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barefootsong's review against another edition
4.0
A very interesting cultural biography of the two women who had the most influence on the creation of Nancy Drew and her enduring appeal. (I so need a full-length bio of Millie, though!)
ejdecoster's review against another edition
3.0
I don't remember when I read this, but I'm pretty sure I did, and enjoyed it enough to recommend it to a friend's mother and fellow Nancy fan.
whats_margaret_reading's review against another edition
3.0
Nancy Drew was my first exposure to the fiction mystery novel, and it didn't take third grade me long to figure out the formula. Something crazy happens, Nancy is on the case with her pair of good friends, and then she messes around until she is knocked out, and the criminal reveals all. Not exactly crime solving.
Then, the Applewood books re-releases of the early Nancy Drew novels changed that. Nancy was much spunkier, slightly more white-privledged (yes, that's possible), and much more adventurous.
So, what happened?
This biography of Carolyn Keene details the number of ghost writers, from the first outlines from the proposal to start a new line of serial novels to the daughter of the original publisher through the 1970s. Everyone who participated in the creation of the Nancy Drew myth made revision almost necessary in the eyes of Harriet Adams, the daughter of Edward Stratemeyer, the original publisher. Harriet wanted to maximize her deceased father's role and legitimize herself as the leader of the Stratemeyer Syndicate after his death, at the expense of the ghost writers. Mildred Wirt, who becomes much of the focus of the forgotten Caroyln Keenes that Melanie Rehak selects to profile, is the more adventurous, modern author who after writing serial novels, learned to fly and kept up reporting for the same small town paper well into old age.
The formula that Harriet Stratemeyer Adams later favored also minimized the role of the myriad of ghostwriters who were responsible for the Nancy Drew mysteries. The behind the scenes politics of ghostwriting and the creation of one of the most recognizable American characters sheds light onto how Nancy's creation produced one of the standards of American childhood.
Then, the Applewood books re-releases of the early Nancy Drew novels changed that. Nancy was much spunkier, slightly more white-privledged (yes, that's possible), and much more adventurous.
So, what happened?
This biography of Carolyn Keene details the number of ghost writers, from the first outlines from the proposal to start a new line of serial novels to the daughter of the original publisher through the 1970s. Everyone who participated in the creation of the Nancy Drew myth made revision almost necessary in the eyes of Harriet Adams, the daughter of Edward Stratemeyer, the original publisher. Harriet wanted to maximize her deceased father's role and legitimize herself as the leader of the Stratemeyer Syndicate after his death, at the expense of the ghost writers. Mildred Wirt, who becomes much of the focus of the forgotten Caroyln Keenes that Melanie Rehak selects to profile, is the more adventurous, modern author who after writing serial novels, learned to fly and kept up reporting for the same small town paper well into old age.
The formula that Harriet Stratemeyer Adams later favored also minimized the role of the myriad of ghostwriters who were responsible for the Nancy Drew mysteries. The behind the scenes politics of ghostwriting and the creation of one of the most recognizable American characters sheds light onto how Nancy's creation produced one of the standards of American childhood.
bibliowrecka's review against another edition
4.0
I was never as obsessed with Nancy Drew as some girls were, especially I think because I was growing up in the 80s and 90s when her popularity was starting to wane a little. I remember browsing the long row of yellow spines in the children's section at the library, though, and discovering the more "grown-up" Nancy Drew Case Files series a few years later on my junior high library's shelves. Whether or not you have fond memories of reading Nancy Drew yourself, there's no doubt that just about every American girl (and a lot of boys) from several generations knows OF her at the very least.
I remember the slight feeling of disillusionment I felt when I learned that Carolyn Keane was a pseudonym under which several people wrote. (I felt almost as betrayed as when I discovered that Ann M. Martin didn't write all the Babysitters Club books herself!) In Girl Sleuth, Melanie Rehak traces the lives of the two women who had the most influence on who Nancy came to be. Harriet Stratemeyer Adams was the daughter of the Stratemeyer Syndicate's founder. The Stratemeyer Syndicate was one of the country's first book packagers (think Alloy Entertainment and its many book and TV series), creating well-known series and characters like the Bobbsey Twins, the Hardy Boys, and Nancy Drew, then passing off the writing of the books themselves to ghostwriters, who worked according to detailed plot outlines. Harriet and her sister Edna took over the Syndicate after their father died in 1930 and shepherded Nancy's early years while another writer, Mildred Wirt Benson, wrote most of the first 30 books in the series.
I came away from this book with admiration for Harriet and absolute awe for Mildred. They both worked hard to carve a place for themselves in a literary world still heavily dominated by men and men's taste, while still being very much women of their time. I got the feeling that Rehak liked Mildred a lot more than Harriet, and frankly, I did too. Harriet comes off as strong-willed, determined, intelligent, and successful, but also very much as a slightly vainglorious daughter of the upper class who fell prey to many of the prejudices common to that class and era. She went to one of the Seven Sisters colleges in a time when most women didn't even think of higher education, worked in the women's suffrage movement, took over her father's company and built it into a juggernaut that ran successfully for over 50 years, and fought hard to maintain the rights to a character she felt belonged to her alone. But she also wanted to use the Nancy Drew stories to push a very upper-class set of values, and failed to understand the seriousness of the racist and sometimes sexist content that led to a major overhaul of most of the early books in the series in the 1950s (the yellow spine hardcovers that most girls remember reading are these revised versions).
Mildred just seems like a badass. She was an accomplished swimmer and diver and excelled in college athletics, became one of the first women to graduate from the University of Iowa's graduate school of journalism, insisted on working after her marriage when middle-class women were expected to quit immediately, took flying lessons in her 50s, traveled the globe visiting archaeological digs well into her seventies, and was still writing a newspaper column up until her death at 97. Like I said, a badass. She sometimes found it hard to keep quiet about her role as "Carolyn Keane", especially in later years when it felt to her like Harriet was trying to claim all the credit. I imagine Mildred as being an incredibly forceful personality that you admired and respected even while she sometimes drove you crazy.
To wrap things up, I found Rehak's account of Nancy Drew's creators and their lives and times fascinating and hard to put down. I only have a few quibbles. I would have liked to see more attention paid to the books themselves, and maybe more from the point of view of girls who grew up with Nancy. I know the book is meant to be a biography focused on the two women, but if you didn't know about Nancy Drew you'd probably wonder why in the world such a big fuss was being taken over the authors of a children's mystery series. In later chapters she does go a bit more into the cultural impact the books had, but I would have liked more for the earlier stories, as well. I think maybe what I'm really wanting is a critical review of the Nancy Drew books, so maybe I'm looking in the wrong place for this and shouldn't fault Rehak. One other issue for me: the end notes are not very clearly labeled and organized, which sometimes makes it hard to track down her sources. Otherwise, I found this to be a fun read, worthwhile to anyone who's loved Nancy or is interested in the history of books for children.
I remember the slight feeling of disillusionment I felt when I learned that Carolyn Keane was a pseudonym under which several people wrote. (I felt almost as betrayed as when I discovered that Ann M. Martin didn't write all the Babysitters Club books herself!) In Girl Sleuth, Melanie Rehak traces the lives of the two women who had the most influence on who Nancy came to be. Harriet Stratemeyer Adams was the daughter of the Stratemeyer Syndicate's founder. The Stratemeyer Syndicate was one of the country's first book packagers (think Alloy Entertainment and its many book and TV series), creating well-known series and characters like the Bobbsey Twins, the Hardy Boys, and Nancy Drew, then passing off the writing of the books themselves to ghostwriters, who worked according to detailed plot outlines. Harriet and her sister Edna took over the Syndicate after their father died in 1930 and shepherded Nancy's early years while another writer, Mildred Wirt Benson, wrote most of the first 30 books in the series.
I came away from this book with admiration for Harriet and absolute awe for Mildred. They both worked hard to carve a place for themselves in a literary world still heavily dominated by men and men's taste, while still being very much women of their time. I got the feeling that Rehak liked Mildred a lot more than Harriet, and frankly, I did too. Harriet comes off as strong-willed, determined, intelligent, and successful, but also very much as a slightly vainglorious daughter of the upper class who fell prey to many of the prejudices common to that class and era. She went to one of the Seven Sisters colleges in a time when most women didn't even think of higher education, worked in the women's suffrage movement, took over her father's company and built it into a juggernaut that ran successfully for over 50 years, and fought hard to maintain the rights to a character she felt belonged to her alone. But she also wanted to use the Nancy Drew stories to push a very upper-class set of values, and failed to understand the seriousness of the racist and sometimes sexist content that led to a major overhaul of most of the early books in the series in the 1950s (the yellow spine hardcovers that most girls remember reading are these revised versions).
Mildred just seems like a badass. She was an accomplished swimmer and diver and excelled in college athletics, became one of the first women to graduate from the University of Iowa's graduate school of journalism, insisted on working after her marriage when middle-class women were expected to quit immediately, took flying lessons in her 50s, traveled the globe visiting archaeological digs well into her seventies, and was still writing a newspaper column up until her death at 97. Like I said, a badass. She sometimes found it hard to keep quiet about her role as "Carolyn Keane", especially in later years when it felt to her like Harriet was trying to claim all the credit. I imagine Mildred as being an incredibly forceful personality that you admired and respected even while she sometimes drove you crazy.
To wrap things up, I found Rehak's account of Nancy Drew's creators and their lives and times fascinating and hard to put down. I only have a few quibbles. I would have liked to see more attention paid to the books themselves, and maybe more from the point of view of girls who grew up with Nancy. I know the book is meant to be a biography focused on the two women, but if you didn't know about Nancy Drew you'd probably wonder why in the world such a big fuss was being taken over the authors of a children's mystery series. In later chapters she does go a bit more into the cultural impact the books had, but I would have liked more for the earlier stories, as well. I think maybe what I'm really wanting is a critical review of the Nancy Drew books, so maybe I'm looking in the wrong place for this and shouldn't fault Rehak. One other issue for me: the end notes are not very clearly labeled and organized, which sometimes makes it hard to track down her sources. Otherwise, I found this to be a fun read, worthwhile to anyone who's loved Nancy or is interested in the history of books for children.
sarahpottenger's review against another edition
4.0
This book is a blast for anyone who loved Nancy Drew as a kid. Some really great women shaped one of the most beloved characters in fiction.
I don't read a lot of nonfiction because I find it boring, frankly. Nonfiction writers aren't as good at storytelling as fiction writers. But I made an exception for this one, and I'm glad I did.
I don't read a lot of nonfiction because I find it boring, frankly. Nonfiction writers aren't as good at storytelling as fiction writers. But I made an exception for this one, and I'm glad I did.
msinformation's review against another edition
2.0
It took me too long to get through this book. I thought it was filled with too much non-essential information and I found myself skimming quite a few times. Other parts were very interesting as I loved Nancy Drew books as a girl.
tealmango's review against another edition
5.0
This book tells about the background of the Stratemeyer Syndicate, which was responsible for producing Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, the Bobbsey Twins, and many other childrens’ book series that were staples of my childhood. The syndicate worked by having ghost writers complete the books of each series in complete secrecy, so if the syndicate had to switch writers, the readers wouldn’t feel disloyal to the new author. This caused some tension between the writers and the owners of the syndicate, especially in the Nancy Drew series. The two main writers of the Nancy Drew books, Mildred Wirt Benson and Harriet Stratemeyer Adams (who was the daughter of the syndicate’s founder), fought for years over ownership of the massively popular series, which kept the syndicate afloat during some of the most difficult years in American history.
Despite all the infighting and family drama, both Mildred Wirt Benson and Harriet Stratemeyer Adams were women who worked hard and pressed beyond the boundaries of what was considered normal and appropriate for women of their time. Along with, of course, describing the origins of this extremely popular mystery series, Rehak also goes into detail about the women’s rights movement and how the authors of the Nancy Drew series–along with Nancy Drew herself–supported and participated in this movement. It was a fascinating read, and if, like me, you grew up reading Nancy Drew, you must read this book. It’s nostalgic but surprisingly pioneering and very well researched. Awesome!
Read more on my blog: http://newberyandbeyond.com/bringing-back-childhood-girl-sleuth-nancy-drew-women-created/
Despite all the infighting and family drama, both Mildred Wirt Benson and Harriet Stratemeyer Adams were women who worked hard and pressed beyond the boundaries of what was considered normal and appropriate for women of their time. Along with, of course, describing the origins of this extremely popular mystery series, Rehak also goes into detail about the women’s rights movement and how the authors of the Nancy Drew series–along with Nancy Drew herself–supported and participated in this movement. It was a fascinating read, and if, like me, you grew up reading Nancy Drew, you must read this book. It’s nostalgic but surprisingly pioneering and very well researched. Awesome!
Read more on my blog: http://newberyandbeyond.com/bringing-back-childhood-girl-sleuth-nancy-drew-women-created/
kedawen's review against another edition
4.0
I love that the history of Nancy Drew has a bit of mystery and intrigue in it, given how the pseudonym “Caroline Keene” encompassed at least 3 writers over the years. I had forgotten how much I loved these stories when I was young and just the names “George and Bess” and "Ned Nickerson" were enough to bring up memories of stories about hidden heirlooms, secret passageways and mysterious disappearances. All solved by a smart, brave young woman who I looked up to.
This book connected the events of the time Nancy Drew was conceived (wars, women's suffrage, the advent of radio and television) to the spirit of the young detective and it was a lot of fun to read. I look forward to seeing more by this author.
This book connected the events of the time Nancy Drew was conceived (wars, women's suffrage, the advent of radio and television) to the spirit of the young detective and it was a lot of fun to read. I look forward to seeing more by this author.
jlmb's review against another edition
2.0
I now know way more than I will ever need to about the company that created the Nancy Drew series. This subject would have made for a good long article in The New Yorker or Atlantic Monthly but as a 300 page book it really drags at times.