princessleia4life's review against another edition
4.0
I didn't agree with everything said, but I really enjoyed the information
judythereader's review against another edition
4.0
This is a pictorial history of the Nancy, Frank and Joe that begins before their "birth" with an exploration of who Edward Stratemyer was. It was well written with various inserts about the mores of the day or how teenagers came into power. I very much enjoyed the overview and I particularly learned a lot about Nancy, when I thought I already know a lot.
manwithanagenda's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
2.0
I picked this up because of my recent re-attachment to the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew novels. I've been curious about what the original books would have been like ever since I discovered they were re-written starting in the late 1950s. I recently had re-read the revised first volume of each series and was under-whelmed enough to do a combo review, and then I began finding early editions. They are sooo much better you guys! Problematic, but not dull!
I haven't reviewed them yet, because I've got stuff going on all the time like no one else on the planet. When I do, you can check my totes-sleuthy shelf....If I don't change that shelf's name. Jeepers. Anyway this book:
This was a fan-letter about Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys with good layouts and illustrations. The content was often repetitive and a trifle biased towards boy detectives. There were musings on other product lines inspired by the series, successful and not-so adaptations for film and TV (this is 1998 so that aughts film didn't get consideration...which is a good thing). The book does provide a nice pocket history of the development of the juvenile series market though the Strathmeyer Syndicate, and how they invented the ghostwriter as we know it today. There are better and much more comprehensive books on the subject: for Nancy Drew there is 'Girl Sleuth' by Melanie Rehak, and for the Hardy Boys try 'The Secret of the Hardy Boys' by Marilyn S. Greenwald, which focuses on the first ghostwriter for the series.
I haven't reviewed them yet, because I've got stuff going on all the time like no one else on the planet. When I do, you can check my totes-sleuthy shelf....If I don't change that shelf's name. Jeepers. Anyway this book:
This was a fan-letter about Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys with good layouts and illustrations. The content was often repetitive and a trifle biased towards boy detectives. There were musings on other product lines inspired by the series, successful and not-so adaptations for film and TV (this is 1998 so that aughts film didn't get consideration...which is a good thing). The book does provide a nice pocket history of the development of the juvenile series market though the Strathmeyer Syndicate, and how they invented the ghostwriter as we know it today. There are better and much more comprehensive books on the subject: for Nancy Drew there is 'Girl Sleuth' by Melanie Rehak, and for the Hardy Boys try 'The Secret of the Hardy Boys' by Marilyn S. Greenwald, which focuses on the first ghostwriter for the series.
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