursuit of the truth and nothing, short of death, would make her give up a case.

Nancy Drew

Nancy Drew, Sleuth

• Ropes were often a problem for the girl detective. She has been tied up more times than one can count and has found an equal number of ways to escape.

• The criminals involved usually believed they had done nothing wrong; the reader was always assured that the “bad” person had been removed from society.

Nancy Drew, Sleuth

• In many final scenes, the audience is allowed to see inside the criminal’s mind.

• Usually this scene portrays the criminal as a person who is slightly mentally unbalanced and was pushed over the edge by a certain incident.

Nancy Drew’s Style

Nancy’s early style was in the vein of a sophisticated young girl with immaculately curled hair, pearls, high heels, and elegant dresses.

• Nancy was blue-eyed, bold, and adventuresome.

• On many covers she was shown as a blonde or brunette.

• Her hair color, frequently described as "strawberry blond" and "titian," rather than the less glamorous “red," was due to a printing ink error and was adopted anyway.

Nancy Drew

Nancy Drew• She always carried a

flashlight.

• In the originals, she owned a blue roadster which became maroon in volumes 8, 9, and 10, and then green, finally having no description of color for several years.

• Her roadster returned to blue and stayed that way.

Nancy Drew: the 1940s

• In the 1940s, Nancy began to evolve into a less reckless, and also less obviously affluent, character.

• Her fashion style became a bit more casual.

• She no longer pursued things that greatly endangered herself or her friends.

Nancy Drew: the 1950s

• During the 1950s, Harriet Stratemeyer Adams took on the responsibility for writing, revising, and updating the earlier volumes to speed up the pacing of the novels and remove regional and racist references.

Nancy Drew: Character Evolution

• Although Nancy’s occupation and success stayed the same, Nancy changed in order to keep up with the times.

• In a few of the original stories, she was sixteen years old, but she quickly aged to eighteen so that she could legally drive in all of the states.

• Making Nancy eighteen years old created an easy way to avoid including the topic of school.

Nancy Drew: Subtle Changes

• Her car, which was a prominent part of her image, changed from a roadster to a Mustang convertible over the years.

• Two things that never changed were

– its blue color, (once it was finally established, it remained blue), and

– the fact that it was sporty.

• She also was known to drive her car at high speeds.

The Nancy Drew Files

• In 1986, a new series of Nancy Drew novels hit the bookshelves: The Nancy Drew Files.

• This series contained the same characters as the original books, but with an updated twist to them.

• Ned and Nancy became more emotionally involved and Nancy’s cases became more important.

The Nancy Drew Files• A physical relationship did not truly

exist between Ned and Nancy, other than the occasional kiss.

• He paid for dates, he opened doors, he openly admitted that Nancy could best him at almost anything she put her mind to.

• He helped out when she asked and was easy to dispose of when he was not needed.

The Nancy Drew Files

• Nancy herself became a ‘‘typical teenager’’ of the 1980s and 1990s with acid washed jeans and a new sporty Mustang.

• The Nancy Drew Files quickly gained young readers’ attentions, just as the original stories had done.

Nancy Drew as Art

• In the mid-1940s, publisher Grosset & Dunlap updated the original packaging of its popular series with a dust jacket that featured wraparound art and modern type for an edgier, more contemporary feel.

• This approach colorfully echoed the visual styles of film noir and pulp fiction, then in vogue.

Nancy Drew as Art

• Between 1950 and 1979, commercial artists Bill Gillies and Rudy Nappi produced artwork for the new books.

• In late 2006, licensed dust jacket prints of original series artwork by Russell Tandy, Bill Gillies and Rudy Nappi were released.

Nancy Drew Dust Jackets

Licensed by Simon and Schuster, Nancy Drew® debuted a line of jacket prints recreating the classic mid-century look and feel of the popular children's mystery series for collectors and new fans alike.

The dust jackets highlighted the original series during its baby boom zenith of the 1950s and 1960s.

Nancy Drew Dust Jackets

Nancy Drew• In early 2007, book stores such as

Barnes & Noble, began selling Nancy Drew Mysteries with original artwork.

• The Nancy Drew Mystery Stories consist of 175 books.

– From The Secret of the Old Clock, The Hidden Staircase, and The Bungalow Mystery (1930) to

– Danger on the Great Lakes, A Taste of Danger, Werewolf in a Winter Wonderland (2003)

Nancy Drew as a Role Model

Nancy has changed in a few ways that could be seen as detracting from her status as a role model.

– She has become more concerned with her appearance in the recent books.

It is important to note that the original series was published with 8, 9, and 10 year old girls in mind.

– The Nancy Drew Files were aimed at girls who were 11, 12, and 13.

– The books were changed to keep the readers’ interest, not to make Nancy less of a role model for young women.

Nancy Drew as a Role Model

• Nancy Drew influenced the current crop of female mystery writers.

• Rarely, however, do we consider what kind of effect Nancy Drew books have on children’s

impressionable minds.

Nancy Drew as a Role Model

• Nancy Drew is a prominent figure in many adolescent girls’ lives who has many admirable qualities.

• She excels in a typically male-dominated profession.

• She maintains healthy relationships with her friends and family -- particularly with her father and boyfriend.

Nancy Drew as a Role Model

• Nancy is also a strong, independent woman.

• For these and other reasons, analysis of Nancy Drew stories, both old and new, reveals that Nancy Drew is a positive role

model for young women.

Nancy Drew as a Role Model

• Nancy Drew began challenging societal expectations in 1929 simply by becoming an amateur detective.

• Today she continues to do so by pursuing increasingly dangerous and physical cases.

• Nancy does things that many people would gladly step aside and allow others to do for them, and she does these things with the grace and skill that we have come to expect from her.

Nancy Drew as a Role Model

• Through the years, Nancy has been changed and updated, but she still sends the same message: girls’ actions are not limited by their gender.

• The books are still being published.

• Young girls still need the role model of the adventurous, self assured, intelligent, and daring girl or young woman.

Nancy Drew Mystery Series

• Nancy Drew Files• Nancy Drew Notebooks• The Official Strategy Guide for Nancy Drew• Nancy Drew Mystery Stories• Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys Super Mystery• Nancy Drew on Campus• Nancy Drew Super Mystery• Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew• The Lost Files of Nancy Drew• Nancy Drew “All New” Girl Detective• Nancy Drew Graphic Novels: Girl Detective

There are many Nancy Drew mystery series.