Nancy Drew on Good Morning America

On Monday of this week, I heard from a producer at Good Morning America (ABC) that they were doing a piece on Nancy Drew. With many famous women being inspired by Nancy Drew, they were trying to get to the bottom of that phenomenon. They wanted to see if I would be interested in being interviewed and have my collection be filmed, provide book covers and so forth.

And they wanted to come Tuesday morning ;) Of course, I was thrilled and happy that most of my collection was already set up still so I didn't have to get out a lot of extra things. I have a lot of misc. items like novelties and hand crafted items and paper ephemera that aren't displayed as I really don't have a great way right now to do so, so a lot of that is boxed up. Some of my books are boxed too and the books/series by Mildred Wirt Benson are stored.

2 freelance guys--Travis and Charlie--came out to film. One filmed, the other was the sound tech. They spent about an hour setting up the equipment--lots of cables, cameras, lights, and stuff! Then GMA called in on speaker phone fed to me through an ear piece hidden by my hair and I spoke to the producer for about 15 minutes answering questions. I had to look off camera at the sound guy so I wouldn't look directly at the camera. They put me on this bar stool so the camera angle was kind of from below which is in my opinion not too flattering ;) In one segment my right side of my nose looks larger than my left. Uggh :)

After the interview, they filmed some of the books in the collection. They had me pull some that Sonia Sotomayor might have read as a child which I narrowed down by her age and when she'd have been around 8 and then determined the first 42 to 43 books would have been available during her reading years.

I also read a passage from one of the books and some quotes from my book which never made it to air. I was filmed walking to my shelves and picking some books off the shelf and thumbing through them. Thumbing through them while standing at a table--some of that made it in. And filmed coming down the stairs as he filmed my Staircase painting at the same time.

I had the large felt banner with the black silhouette of Nancy we've used at past Nancy Drew conventions hanging and they imposed that in the piece over some book covers. They also filmed the orange silhouette endpapers which they used to impose over the White House.

They had me send them some images of villains and Nancy and those made it in. I also sent them images of Mildred and Harriet which they didn't use. All in all they filmed for nearly 2 hours for what you can see goes into a small 3 minute or so segment. Lots to work with. Lots left on the cutting floor.

It was a nice experience and I had a lot of fun doing it!

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Fans in Arizona!

Our local Nancy Drew Sleuths members have set up a Nancy Drew book discussion group at the Barnes & Noble store at the Chandler Fashion Mall every other month. Our next meeting is August 22nd, Saturday at 1pm. Join us! Anyone can come, not just official Sleuth members. Visit our Nancy Drew Sleuths website!

We'll be discussing Nancy Drew collecting, history, and the fourth book in the series--The Mystery at Lilac Inn.

Jenn:)

5 Things We've Learned From Nancy Drew

My piece on Nancy Drew just got published in the Arizona Republic! It's a short piece entitled "5 Things We've Learned From Nancy Drew." It's a salute to our favorite childhood heroine and just a tad tongue-in-cheek...

The five things include:

--Learn How to Channel Your Inner Girl Power
--Never Give Up
--Things Aren't Always As They Seem...
--How To Spot A Villain
--Being Fashionable Has Its Advantages

Hope you enjoy it.

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Event at UC San Diego in August!

If you're nearby or in San Diego, the Univ. of San Diego is putting on a Nancy Drew exhibit in August - 1st through 31st with Nancy Drew collectibles/books on display. They're having live events on August 15 and 17 with lots of fun stuff going on including a "radio" interview with me where they'll phone me and we'll chat for the audience to hear!

Here's a blurb from their website which has the dates/times/directions:

"This summer, we celebrate all things Nancy Drew. Does she represent ''girl power'' better than any other pop icon? Is she our favorite feminist? This exhibit of Nancy Drew books, Nancy Drew memorabilia and serious Nancy Drew scholarship will feature a live event with refreshments prepared from the Nancy Drew Cookbook. At the live event, classic Nancy Drew mysteries will be performed in the style of old time radio drama entertainment. Actors from San Diego's Write Out Loud project will assist. Sounds & music provided by Scott Paulson and the Teeny-Tiny Pit Orchestra. A live phone-in radio interview with Nancy Drew expert Jenn Fisher is featured at the live events."

I hope some of you can make it--I'd love to get photos of the exhibit and live events if you can attend for The Sleuth and this Blog!

Jenn:)

2010 Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys Convention DETAILS!

As you know, next year is the 80th anniversary of Nancy Drew! It's also the 105th of the Stratemeyer Syndicate and 105th of Mildred Wirt Benson's birthday. AND, it's our 10th anniversary :)

So we've got a lot of milestones to celebrate. We're also inviting all Hardy Boys fans to join us--so spread the word! We'll have speakers for both ND and HB and activities related to both.

We've got both land (Merritt Island, FL outside of Orlando) and sea events (Carnival Cruise to Bahamas from Port Canaveral near Merritt Island) and they run seamlessly together so you can attend them all if you wish to!

We've got our dates: April 6 to 10 on land and April 11 to 15 at sea settled. And we've got our cruise locked in and our land hotel selected!

You may begin booking NOW :)

There are discounts for booking early for the cruise and a deposit is required to book. The cruise block of cabins will go quick so it's recommended you book early. There will also be a land registration early discount for those who register early!

See all the details at our website:

If you are interested in attending, contact us and we'll put you on the e-mail list for the convention!

Jenn:)

Pre-Order Your 2010 Nancy Drew Engagment Calendar!

Hi Everyone,

I'm selling the 2010 Nancy Drew Engagement Calendars at my website--click here!

I'm doing pre-orders. They will ship end of July/early August once I get them in.

They are $12.50 each. Sleuth members get a discount--contact me directly about that!

It will feature 52 classic covers--Tandy, Nappi, Gillies. A lot of these come from scans of my collection. Then sprinkled throughout are internal illustrations. I think it turned out pretty nice!

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew: The Hidden Staircase

It's rather iconic wouldn't you say! Evocative of spooky secret passageways and a hidden staircase plus a host of hauntings at The Mansion/Twin Elms in which Nancy Drew encountered while solving The Hidden Staircase. A new treasure in my collection. As you can see from the original cover painting above in comparison with the book below, there's quite a bit more to the scene from the wider view of the stairs to the expansive wall/ceiling height are shown and the cobwebs are much clearer. The painting itself is more spooky in person. Rudy Nappi was the illustrator for this particular cover and so many other great Nancy Drew covers as well as Hardy Boys covers too.

Next year marks the 80th anniversary of Nancy Drew and the Nancy Drew Sleuths hopes to have Rudy Nappi as our honored guest at our Florida Land/Bahamas Sea Cruise Convention week!

Jenn:)

Sonia Sotomayor & Nancy Drew

Boy are my e-mailed Google News Alerts on "Nancy Drew" going gangbusters today! How fun is that!

I don't want to rile up Nancy Drew fans--after all, we come from all kinds of political backgrounds. Democrats and Republicans alike enjoying Nancy Drew equally. Imagine that! Oh yes! In fact, that's why our Nancy Drew Sleuths fan club is so successful and people get along so well--especially at our annual Nancy Drew Conventions! We don't dwell on things that would tend to incite people and divide us! Nancy actually brings us all together. Amen to that sister! Washington DC could learn a thing or two from us!

One of things I love about intrepid teen sleuth Nancy Drew is that she's not partisan, she's not polarizing. She was never about politics, controversial topics, or taboo things. She was very family friendly and a good role model. These were "safe and sane" (A Stratemeyer Syndicate mantra!) children's books after all! So, politics aside, I'll keep this bi-partisan and short and sweet.

Nancy Drew is in the news today. In a big way! And it is exciting to see her there, it always inspires, gets women--and men--to rediscover their childhood heroine, and takes us back on that memorable roadster ride to exciting and thrilling mystery adventures.

President Obama nominated Sonia Sotomayor today for the US Supreme Court. He stated:

"It's my understanding that Judge Sotomayor's interest in the law was sparked as a young girl by reading the Nancy Drew series."

The zeal with which I've seen it reported that Sotomayor read and enjoyed Nancy Drew as a child, is mildly amusing. I've read hundreds of similar articles over the last several years about various attorneys, law enforcement officials, and mystery writers who often cite Nancy Drew as being an influence on their life and career. Justice Ginsberg on the Supreme Court was also a fan. Heck that influenced me going into law! But does Nancy Drew have anything to do with our politics or political views? No, not really. We didn't read her for her politics. There weren't any--and most eight to ten year olds are hardly politically charged.

When you think about the fact that most women read Nancy Drew when they were kids over the last 79 years, that she has influenced us all in some way or another, isn't really surprising or shocking. She's just that popular and good!

One of the great things we learned from Nancy Drew was that it's great to help others. Right wrongs. Be a good role model. Fight for justice for the downtrodden. What's ironic, is that Nancy wouldn't be partisan if she were nominated to the Supreme Court. She'd make the right decisions--EVERY time. She was that near perfect. She'd use logic, deduction, reasoning, and common sense to do what's right. Nancy wouldn't be a judicial activist. She'd interpret the existing law, not make laws! And she'd do it exceedingly well, regardless of politics, lobbying, special interests, or which party nominated her for the high court. In essence, she'd be a politician's nightmare! A real wild card! Someone who actually threw politics aside and did what is right for the people! Imagine that. She'd be the people's heroine for doing so. And she'd be a testament to what everyone on that court should be doing.

But alas, she's fictional. Enter real life. However, my hope is that if Sotomayor really holds Nancy Drew in such high regard as such a huge influence, that maybe she will embody those qualities that Nancy Drew inspired in us. And actually be a trailblazer on that court and make the right decisions regardless of politics on either side of the aisle. That's what I'd like to see happen! Time will tell...

Jenn:)