by Michael G. Cornelius and Melanie E. Gregg

This book consists of 12 or so essays of diverse, and at times, unusual subject matter. Of course one would expect an essay on race and xenophobia (which yielded unsurprising conclusions), but how the french translation quixotically at times altered “Nancy’s” family origins and relationship to her father? The history of the Stratemeyer syndicate was interesting, dispelling many myths about the series (originating from taking information from interviews of Mildred Wirt and Harriet Adams at face value, not accounting for memory lapses or spin.) The essay claiming Nancy Drew was afraid of technology was poorly supported and weakly exampled. I don’t buy it and I had the feeling that another scholar could have made the opposite case. Of particular interest were the forays into the “sister sleuths” Cherry Ames, Trixie Beldon, and Linda Carlton: In many ways, they were better written and the heroines more interesting and more worthy to be role models than Nancy Drew. The essays range from academic and too serious to fun and amusing. But all were very educational and had interesting insights. Being a Marshmallow and a Potterhead, I did enjoy the occasional mentions of Veronica Mars and the essay on Hermione Granger. Surprisingly, there was little to nothing regarding the great Judy Bolton series.

April 9, 2014