Sunday, March 28, 2010

Nancy Drew Article - LA Times Kids Reading Room

I wrote an article for kids for the LA Times: Kids Reading Room section on the original Carolyn Keene - Mildred Wirt Benson which they published in today's issue.

Click here to view the article.

The article features the Tandy art for Hollow Oak.

Jenn:)

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Nancy Drew Books: Scary Things Kids (& Adults) Do #2

Wallpapering Nancy Drew books? Oh the horror!

Not sure if a child or an adult did this but, what it all adds up to is a disaster needing Nancy Drew to get to the bottom of this conundrum.

I give them a C for creative effort but an F on the longterm collectability of these particular books...

Jenn:)

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Nancy Drew Girl Detective Series

Here are a couple of preview covers I've got up in the Nancy Drew News section. I like seeing Nancy on the cover from these last couple of years compared to just the clip art graphics which weren't all that thrilling.

Jenn:)

Tuesday, March 09, 2010

Nancy Drew Books: Scary Things Kids Do #1

A recent eBay auction featured this book, The Whispering Statue. Totally colored in by some Picasso-wannabee child ;) You know...the statue doesn't look half bad with the red dress!

Other scary things I've seen kids do: color in pictures inside, draw on pages and make comments about the story, leave "chocolatey" fingerprints, and write their name on the cover. Egads!

And simple check marks on the back cover would not do! No siree, they checked the heck out of that back cover :) !!!

Jenn:)

Monday, March 01, 2010

365 Days of Nancy Drew Blog Preview 4

I'm adding a preview of what's going on at my 365 Days of Nancy Drew Blog Party below.

Join the Nancy Drew Blog Party that celebrates 80 years of Nancy Drew all year long : So far discussed in just 60 days are books 1-9, we've had 2 trivia contests for prizes, 2 book discussions on Girl Sleuth and Rediscovering Nancy Drew, we've done a jewelry craft project and are working on a scrapbooking craft. We're about to do a Nancy Drew Cookbook recipe testing project for the month of March. Other topics include: 80 Litle Known Things About Nancy, Things We've Learned From Nancy, Walter Karig, Harriet Adams, Behind the Scenes of the Stratemeyer Syndicate, Sleuthing, Mardi Gras Mysteries, Winter Nancy Drew books, my Today Show appearance, Togo, How the Crossword Cipher cover came to be, Nancy Drew villains, Nancy Drew rewards, Nancy Drew cakes, Nancy Drew vs. Hardy Boys, Nancy's Crook List, 1930s ND movies, 2007 ND movie, Nancy Drew computer games, Nancy Drew collecting and tips, 70s TV show, Edward Stratemeyer, Bess Marvin, Advice from Carson Drew, Aliases.So hop in your roadsters and enjoy this nostalgia ride back to River Heights along with me!

Click here to join the Blog!

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One of Harriet Adams' favorite Nancy Drew books was #44 The Clue in the Crossword Cipher. She traveled to Peru in fact, to do research for the book.

While on my recent trip to NYC, I learned a few things about the research for the book which were interesting. I'll share some notes that Harriet sent to her "nemesis" Anne Hagan in a letter dated August 11, 1966 in which she enclosed some rough drawings to aid illustrator Rudy Nappi:

Harriet wanted the cover to be "an unusual and posterish-type cover."

"My idea is to have Nancy wearing a dress with an Inca design and I am attaching some photographs from the July issue of Vogue magazine."

She requested they show both sides of the plaque on the cover.

She also notes that "Mr. Siwek"--from Grosset & Dunlap--"told me he prefers poster-type covers."

I always wondered about the design of the dress that Nancy is wearing on the cover--very unusual.

Jenn:)