Searching For Nancy Drew

Some time ago, I did a post on a Nancy Drew experience. I had been reading the yellow books at our library and then discovered a whole set of new paperbacks that had recently been done, updating her for modern teens.

I had read a few of these yellow books as an adult. As a teen, I had fallen in love with Nancy Drew on my first encounter in seventh grade. It was The Secret Of The Wooden Lady. I was off. For Christmas I got The Clue Of The Tapping Heels. I also went to the store with birthday money and searched among all of the gorgeous books, all with full-color covers, to find the best, The Haunted Bridge. I don't know how I lost those books.

About a year ago, I found some old Nancy Drew books at another library. These were reproductions of the original books from the 30s, which had the lovely paper covers. I was totally in love. I read the few they had and tried to get more.

I searched the Internet and found that these could be purchased. They were from 1996. Yes, they could be purchased but they were quite pricey. There was also a set, the ones from the library, that were cut down from the original 25 chapters to 20. And they were updated in the 60s with all new covers and internal art. For instance Nancy's cute roadster became a convertible. And last of all, I recently discovered that there are old books "out there" that are the old ones, but the covers aren't paper but printed and the ones I found have been updated with yet a second, less well known artist. Are you confused yet?" That's how I feel trying to navigate the world of Nancy Drew. There are also other end papers and changes that seem to have no rhyme or reason.

Well, yesterday, my dear friend had seen some books in an antiques store and she took me there. I was able to get the original Haunted Bridge, although not the original cover. We went to several stores and I was able to get a few more of the old ones in pretty good condition.
One thing that helps me feel better that I don't have any of the original art is that I got a book called "The Lost Files Of Nancy Drew at Borders on sale for $5. It's a fun pop-up book and shows how Nancy evolved from the 30s to the 70s. And as a bonus, there are 7 or 8 of the older covers as postcards that I can enjoy.

Now, even the yellow books are disappearing from library shelves. I have 14 books now. I could get them on the Internet, but I am having fun in the hunt. I don't think they're going anywhere, though. From the time my friend told me about the books until we got there, about two weeks later, half of them were gone. No advertising, just a bunch of Nancy Drew fans like me out there grabbing them up. That girl has staying power.