A review by ovvlish
Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her by Melanie Rehak

4.0

I think the greatest value of this book is in its final chapters, which explain how the two women who had the most influence in creating the classic Nancy Drew of the 30s, 40s, and 50s ended their lives somewhat mired in the general public's confusion over who Carolyn Keene was. The entire book is a delightful read and gives a glimpse of what life was like for two different classes of women throughout the 20th century. But I think that for those interested in Nancy Drew, it explains so much more about the origins of the character, why my generation was still reading her as kids in the 90s despite her age, and I think it really lays out, finally and more completely, "who" Carolyn Keene was for those first, classic stories. It also is a really important and fascinating study of the way publishing, especially for children, has evolved since the late 19th century. It has a few vaguely trite arguments with regards to women's rights/history, etc, but the entire thing is well-organized and illuminating, and the general feeling of it is that of appreciating what iconic figures like Nancy Drew can do for not just one but several generations of people, and in this case girls and women.