Fancy Nancy Drew

So tonight I'm hanging out with my daughter. Our entire house has been sucked into the strange and awful flu zone (some of us have flu, some strep, all tired). Anyway, we're talking about girls at school, books in class, and life in general. She calls herself "Curious Georgette" lately, which is pretty cute, especially when she smirks at me when she says it.

Then she drops the A-bomb: she's reading Nancy Drew in school. My heart stops. Nancy? Fancy Nancy? DREW?!

I know it's not that unusual. Most pre-teen girls dabble in the Drew at least once in their lives; and have been since the 1930s. But my daughter's admission sent my head reeling. Of course that could have been the Nyquil, too.

Nancy Drew for me–only child, library dweller, and mystery nut–was sheer salvation. Anytime I was sick as a child, Nancy was my best company. At age 7, I remember being stuck inside with a fever, reading The Secret of the Old Clock. I scribbled something on the inside cover saying so. I still have that book.

Here are three editions of Secret of the Old Clock. Mine looked like the one in the middle.

Was it possible that some thirty-five years later, my daughter had been reading Nancy Drew when she was sick, too? Yes! Sure, she was reading  Nancy Drew #946 or something, an updated tale, like Movie Mystery Mega-Madness. But still. She knew Ned Nickerson. Imagine that!

Somehow, across time, my daughter and I have been connected again by books. We did it with Pooh. And Jam for Frances. And those ducklings in Boston Common.

And now, how so like Nancy, to show up and save the day. Tomorrow, I am going down to the basement to pull out my old copy of Secret in the Old Clock, the book I held in my hot (literally, hot with fever) little hands back in 1974.

I will now pass it on to my own budding detective, my very own Curious Georgette. Nancy lives!

Hey, before I sign off, I'm just wondering: 

What do you like/not like about Nancy Drew books? What's the best mystery you ever read?

Drop me a note. I'd love to use this blog as a place to answer questions and address comments & thoughts from readers. Thanks for taking the time to check in!