31 Days of Nancy Drew Topic #21 Nancy Drew in the Popular Culture

31 Days of Nancy Drew Topic #21

Nancy Drew in the Popular Culture

Since 1930, Nancy Drew has become Mystery's IT Girl. She's a household name, a Pop Culture Icon. She's influenced millions of kids, numerous authors and fans from all walks of life - famous and not so famous and even the women on the Supreme Court. Snoopy females - and even males - get called out for playing Nancy Drew regularly in books, on television and at the movies. There have been many sleuths and series over the years no doubt inspired by Nancy and many popular series on the market today she competes with. She lives on in our hearts and minds and is still in print for the most part. Nostalgia is a powerful thing.

Over the years there have been numerous books written about Nancy Drew and even parodies. While some are now out of print, quite a few are still available and you can always find used copies at sites like eBay and possibly in your local used bookstores. I have a section at my website which highlights these books and other series book related books. For the purposes of this post, I'm going to focus just on the Nancy Drew related books, but there are books about the Stratemeyer Syndicate and some of the Syndicate ghostwriters - and you can check all those out and more at my website.

One of the first books that sparked my interest in collecting everything Nancy Drew was The Nancy Drew Scrapbook by Karen Plunkett-Powell (Nov. 1993, St. Martin's Press, Inc) - it was a fantastic book and I've often heard from other fans who saw this book and it also inspired them to reread and collect.

Devouring this book plus online discussion boards in the early days of the Internet led to over twenty years of collecting, Nancy Drew Sleuths fan group and conventions, my research and writing about Nancy Drew and  the twist-and-turn-filled journey to write a biography about the first Carolyn Keene, Mildred Wirt Benson. Benson was in many ways a real life Nancy Drew and an amazing woman. I recently had an essay about Benson and Nancy Drew published at Smithsonian.com. 

 

Other nostalgia inspired books include:

Clues for Real Life: The Classic Wit and Wisdom of Nancy Drew, Nov. 2007, Meredith Books  - shameless plug ;-) - my own book, which I compiled for Meredith Books. I wrote a blog post about this book and how I came to write it and some behind the scenes info if you're interested.  You can get signed copies at The Sleuth Shop.

Rediscovering Nancy Drew - Editors: Carolyn Stewart Dyer, Nancy Tillman Romalov,

Feb. 1995, University of Iowa Press

  

Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her by Melanie Rehak, Sept. 2005, Harcourt

  

American Sweethearts: Teenage Girls in Twentieth-Century Popular Culture by Ilana Nash, Jan. 2006, Indiana University Press

  

Sisters, Schoolgirls, and Sleuths by Carolyn Carpan, 2008, The Scarecrow Press, Inc.

  

The Girl Sleuth by Bobbie Ann Mason, May 1995, University of Georgia Press

              

Nancy Drew & Company: Culture, Gender, and Girls' Series by Sherrie A. Inness, Aug. 1997, Bowling Green University Popular Press

  

The Dark Side of River Heights by Renee Walker, 2004, Lulu Published

  

The Mystery of Nancy Drew: Girl Sleuth on the Couch by Betsy Caprio, 1992, Source Books.

  

The Mysterious Case of Nancy Drew & the Hardy Boys by Marvin Heiferman, Carole Kismaric, Sept. 1998, Simon & Schuster Trade.

  

There's even a Nancy Drew Parody book - Confessions of a Teen Sleuth by Chelsea Cain, April 2005, Bloomsbury USA

Nancy Drew's Guide to Life by Jennifer Worick, Sept. 2001, Running Press

          

The Wisdom of Nancy Drew: The Nancy Drew Guide to Solving Life's Little Mysteries by Dominique Christin, Oct. 2007, Cider Mill Press

  

The Official Nancy Drew Handbook: Skills, Tips, and Life Lessons by Penny Warner, Nov. 2007, Quirk Books

  

Nancy Drew and Her Sister Sleuths by Michael G. Cornelius & Melanie E. Gregg, 2008, McFarland & Company

 

 

 

In the comments, did any of you come across the Nancy Drew Scrapbook back in the 1990s and did that inspire you to revisit Nancy Drew and collect? Do you like to read these kinds of books about Nancy Drew or do you prefer to read the books themselves?