by

A to Z Challenge: Fictional Favorites, Day 14

N is for — Nancy Drew, from the Nancy Drew Mysteries by Carolyn Keene

I first discovered Nancy Drew when I was nine years old. My mom had eight of the old titles on the shelf, having enjoyed them, herself, when she was a youngster. I picked up The Secret of the Old Clock, the first book in the series, and was immediately drawn into the mystery and excitement of a missing will, a trail of clues, and a frightening encounter with a gang of robbers. From there, I read every Nancy Drew book I could get my hands on, eventually reading all the way up through the first fifty-six Grosset and Dunlap editions.

Nancy Drew has only grown in popularity, engendering many spin-offs for varying age groups, such as the Nancy Drew Files, Nancy Drew Notebooks, Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew, and Nancy Drew Girl Detective, to name a few, along with crossover titles with those detective brothers, the Hardy Boys. There’ve been movies, a TV series, (which I also loved), and now computer games, which my daughter loves (and I find fun, too!). My daughter is following in my footsteps and working her way through the original series from the beginning, and she’s read some of the other series, as well.

That’s what I like most about Nancy Drew — my family has solved mysteries along with her for three generations, and will hopefully continue to do so for many more.

Pamela Sue Martin as Nancy Drew in The Hardy Boys / Nancy Drew Mysteries, 1977-1979

Pamela Sue Martin as Nancy Drew in
The Hardy Boys / Nancy Drew Mysteries, 1977-1979

N_NancyDrew_SecretOldClock

N_NancyDrew_8Books

32 thoughts on “A to Z Challenge: Fictional Favorites, Day 14”

  4. I LOVED Nancy Drew growing up. LIke you, I inheritted them from my mom (Secret of the Old Clock included) She also gave me her brother’s Hardy Boys collections. Because of Nancy Drew I gained an affinity for the night (more time for undisturbed reading! woot!) and a great love of the mystery genre in literature and television. I’ve read a bunch of her spin off series, but I can’t bring myself to watch her on the screen. I have an idol of her in my heart that I don’t want replaced by someone else’s vision. A perfect little pocket of my childhood that I’ll forever cherish.

    Like

    Reply

  6. I’ve never read Nancy Drew myself – but I recently catalogued an omnibus which had been donated to Glasgow Women’s Library for the use of the Brownie pack which meets there. So she’s still going strong!

    Like

    Reply

  12. Nancy Drew was fantastic! My mom gave me The Secret of the Old Clock, and then I read many of the others. It’s great to see her still going strong. I learned everything about mystery from her. I wanted to be a detective, too. 🙂

    Like

    Reply

  14. Nancy Drew!!!! I adored her when I was young; plus Famous Five and Hardy Boys and any horror stories I could get my hands on. I think your header rocks. (The castle/cathedral one. Kinda freaked me out when it changed! lol)
    Lexa Cain’s Blog

    Like

    Reply

  16. I see a lot of interesting content on your blog. You have
    to spend a lot of time writing, i know how to save you a lot of time,
    there is a tool that creates unique, SEO friendly articles
    in couple of minutes, just type in google
    – k2 unlimited content

    Like

    Reply

  17. I read a lot of interesting articles here. Probably you spend a lot
    of time writing, i know how to save you a
    lot of work, there is an online tool that creates
    readable, google friendly articles in seconds, just search in google – laranitas free content source

    Like

    Reply

  18. Pingback: A to Z 2015 Theme Reveal: More Fictional Favorites! | Writing, Reading, and the Pursuit of Dreams

  19. Pingback: A to Z Challenge: More Fictional Favorites! Day 20: Trixie Belden from The Trixie Belden Mysteries | Writing, Reading, and the Pursuit of Dreams

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.