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A review by theresidentbookworm
Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her by Melanie Rehak
5.0
Here's my dirty little secret: I was never into Nancy Drew mysteries. I was ten or eleven by the time I read the first one, and I was already beyond that reading level. I've never been one for mysteries, and after the first four I figured out the formula to the books. Needless to say, I didn't finish the series. Still, when I spotted this at Bargain Books for a ridiculously low price, I had to get it. Regardless of my opinion of her, Nancy Drew is a part of literary history.
I was more enthralled with the history of Nancy Drew than I ever was with her mysteries. Melanie Rehak takes you from the late 1800s when Edward Stratemeyer, the founder of the Startemeyer Syndicate, was born to 2002 when Mildred Wirt Benson, original ghostwriter of Nancy Drew, dies. This is not just a history of Nancy Drew and the women who created her as the title proclaims. It is a history of the women in America: their struggle to earn the vote, their adventures in the '20s, their emergence in the workforce during World War II, and their renewed interest in women's rights in the 1960s. It is also a history of juvenile fiction publishing, how the market worked, and how the Startmeyer Syndicate operated. I found all of this extremely fascinating. I knew Nancy Drew was written by various authors, but I didn't know much else. Two women are key to Nancy: Mildred Wirt Benson and Harriet Startemyer Adams. Of the two, I preferred Mildred. She was spunky, hardworking, and unwilling to compromise Nancy's independent spirit. I was interested in hearing about the University of Iowa's journalism bachelor degree and how it got started. As a writer, I felt frustration along with Mildred when she didn't get the credit due to her. I liked Mildred so much I was mad when I read that her second husband died. I thought to myself, "How many times can a kickass woman like that be widowed?" Still, Harriet did play a crucial rule in Nancy Drew's history, and I have to give her props for running a company at a time where it was taboo for a married mother to work. She guarded her father's work and his company fiercely, which is admirable no matter what you think of her management skills.
I enjoyed Girl Sleuth much more than I thought I would. I definitely recommend, and I just might have to go back to the original 1930s Nancy Drews for a reread. Maybe I'll see her differently now.
I was more enthralled with the history of Nancy Drew than I ever was with her mysteries. Melanie Rehak takes you from the late 1800s when Edward Stratemeyer, the founder of the Startemeyer Syndicate, was born to 2002 when Mildred Wirt Benson, original ghostwriter of Nancy Drew, dies. This is not just a history of Nancy Drew and the women who created her as the title proclaims. It is a history of the women in America: their struggle to earn the vote, their adventures in the '20s, their emergence in the workforce during World War II, and their renewed interest in women's rights in the 1960s. It is also a history of juvenile fiction publishing, how the market worked, and how the Startmeyer Syndicate operated. I found all of this extremely fascinating. I knew Nancy Drew was written by various authors, but I didn't know much else. Two women are key to Nancy: Mildred Wirt Benson and Harriet Startemyer Adams. Of the two, I preferred Mildred. She was spunky, hardworking, and unwilling to compromise Nancy's independent spirit. I was interested in hearing about the University of Iowa's journalism bachelor degree and how it got started. As a writer, I felt frustration along with Mildred when she didn't get the credit due to her. I liked Mildred so much I was mad when I read that her second husband died. I thought to myself, "How many times can a kickass woman like that be widowed?" Still, Harriet did play a crucial rule in Nancy Drew's history, and I have to give her props for running a company at a time where it was taboo for a married mother to work. She guarded her father's work and his company fiercely, which is admirable no matter what you think of her management skills.
I enjoyed Girl Sleuth much more than I thought I would. I definitely recommend, and I just might have to go back to the original 1930s Nancy Drews for a reread. Maybe I'll see her differently now.