Nancy Drew Mysteries

[Granny_Weatherwax]

I am being wistful today. It's rainy here and the work crew is finally making progress on the kitchen remodel (although no drywall cutting due to the rain). I took a walk yesterday and picked up a copy of a ND mystery from one of the free little libraries. It was such fun to be able to sit, cuddled under a light blanket with the cat purring by my side reading a book from my youth.

I would love to be able to read all of the ND books especially the original books from the 1930s. Maybe it could be a reading challenge. Read all ND mysteries in order.

I have been looking on Ebay and other selling sites to research availability and costs. I don't think I'll be able to read all of them without spending money. Although trying to find them all, in order, for free would definitely make it more challenging.

Other books I wish I could read (and lament selling because I had complete sets) are the Cherry Ames and Trixie Belden books. I picked those up at garage sales and thrift stores in the 80s and thought they were wonderful reads.

[Ottakee]

I also had a huge set of the Bobsey Twins books 

[Beth S]

Back pre-Covid, these were commonly donated to our library, and were sold at our library's book sales.
I loved watching a new generation of kids pick them up & get drawn into a series.

Hoopladigital has lots of (modern-looking) ND on audiobook.

 

 

[ktgrok]

3 hours ago, The Accidental Coach said:

 

Other books I wish I could read (and lament selling because I had complete sets) are the Cherry Ames and Trixie Belden books. I picked those up at garage sales and thrift stores in the 80s and thought they were wonderful reads.

Trixie was my FAVORITE! And I loved the Cherry Ames books too! My mom was a nurse - still wearing the hat and everything, when i read those. 

2 hours ago, Ottakee said:

I also had a huge set of the Bobsey Twins books 

Yes! I also read the Happy Hollisters as well. 

[KungFuPanda]

I remember being crushed when I learned Caroline Keene wasn’t a person. I used to get those books from the bookmobile in elementary school. The librarian let me get extras. 
 

Does your library have them online as an e-Loan? I didn’t really do E-loans until the pandemic and I learned that my library loans books from about 3 different sources that I can borrow to my tablet. They also just started online reservations that you can pick up curbside. 

[mumto2]

I still have my collection of Nancy Drew’s, Cherry Ames, and Trixie Beldons.  I didn’t have all of them but collected many of the originals from a little used book store with my mom.  Great memories.......

[vonfirmath]

6 hours ago, The Accidental Coach said:

I am being wistful today. It's rainy here and the work crew is finally making progress on the kitchen remodel (although no drywall cutting due to the rain). I took a walk yesterday and picked up a copy of a ND mystery from one of the free little libraries. It was such fun to be able to sit, cuddled under a light blanket with the cat purring by my side reading a book from my youth.

I would love to be able to read all of the ND books especially the original books from the 1930s. Maybe it could be a reading challenge. Read all ND mysteries in order.

I have been looking on Ebay and other selling sites to research availability and costs. I don't think I'll be able to read all of them without spending money. Although trying to find them all, in order, for free would definitely make it more challenging.

Other books I wish I could read (and lament selling because I had complete sets) are the Cherry Ames and Trixie Belden books. I picked those up at garage sales and thrift stores in the 80s and thought they were wonderful reads.

I loved both of those (Cherry Ames and Trixie Belden) though I never had complete sets 😞

 

[katilac]

If you wanted the Hardy Boys, I could help you out. My (grown) kids will not get rid of them, lol. 

[Terabith]

I have fond memories of Nancy Drew, Cherry Ames, and Trixie Belden.  

[RootAnn]

My older sister  (and many years later, my oldest child) liked Trixie & read the Nancy Drews my mom saved. I enjoyed Cherry Ames. My mom gave some of the Cherry Ames books to my SIL.  I don't know what to do with the almost complete set of Trixie Belden books I have.

I'm more attached to my L.M. Montgomery set...

Edited July 16, 2020 by RootAnn
Autocorrect went wild on the last names

[katilac]

1 minute ago, RootAnn said:

 I don't know what to do with the almost complete set of Trixie Nelson books I have.

Complete it? 

[RootAnn]

14 minutes ago, katilac said:

Complete it? 

Lol! The two(ish) I'm missing are very rare & way too expensive for me. Only eldest enjoyed them & no one else reads them. Hoping one young niece will like them in a few years.

Now I'm going back to fix the wack autocorrect that I just noticed in my post...

[ktgrok]

11 hours ago, Seasider too said:

You would love my shelves. Old originals of ND, Trixie, Cherry Ames, Hardy Boys, Outdoor Girls. Some of the ND’s are very early 20th Century. The book jackets and inside cover art are lovely. 

Not all of them are original publishing runs, some are reprints, but they all are original language (not the mid and late century rewritten versions). I collected them years ago, and just did it over time, looking in every used bookstore I discovered, a few from eBay, some from thrift stores. Collecting them was fun, it was like treasure hunting. 

Now I think I’ll have to go read one. 

OH, I've never heard of the Outdoor Girls...but if you mention them in the same list as the others, I'm off to google!

9 hours ago, KungFuPanda said:

I remember being crushed when I learned Caroline Keene wasn’t a person. I used to get those books from the bookmobile in elementary school. The librarian let me get extras. 
 

 

Funny the memories attached! I was partway through the Trixie Belden series in third grade when the librarian realized they were above my grade level and stopped me at check out. She made me read a page aloud to her, and then gave me a special library pass that let me get into the library before the school opened in the morning, and at lunch time 🙂 That year I would go to the library first thing in the morning (when all the other kids were lined up outside the school waiting for the bell), get one and curl up in a comfy chair until I had to go to class. Then I'd read during class when I could get away with it, and during lunch, and at the end of lunch rush back to turn in the now finished book and get another one. I read two a day and went through the entire series three times. (well, all the ones they had). Which then triggered a call to my mom from my teacher to say I wasn't socializing enough in school and always had my head in a book. Sigh. 

8 hours ago, mumto2 said:

I still have my collection of Nancy Drew’s, Cherry Ames, and Trixie Beldons.  I didn’t have all of them but collected many of the originals from a little used book store with my mom.  Great memories.......

Ok, new goal. I'm going to start collecting!

7 hours ago, RootAnn said:

My older sister  (and many years later, my oldest child) liked Trixie & read the Nancy Drews my mom saved. I enjoyed Cherry Ames. My mom gave some of the Cherry Ames books to my SIL.  I don't know what to do with the almost complete set of Trixie Belden books I have.

I'm more attached to my L.M. Montgomery set...

Um, send it to me, obviously, lol. 

[J-rap]

Did anyone read the Dana Girls series?  That's the series I read by "Carolyn Keene."  They were about twin sisters who solved mysteries.  Apparently that series was never as popular as Nancy Drew!

[mumto2]

49 minutes ago, J-rap said:

Did anyone read the Dana Girls series?  That's the series I read by "Carolyn Keene."  They were about twin sisters who solved mysteries.  Apparently that series was never as popular as Nancy Drew!

I was able to read a few of those....I don’t think ever I owned any.  My mom had a friend who also had a daughter who loved to read and we would meet places and trade books. I think Dana Girls came to me via her.  Another one of my mom’s friends had an older daughter (in high school) who had the entire Nancy Drew series in yellow cover.......I collected brown and blue covers but read hers for the later books.  I think my covers stopped around book 30......

It was really fun to relive my obsession with Dd, although she didn’t love Cherry Ames 😉.  I reread Cherry Ames when she should have been!  Glad I kept them......now I am saving them for grandchildren!
 

For the less popular Stratemeyer series many used to be out there on Kindle free.....I know I have all the Bobsey Twins on my kindle for free.  Tom Swift is out there free too.  The recommendation program  used to be willing to take you to other series.  It was quite an adventure and I spent my evenings downloading books until I filled up my kindle.  My original reader was maybe second generation.  Yes, I did end up putting them all in my kindle account, hopefully they are still there!

https://www.lib.umd.edu/nancy/influential-authors/stratemeyer-syndicate      

https://daily.jstor.org/the-secret-syndicate-behind-nancy-drew/   

 

Edited July 16, 2020 by mumto2

[vonfirmath]

14 minutes ago, mumto2 said:

I was able to read a few of those....I don’t think ever I owned any.  My mom had a friend who also had a daughter who loved to read and we would meet places and trade books. I think Dana Girls came to me via her.  Another one of my mom’s friends had an older daughter (in high school) who had the entire Nancy Drew series in yellow cover.......I collected brown and blue covers but read hers for the later books.  I think my covers stopped around book 30......

It was really fun to relive my obsession with Dd, although she didn’t love Cherry Ames 😉.  I reread Cherry Ames when she should have been!  Glad I kept them......now I am saving them for grandchildren!
 

For the less popular Stratemeyer series many used to be out there on Kindle free.....I know I have all the Bobsey Twins on my kindle for free.  Tom Swift is out there free too.  The recommendation program  used to be willing to take you to other series.  It was quite an adventure and I spent my evenings downloading books until I filled up my kindle.  My original reader was maybe second generation.  Yes, I did end up putting them all in my kindle account, hopefully they are still there!

https://www.lib.umd.edu/nancy/influential-authors/stratemeyer-syndicate      

https://daily.jstor.org/the-secret-syndicate-behind-nancy-drew/   

 

We had Bobbsey Twins in my middle school library. I *loved* those books  (it was also the middle school librarian that clued me in to the syndicate thing)

I didn't know Tom Swift was part of the same group

[Harriet Vane]

I used to adore Nancy Drew--she was my first foray into mysteries, and I was hooked. I would be so frightened for her! 😆 I could hardly put those books down. Also loved the Dana girls. I read the Hardy Boys quite a bit as well, but I preferred to read girl detectives. 

@Ktgrok That is how I spent my school days as well--reading as much as I could get away with it. My sixth grade teacher knew that it was pretty miserable for me (due to bullying). I asked him once if I could just read during recess. He hesitated--no one was allowed to bring things outside (except jackets), and kids weren't allowed unsupervised indoors. Yet he chose to extend kindness to me and to trust me--his eyes met mine, and he told me carefully to just slip back inside and read quietly. He didn't have to say "hide" or "don't sit at your desk where everyone walking through the open classroom area can see you," but I knew that was what to do. It made such a difference in a deeply unhappy year. I have always been grateful to him.

There was another teacher at that same school who did similarly for me. I think she must have been a reading specialist? All I knew at the time was that she had shelves and shelves of tantalizing books in her tiny room, all with the covers face out. When I walked past her room I would slow down and try to look at those books from the hall. One day I gathered my courage and asked her about her books, and she invited me to take a closer look. And then, even more miraculously, she let me take one with the promise to bring it back when I finished it. I was ecstatic! I read that book within just a day or two and brought it right back and told her all that I thought about it. She was so encouraging! And she let me borrow her books as much as I wanted. I read her entire stash that year, and I so enjoyed talking to her about those wonderful stories.

[J-rap]

17 minutes ago, Harriet Vane said:

I used to adore Nancy Drew--she was my first foray into mysteries, and I was hooked. I would be so frightened for her! 😆 I could hardly put those books down. Also loved the Dana girls. I read the Hardy Boys quite a bit as well, but I preferred to read girl detectives. 

@Ktgrok That is how I spent my school days as well--reading as much as I could get away with it. My sixth grade teacher knew that it was pretty miserable for me (due to bullying). I asked him once if I could just read during recess. He hesitated--no one was allowed to bring things outside (except jackets), and kids weren't allowed unsupervised indoors. Yet he chose to extend kindness to me and to trust me--his eyes met mine, and he told me carefully to just slip back inside and read quietly. He didn't have to say "hide" or "don't sit at your desk where everyone walking through the open classroom area can see you," but I knew that was what to do. It made such a difference in a deeply unhappy year. I have always been grateful to him.

There was another teacher at that same school who did similarly for me. I think she must have been a reading specialist? All I knew at the time was that she had shelves and shelves of tantalizing books in her tiny room, all with the covers face out. When I walked past her room I would slow down and try to look at those books from the hall. One day I gathered my courage and asked her about her books, and she invited me to take a closer look. And then, even more miraculously, she let me take one with the promise to bring it back when I finished it. I was ecstatic! I read that book within just a day or two and brought it right back and told her all that I thought about it. She was so encouraging! And she let me borrow her books as much as I wanted. I read her entire stash that year, and I so enjoyed talking to her about those wonderful stories.

That's such a sweet story about your teachers letting you come back inside to read!  I loved, loved reading at that age too.  My mother would drop me off at my favorite place in the world -- the public library, every two weeks.  I'd spend about two hours there choosing around 8 books.  Then once I got home, I'd spend another long chunk of enjoyable time deciding on which order I'd read them.  Ahh, if life were only that simple today!  🙂 

[Granny_Weatherwax]

On 7/16/2020 at 7:20 AM, Ktgrok said:

OH, I've never heard of the Outdoor Girls...but if you mention them in the same list as the others, I'm off to google!  I had to Google, too.

Funny the memories attached! I was partway through the Trixie Belden series in third grade when the librarian realized they were above my grade level and stopped me at check out. She made me read a page aloud to her, and then gave me a special library pass that let me get into the library before the school opened in the morning, and at lunch time 🙂 That year I would go to the library first thing in the morning (when all the other kids were lined up outside the school waiting for the bell), get one and curl up in a comfy chair until I had to go to class. Then I'd read during class when I could get away with it, and during lunch, and at the end of lunch rush back to turn in the now finished book and get another one. I read two a day and went through the entire series three times. (well, all the ones they had). Which then triggered a call to my mom from my teacher to say I wasn't socializing enough in school and always had my head in a book. Sigh. 

This was me! I would sneak a book everywhere I went and read whenever possible. 

<snip>

 

[Granny_Weatherwax]

I grew up in a large city where the public library was downtown. We were extremely poor and never went to that part of the city so the only libraries I had access to were the school library and the Bookmobile. I loved the bookmobile and would check out as many books as the driver would allow.  I would ride my bike to the BM rendezvous site every week. Yes, alone as a young child. I had a book bag that I would wrap around the handle bars for balance. I remember one precarious journey - I was riding my red bike and wearing shorts, a t-shirt and black rain boots. A dog ran out of nowhere and chased me. Despite pedaling as quickly as I could it caught up and bit my leg through the rain boots. I made it to the Book Mobile and got my books but was unable to pedal home. Somehow someone called my mom and she came to pick me up and it was a trip to the military ER room for me. I did have books to read while I waited.

I remember the time one of my classes (I can't remember which grade) took a field trip to the main library downtown. It was breathtaking. The number of books in the children's section was the most I had ever seen. They even had a large guinea pig pen set up in one area.  It was a large glass case with three guinea pigs. I thought they were wonderful. We were only allowed to check out one book, though, and I remember the devastation of having to choose. I also remember learning the library had programs for children - puppet shows, reading hours, etc. I took the flyer home to my mom with childish excitement just to be told we could never go.