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eggjen's review against another edition
This just simply wasn't the book I wanted it to be. I loved Eating for Beginners so much but this didn't have that same fantastic wit that I'd grown to love in EFB and the book was much more about feminism and women's suffrage than it was about Nancy Drew - not an uninteresting topic, just not what I'd been hoping to read and ultimately it felt more like that stodgy traditional "nonfiction" that I was forced to read in school.
susanj212's review against another edition
Its interesting, I just can't get into non fiction now
book_concierge's review against another edition
3.0
This is an interesting look at this phenomenon in children's literature. In places it's so dry, I was left wondering if it was a Master's thesis.
zmull's review against another edition
3.0
I got this mostly for the publishing angle. Being both a pop music fan and a comics fan, work-for-hire tales of woe are particular favorites of mine. Girl Sleuth has some elements of that toward the end as the two old ladies most responsible for Nancy Drew very politely dis each other for claiming more than their share of the legacy. It seems, more than a behind the scenes look at series publishing, the author wanted to paint Nancy and her creators into the greater feminist movement of the 20th century. I'm not sure that I buy Nancy Drew's pervasive influence on several generations of progressive women. Maybe Nancy's a stronger rallying point than I realize, but the case certain wasn't made for me by the book. Still, it's interesting for its glimpses behind the pseudonym.
shoelessmama's review against another edition
informative
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
3.75
I cut my reading teeth on old copies of Nancy Drew that had belonged to my mother and grandmother. I vividly remember noticing, even as a child, inconsistencies in the stories (Nancy's hair color, her car being called a roadster or a convertible and the color changing among other details). Because my copies were a range of originals and rewrites even Nancy's character had variation. I loved Nancy regardless. Even with these changes there is a through-line that makes Nancy Nancy. Over the years I have read more about "Carolyn Keene" and Nancy. There were many things I already knew going into this book, but this contained much more detail.
The best thing about this book was seeing the influence culture had on Nancy and Nancy on culture even while the authors strove to make Nancy timeless. Nancy is both timeless and of her time. For fans of Nancy Drew this will be an interesting commentary on the scope of the 20th century through the lens of the Nancy Drew books. I think if Nancy Drew has impacted your life you'll be able to see that, and if she hasn't this book has little to offer.
The best thing about this book was seeing the influence culture had on Nancy and Nancy on culture even while the authors strove to make Nancy timeless. Nancy is both timeless and of her time. For fans of Nancy Drew this will be an interesting commentary on the scope of the 20th century through the lens of the Nancy Drew books. I think if Nancy Drew has impacted your life you'll be able to see that, and if she hasn't this book has little to offer.
alesehunter's review
Can’t stay focused on this one, may try again at a later date.
janetll's review against another edition
3.0
As a child I had found the original Nancy Drews in my grandmother's basement. They had belonged to my aunt and my mother, and I read through them eagerly. When my grandmother died my mother gave me the books, and when my kids, a girl and boy, were probably 6 and 4, or 7 and 5, I began reading the books to them and we went through "all" of the original series, replacing a few that were missing with the "updated" versions.
I really love Nancy Drew, her "skillful" driving, perfection, her knack for finding or receiving the needed clue or confession at just the right time, and even her motherlessness included. The kids and I would remark, "How handy!" when things worked out just right yet again for Nancy.
I guess I didn't love this book about Nancy because it was more about the women who wrote her and the times during which they wrote - which was from the 1930s until the early 2000s and so a huge time period. Still it was enjoyable and informative enough and maybe most importantly it did nothing to diminish my Nancy love.
And I'm saving it for my daughter and my mother, just like the Nancys.
I really love Nancy Drew, her "skillful" driving, perfection, her knack for finding or receiving the needed clue or confession at just the right time, and even her motherlessness included. The kids and I would remark, "How handy!" when things worked out just right yet again for Nancy.
I guess I didn't love this book about Nancy because it was more about the women who wrote her and the times during which they wrote - which was from the 1930s until the early 2000s and so a huge time period. Still it was enjoyable and informative enough and maybe most importantly it did nothing to diminish my Nancy love.
And I'm saving it for my daughter and my mother, just like the Nancys.
sjgrodsky's review against another edition
4.0
Very enjoyable history of Edward Stratemeyer, his daughters Harriet and Edna, and, most engagingly, Mildred Wirt, the Iowa-born journalist who wrote many of the early Nancy Drew books from plot outlines developed by by the Stratemeyers.
Like most histories, the author tells the story her source material allows her to tell. This means that she focuses on Harriet Stratmeyer especially in great detail.
It means that she doesn't pose or attempt to answer many other questions, which I would have done. For example who exactly read the Nancy Drew mysteries? What age range, what portion of that demographic? Were there fan clubs? What were the common themes in the fan mail received? Why are series books (which are so popular among children) rarely found in libraries? Why do experts in children's literature malign series books?
The author asserts that Nancy Drew was a role model of self-confident assertiveness for her readers. I don't think I saw her as someone I could emulate when I was a reader. Her world of wealthy, ultra white, WASP privilege was so far from my own that she seemed a fantasy, not a role model. Surely I am not the only reader who felt this way.
Despite these criticisms, there is a lot of good story in this book. And there are some wonderful illustrations. First, the set of three book covers, showing how Nancy's clothing and hairstyle changed over the years.
Second, there are two photographs of the women who most shaped Nancy. One shows Harriet as a Wellesley student, wearing about 50 pounds of clothing: skirt, jacket, gloves, high-necked blouse, hat, staid expression.
And on the facing page: Mildred the Iowa daredevil. She's shown in profile, arms outstretched, diving from a great height into the Iowa River. Just one of her adventures from her University of Iowa days. Always the adventuress, always the hard-working journalist, who put in a full day at her newspaper, then died at home at the age of 96.
If there's a role model in this story, it's Mildred.
Like most histories, the author tells the story her source material allows her to tell. This means that she focuses on Harriet Stratmeyer especially in great detail.
It means that she doesn't pose or attempt to answer many other questions, which I would have done. For example who exactly read the Nancy Drew mysteries? What age range, what portion of that demographic? Were there fan clubs? What were the common themes in the fan mail received? Why are series books (which are so popular among children) rarely found in libraries? Why do experts in children's literature malign series books?
The author asserts that Nancy Drew was a role model of self-confident assertiveness for her readers. I don't think I saw her as someone I could emulate when I was a reader. Her world of wealthy, ultra white, WASP privilege was so far from my own that she seemed a fantasy, not a role model. Surely I am not the only reader who felt this way.
Despite these criticisms, there is a lot of good story in this book. And there are some wonderful illustrations. First, the set of three book covers, showing how Nancy's clothing and hairstyle changed over the years.
Second, there are two photographs of the women who most shaped Nancy. One shows Harriet as a Wellesley student, wearing about 50 pounds of clothing: skirt, jacket, gloves, high-necked blouse, hat, staid expression.
And on the facing page: Mildred the Iowa daredevil. She's shown in profile, arms outstretched, diving from a great height into the Iowa River. Just one of her adventures from her University of Iowa days. Always the adventuress, always the hard-working journalist, who put in a full day at her newspaper, then died at home at the age of 96.
If there's a role model in this story, it's Mildred.