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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.
littlelady_28's review against another edition
4.0
I liked this book a lot. Descriptive and entertaining yet very informative on both the women and the time period the books were written in. I give it an A.
jdlewis99's review against another edition
5.0
Great look into the company that created Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, and many other children's series that lasted decades.
bethanymplanton's review against another edition
5.0
Girl Sleuth is an excellent biography about the two women who brought Nancy Drew to life. Rehak takes the reader of how Nancy Drew evolved from her creation in the roaring 20s/Depression to present day. Be careful. After reading this biography, you will want to read all your favorite Nancy Drew Mysteries again.
jamiehatch4488's review against another edition
3.0
I was interesting to find out how Nancy Drew came about
emily_baldwin's review against another edition
4.0
4.5* - lots of great historical information along with the surprisingly complex story surrounding the creation and guardianship of Nancy Drew and other titles such as The Hardy Boys.
robnobody's review against another edition
This of course goes along with my whole love of "esoteric history" books. I found the whole process behind which the Nancy Drew books -- and the Hardy Boys, Bobbsey Twins, etc. -- were created and published fascinating. We tend to think about books and their characters being the result of a single author's work, maybe later to be expanded upon by other authors in what are often considered "not the REAL" stories. But that's not how these books worked at all, which were really created by committee in a lot of ways, and have been handed off from hand to hand while maintaining a consistent authorial "face." This of course necessitates those who DID work on those stories to have a different sort of relationship with them than authors who more fully "own" their creations. It's also an interesting look into a genre that is too often sidelined or snubbed as not "real" literature, but can be much more influential than people often think: the juvenile series. These can often be kids' first introduction to "real" reading beyond, say, picture books, and due to their open-ended, ongoing natures (unlike planned finite series like Harry Potter) kids can grow up reading them and still have new ones to share with THEIR kids.
Also, Nancy kicks ass.
Also, Nancy kicks ass.