Behind the Books

[Anna]

Girl Sleuth Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her

Has anyone else read this book? It's full of cool information on the history of the serious and its creators and authors.

[Anna]

For example, did you know that the books have been updated periodically over the decades by different authors? The publisher hoped to keep the books current and modern.

I would love to read some of the original versions.

[Charmaine]

I've heard of that book. I'd love to read it! Sounds like it would be interesting! :-)

Yeah, I did hear about the different authors thing. It would definitely be cool to read the original versions of the stories!

[Katie]

yes! they r rly different-i like this website an it tells differeces-
http://nancydrewsleuth.com/

[Meredith]

Thank you!

[Brittany]

I have some of the orignal blue cover versions and then i have read the yellow cover ones and they are really different.

[Charmaine]

Wow, that's pretty interesting that the blue cover versions are really different from the yellow cover ones! I'd like to read some of those old ones someday.

iluvcatz, thanks for posting that website! :-)

[Meredith]

My friend has some blue cover ones and I didn't find them much different then the others. Maybe we are talking about DIFFERENT blue cover books!

[Brittany]

maybe it has to do with the story that they are talking about since maybe some are similar and some might not be.

[Briahna]

I've never seen blue covers! cool!!!

[Ashlee]

There were a group of people who wrote the original mystery stories! So cool. In 2003 though they stopped making the Original Mystery collection and started writing the Nancy Drew Files. For even younger readers though they created a Nancy Drew series where Nancy, Bess, and George are in Elementary school! It's definitely for a younger crowd. They also have a more modern version of Nancy Drew out now where she has a hybrid car and a cell phone, quite interesting. Look forward to reading them all, but I'm starting with the mystery stories (original) I grew up on them but was never able to finish them!

[Charmaine]

That's cool, Ashlee! Same with me - I started the original Nancy Drew books when I was younger but never got to finish them. I hope to change that. :-) I got distracted with other books, but I will go back to reading Nancy sometime this year. I've heard of al of those Nancy series that you mentioned! I actually did read some of the modern books (the ones where Nancy has a hybrid car & cell phone). Those are good but not as good as the originals. They are still fun to read, though. :-)

[Ashlee]

Besides the 1 or 2 "Nancy Drew Files" books I read, I've only read a handful of the Mystery Stories. I was thinking about it the other day, and I was surprised that I only read 12 books or so because from ages 9-10 that's ALL I did was read Nancy Drew before I started discovering other books as well that I enjoyed. After that I read a Nancy Drew book every 3 books or so. I try to keep in mind though that it took me 2-3 weeks to read just one book (wasn't all that fast of a reader then) and then it all makes sense. But nowadays I can sit down and blow through a 150 page Nancy Drew book in a couple of hours. Not that I have that kind of time with a 1 and 1/2 year old son and a 3 year old step daughter running around, but I do find little bits of time here and there to indulge in the story. I am excited to start reading the series again though because I'm very confident I'll be able to read them all (and much more quickly this time! haha) and then I want to move on and begin reading the Nancy Drew Files, and all the other variations of Nancy Drew books. I'm excited to begin reading the series with my step daughter when she's a little older. I want her to grow up with a love of reading just like I did. My son though I have to wait a little longer to start reading more concrete books with plots, but right now kiddy books work just fine! :)

[Charmaine]

I'm glad you have some time here and there to read books, Ashlee. :-) I hope your son and step daughter will both grow up to enjoy reading books. <3

Yes, when I was younger I didn't really read the Nancy Drew books fast. I can even remember starting one Nancy Drew book and not finishing it because I lost interest and moved on to another book. It's stranger that I have a greater appreciation of the Nancy books now that I am older! :-O I too want to read the whole series and check out the Nancy Drew files. My university library has most or all of the Nancy Drew series, including some Nancy Drew files. XD I was surprised to see them there, and so many!

Did you enjoy the Nancy Drew files that you read so far? :-)

[Ashlee]

Wow, sounds like we have a lot of similarities, Charmaine. :)

That's funny that your university library has them! I haven't been to the kid section of my library since I volunteered there 4 years ago or so, even though I visit the library often. I'll have to check them out after I read all the books I have in my personal collection. It's my ultimate goal to collect all the original yellow-covered mystery stories and then the Nancy Drew Files. I LOVED the few that I did read, and of course as a kid some of the crooks in the story used to be really creepy, and now as an adult I'm not really 'scared' like I used to be while reading them. But I still get the same thrill that I did when I was 9. I love the details, and when Nancy plans to go sleuthing, and all the tender things she does to help others. Absolutely love them all! I'm reading "The Clue of the Dancing Puppet" right now, and then I'm starting at 1 and working my way through. :) What about you, are you enjoying your Nancy Drew reading so far? Which one are you on?

[Charmaine]

Ha ha! Yes, Ashlee, it does sound like we have some similarities. :-) Your Nancy Drew experience reminds me a lot about my own experience with those books. :-) Unfortunately I am not reading any Nancy Drew books at the moment, because I have a big pile of books to finish first! But once those are done, I definitely want to pick up the next Nancy Drew book I have to read. The next one I'm going to read is the Quest of the Missing Map. :-)

Hey, it's so cool that you volunteered at the library at the kids section! I am planning on doing the same thing when I have some time off in the next year or so. Working in a library is one of my dreams, and I'm hoping to get a taste of it by volunteering over there to help out with the kids and/or to help with shelving books or something. :-)

[Ashlee]

I'm the same way. I have 30 books or so on my to read list, and quite a few of them I was hoping to read by the end of this year. I'm on book 32 out of 35 I want to read this year. Once I achieve my goal I'll take it slower and read a Nancy Drew book every few books. Nowadays if I read too much by one particular author, I grow bored, and I don't want that to happen to me with the Nancy Drew series, so I figure if I read 2-3 a month I won't get tired of the series and I'll still be working on my goal of steadily reading all the books!

I volunteered at my local library in general, not just the kids section (I should've clarified!) but I did spend some time in the kids section shelving books. I especially enjoy the story-time in the evenings. I love that I have little ones now and I can take them! I loved working in the library, but unfortunately when I was volunteering there I was going through a phase where I wasn't really reading, but rather working on homework. I was a computer monitor so I sat in a desk for hours until someone asked for my help. I moved up to a book shelving position and enjoyed that for a while, but it really does get tedious to find the exact spot to put books and all the up and down I did on the step stools. I miss it though. I think when I'm older and retired I'd like to volunteer again. Being around books all day sounds like a dream come true now!

[[deleted user]]

I have a goal to read at least up to # 35 by January 1,2012 and they read about 25 other books

[Charmaine]

Wow, I hope you'll reach your goal, Sierra. :-) I'm hoping to reach up to book 30 by new years day, but I'm mainly just reading the whole classic series in general. Not sure when I'll finish them all. :-)

[[deleted user]]

thanks

[Ashlee]

Next year I'd like to read them all too. Not just the originals but the branch of ones also. I've only read 15 or so of the original mystery stories. :)

[Charmaine]

Me too, Ashlee! I've read a couple of the "Nancy Drew: Girl Detective" series (the latest Nancy books) and want to finish those as well. :-)