Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her
by Melanie Rehak
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Book Summary Information
Author: Melanie RehakEdition: Paperback
Published: 2006-09-05
ISBN: 015603056X
Number of pages: 384
Reading Level: Young Adult
Publisher: Harvest Books
Book Reviews of Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her
Book Review: The 50% Nancy Drew Solution
Summary: 2 Stars
For the feminist historian looking for a book length essay on Nancy Drew's influence on Betty Friedan, this book is a must read. For the casual fan of the world's greatest girl detective and anyone interested in the prolific Stratemeyer Syndicate roughly half of this book will be interesting. Unfortunately the history of Miss Drew and the heavy handed feminist rhetoric are intertwined in alternate pages and sometimes alternate sentences. Fans of Nancy rather than Betty will probably find themselves scanning through pages of social commentary looking for the next mention of their heroine.
Those who preserve will be rewarded with the story of Nancy's two literary mothers and an inside look at the declining years of the greatest children's book mill ever created. Unfortunately, the story of Edward Stratemeyer and his struggles to become the king of the juvenile serial are glossed over in the rush to get to his invention of Nancy Drew which came very late in his life.
In the final analysis, this book is a worthwhile read however those peering over the fence from outside the author's world view will find the reading dry and often tangential.
Summary of Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her
A plucky “titian-haired” sleuth solved her first mystery in 1930. Eighty million books later, Nancy Drew has survived the Depression, World War II, and the sixties (when she was taken up with a vengeance by women’s libbers) to enter the pantheon of American girlhood. As beloved by girls today as she was by their grandmothers, Nancy Drew has both inspired and reflected the changes in her readers’ lives. Here, in a narrative with all the vivid energy and page-turning pace of Nancy’s adventures, Melanie Rehak solves an enduring literary mystery: Who created Nancy Drew? And how did she go from pulp heroine to icon?
The brainchild of children’s book mogul Edward Stratemeyer, Nancy was brought to life by two women: Mildred Wirt Benson, a pioneering journalist from Iowa, and Harriet Stratemeyer Adams, a well-bred wife and mother who took over as CEO after her father died. In this century-spanning story, Rehak traces their roles—and Nancy’s—in forging the modern American woman.
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