About Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew

[Testimony]

I just discovered that the authors of these two books series are not the authors.

 

In other words, it says on the book that the author of the Hardy Boys mysteries is Frank W. Dixon, but that is a made up name. Frank W. Dixon does not exist. It's a pen name. It says that the author of the Nancy Drew mysteries is Carolyn Keene. That is a made up name. The author of these series is several authors. These authors belong to a group called the Stratemeyer Syndicate. The organization hired writers to write stories from an outline. So, the true authors of these stories are unknown.

 

Did anyone else know this? This is news to me.

 

Blessings,

Karen

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/testimony

[BillieBoy]

:001_huh:

[gingersmom]

I knew that. I heard that many years ago.

 

I liked them as a kid but could not get my children interested in reading them.

[Word Nerd]

I just discovered that the authors of these two books series are not the authors.

 

In other words, it says on the book that the author of the Hardy Boys mysteries is Frank W. Dixon, but that is a made up name. Frank W. Dixon does not exist. It's a pen name. It says that the author of the Nancy Drew mysteries is Carolyn Keene. That is a made up name. The author of these series is several authors. These authors belong to a group called the Stratemeyer Syndicate. The organization hired writers to write stories from an outline. So, the true authors of these stories are unknown.

 

Did anyone else know this? This is news to me.

 

Blessings,

Karen

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/testimony

 

Yes, I knew that when I read them as a teen, but I don't remember where I heard it.

[KellyGirl]

A librarian explained that to us about a year ago (about the Hardy Boys) when my son was talking about how he likes the older ones better than the newer ones... otherwise, I never would have known.

[In The Great White North]

Yes. There's actually a book about the authors of the Nancy Drews.

 

 

http://www.amazon.com/Girl-Sleuth-Nancy-Women-Created/dp/015603056X/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1249855772&sr=8-13

 

It also talks about how the series was "updated" over the years.

[Melissa in FL]

Sorta true. According to Leslie McFarlane's daughter, Norah Perez, he wrote the first 21 books in the Hardy Boys series. According to wikipedia he wrote 19 of the first 25 and then wrote 2 more after that. I was just talking to Norah earlier this month (we are related, a fact my 12 yr old boy loves to tell people) and she was very firm that the first 21 were written by her dad. I've always felt there was a change to the feel after the first 20 and a different author makes sense. The new or revised Hardy boys are all PC and IMHO not as good. If any of you ever get a chance to buy Norah Perez' books at a second hand store, I highly recommend it. She is an excellent writer of historic fiction, but her books are no longer published.

HTH

Melissa

[EKS]

Yup.

[tex-mex]

I knew that. I heard that many years ago.

 

I liked them as a kid but could not get my children interested in reading them.

 

Yup. Knew that a while back. Loved the books! My son, however, hates them. Oh well?

 

(BTW: I also loved reading the Three Investigators series -- Alfred Hitchcock. Those were also churned out by nameless drones for a company under Hitchcock's name.)

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Investigators

Edited August 10, 2009 by tex-mex

[OrganicAnn]

The first group of Nancy Drew was also written by one person and then later was written by others. I can't remember her name, but she wrote many series of books featuring a girl protagonist.

 

I heard a story about ghost writers on the radio the other day. We might be surprised how many books even today are written by ghost writers.

[gardening momma]

The first group of Nancy Drew was also written by one person and then later was written by others. I can't remember her name, but she wrote many series of books featuring a girl protagonist.

Wikipedia says

Stratemeyer accordingly began writing plot outlines and hired Mildred Wirt, later Mildred Wirt Benson, to ghostwrite the first volumes in the series under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene.[25] Subsequent titles have been written by a number of different ghostwriters, all under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene.

 

The Syndicate was able to enlist the cooperation of libraries in hiding the ghostwriters' names; when Walter Karig, who wrote volumes 8 through 10 of the original Nancy Drew Mystery Stories, tried to claim rights with the Library of Congress in 1933, the Syndicate instructed the Library of Congress not to reveal the names of any Nancy Drew authors, a move with which the Library of Congress complied.[33]

The Syndicate's process for creating the Nancy Drew books consisted of creating a detailed plot outline, drafting a manuscript, and editing the manuscript. Edward Stratemeyer and his daughters Harriet Adams and Edna Stratemeyer Squier wrote most of the outlines for the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories until 1979. Volume 30, The Clue of the Velvet Mask (1953), was outlined by Andrew Svenson. Usually, other writers wrote the manuscripts. Most of the early volumes were written by Mildred Wirt Benson. Other volumes were written by Walter Karig, George Waller, Jr., Margaret Scherf, Wilhelmina Rankin, Alma Sasse, Charles Strong, Iris Vinton,[34] and Patricia Doll. Edward Stratemeyer edited the first three volumes, and Harriet Adams edited most subsequent volumes until her death in 1982. In 1959, the earlier titles were revised, largely by Adams.[35] From the late 1950s until her death in 1982, Harriet Adams herself wrote the manuscripts for most of the books.[36]

[gardening momma]

Gah! I've been reading on Wiki about the changes made in the Nancy Drew books. I have some of the older ones, but they're among the revised ones. I don't have the original original books. :glare:

[nmoira]

 

Sorta true. According to Leslie McFarlane's daughter, Norah Perez, he wrote the first 21 books in the Hardy Boys series. According to wikipedia he wrote 19 of the first 25 and then wrote 2 more after that.

Leslie was also the father of Brian McFarlane, of "Hockey Night in Canada." :) I remember an interview with Brian in which he described his father's disappointment in the dumbing down of his books. They've since republished the originals if I'm not mistaken?

[Testimony]

I also found out that the Bobbsey Twins series is apart of the same syndicate of writers.

 

Here's my question: Would you consider these books living books?

 

Thanks,

Karen

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/testimony

[Joaly]

My daughter just began reading the Nancy Drew books this summer. We discovered that there had to be more than one author, because she has found many discrepancies in the books - such as descriptions of Nancy - one says she has blonde hair, blue eyes, another says she has red hair, etc.

[Chris in VA]

I don't consider them living books, but I don't think a little candy now and then is a bad thing. They are certainly better than a lot of other books for tweens out there!

[fivetails]

I think I heard that somewhere before... about the various authors, I mean..

 

I've never read any of the "old" Nancy Drew books, but I remember liking the "Files" ones from the 80's...

[Garga]

Here's my question: Would you consider these books living books?

 

 

No. Living books are more about true events and true people. Like a really good biography of Abraham Lincoln.

 

These sorts of books are more in the general "literature" category. They're more for fun. They're not the highest caliber of literature (you'd need to read stuff by some classic authors--like Dickens or Stevenson or Kipling or something) but they're fun.

 

They are also somewhat educational just to see how people used to live in the somewhat recent past. And the kids are usually very good, so they're nice examples of kids having good traits.

[gardening momma]

My daughter just began reading the Nancy Drew books this summer. We discovered that there had to be more than one author, because she has found many discrepancies in the books - such as descriptions of Nancy - one says she has blonde hair, blue eyes, another says she has red hair, etc.

Wiki says that the change to red hair was the result of a printing error on the cover of one of the volumes. It was very well received, so they changed the description of her hair to strawberry blonde or titan. I remember reading her hair described as titan, but I have some book covers that picture her with blonde hair. All of my books are post-1959, though, the date that they began the revisions.

[OhM]

The first group of Nancy Drew was also written by one person and then later was written by others. I can't remember her name, but she wrote many series of books featuring a girl protagonist.

 

I heard a story about ghost writers on the radio the other day. We might be surprised how many books even today are written by ghost writers.

 

Here's an interesting article about Millie Benson, who wrote the first 23 books. She was a Toledo Blade columnist.

[ElizabethB]

I liked Nancy Drew growing up, I recently re-read a few, trying to figure out when/if to read them to my children and when my daughter could read them on her own.

 

The first 2 or 3 were written in quite a different tone than the later ones...Nancy was not as nice and she lied several times in the first few original ones. The rest were pretty good, OK for light reading, but not really quality literature--they're quality for a series, but not for literature.

[HRAAB]

I wouldn't consider Nancy Drew a living book. Nonetheless, I loved those books as a girls. I have around 60 of them from the 1960s to early 1970s. All my girls have enjoyed them, and I have a lot of fun remembering those afternoons spent with a new Nancy Drew book. I also loved the Happy Hollister series. Those were some of the first chapter books my dad read to me.

 

I believe in moderation; a little junk food won't hurt.

 

Janet

[gardening momma]

Where else do you get to read about someone using a charge plate? (unless they updated that too)