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