I grew up reading the Hardy Boys…and Nancy Drew. Yes, I enjoyed Nancy Drew mysteries just as much as the Hardy Boys series. When I was nine years old, I binged on dozens of mystery novels for kids. In a year or two, I graduated to Agatha Christie, Ellery Queen, and The Saint. A year or two after that, I was reading Carter Brown, Mike Shayne mysteries, and plenty of DELL hard-boiled detective paperbacks.
But, my reading passion for mysteries was ignited by the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew. Nancy Drew and The Hidden Staircase movie appealed to me. Sophia Lillis plays the plucky investigator in this updated version of the original The Hidden Staircase first published in 1938 (with revised updated editions appearing every few years). After the death of his wife, Carson Drew (played by Sam Trammell) moves from Chicago to the bucolic small city of River Heights. But Nancy Drew can find mysteries anywhere. She hears that a nearby house might be haunted by ghosts. Nancy Drew investigates and finds…
The key to this kind of movie is the actress who plays Nancy Drew. In this case, I found Sophia Lillis brings a high level of believability blended with curiosity. She’s spunky and clever. The target audience of teenagers will enjoy this movie. And, older fans of Nancy Drew who would like to be teenagers again will also find fun watching Nancy Drew and The Hidden Staircase.” Are you a fan of Nancy Drew? GRADE: B+
Read everyone of them. And all of the other series that featured girls.
Patti, I enjoyed Nancy Drew mysteries as much as Hardy Boys mysteries. You would enjoy NANCY DREW AND THE HIDDEN STAIRCASE.
I never became a big Nancy Drew fan, and it was Robert Heinlein’s fault. Around the same age that you did it, I’d blown through the Hardy Boys and had just started the Nancy Drew series when I plucked Heinlein’s “The Rolling Stones” off of a library shelf, and that was the end of Nancy. A few books later “The Puppet Masters” pretty much slammed the door on juveniles except for the rest of Heinlein’s. SF took over my reading life and, except for a few classics like “The Moonstone”, I didn’t get back to mysteries until the 60s.
Michael, I was bowled over by Heinlein’s CITIZEN OF THE GALAXY. Like you, I read all his “juveniles” and then moved on to reading Andre Norton.
You need to fix the italics.
I was not a Nancy Drew fan, mostly because I don’t ever remember reading one! I raced through the Hardy Boys books, but then went on to other things like Perry Mason. I did see the four Bonita Granville movies from 1938-39 (she was 15), including Hidden Staircase, which were fun. I also saw at least some of the 1977-79 series with Pamela Sue Martin (who was 25!), which was OK. This looks like it might be fun.
Jeff, I’m hoping NANCY DREW AND THE HIDDEN STAIRCASE does well at the Bob Office so they make more NANCY DREW movies! This was a lot of fun!
Unless all those books were at the library, I don’t see how you binged on all of them, but good for you. My city library didn’t have them (they were considered trash) and it was like pulling teeth to get my Mom to buy me one, so with the Hardy Boys I read only the first few until much later, high school, I guess. I read a few Nancy Drew books later, and they were okay. Years later I lived where the local library had them (but not Hardy Boys, for some reason) and read a few others. I also read the Chip Hilton sports books, and even a couple of the Girl nurse books, out of curiosity.
However, I consider the books a world into themselves, and the movies don’t appeal to me.
Rick, our local public Library had most of the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boy mysteries. I had to convince my parents to buy me Tom Swift, Jr. books and Rick Brant mysteries. I read some Chip Hilton sports books, too. But I preferred Heinlein’s “juveniles” and the Winston SF series to sports stories.
I’m sure I’ll love this movie. I still have most of my Nancy drew books. When I was a child, for some reason I hated flaps on the dust jackets, so cut them off and taped the dj’s to the book. Later as a book collector I was appalled that my younger self was so stupid. I went out looking for the older books (with the white spines on the DJ’s) and have many of them. I have a treasured copy of several books signed by Mildred Wirt Benson. My friend Nancy had a friend who belonged to the same club, and got several of them signed. There was even a villain named Mary Mason in one.
I also read the Dana Girls, Judy Bolton & Trixie Belden. My mom tried to get me to read the Cherry Ames (nurse) books, but they weren’t as appealing. In the 4th & 5th grades we used to trade Hardy boys & ND with the boys in the class. One of my best buys as a book scout was getting a copy of the last Chip Hilton book for $2 and selling it to the local kids book store for $200. The last book in a series was always the most valuable as there were fewer published (when a new book came out, many of the previous titles were reissued. )
Maggie, Jackie says she read the Cherry Ames (nurse) books, plus Vicky Barr, who was a stewardess, plus other “occupation” series. Also the Dana Girls.
Jackie said she had to buy the Nancy Drew books herself out of her allowance because, as Rick said, the libraries didn’t carry them then. I remember buying the Hardy Boys books. I broke my nose playing touch football with my brother and my cousin when my brother pushed me too hard and I landed on the concrete step behind my cousin’s apartment building. I had to wait for it to heal, then it had to be rebroken and reset. I got the first two Hardy Boys book as a reward of sorts.
Jeff, I convinced my parents that I wanted Tom Swift, Jr. books for my Birthday and Christmas. Later, I used money from mowing lawns to buy books…and the foundations of the Kelley Collection were formed!
Maggie, I read some Trixie Belden books, too. Love your story of the last Chip Hilton book! Well done!
Read a few of the Hardy Boys but never Nancy Drew. They were considered girl books. I did read the Tom Swift, Jr books and the Black Stallion books by Walter Farley. I graduated to adult books by the time I hit junior high. The first two SF books I purchased were The Mind Thing by Frederic Brown and the Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester. Then went on to John D. MacDonald and Ed McBain.
Steve, I enjoyed the BLACK STALLION books, too. Isn’t it funny that we can recall the books we bought 60 years ago! A drugstore near my Junior High had a spinner rack of paperbacks and I ended up buying ACE Doubles and DELL paperbacks there every week. That’s when paperbacks cost 35 cents!
Read Cherry Ames, Sue Barton, Trixie Belden, and Maida something. But never a book with a boy hero. Never a book with an animal hero. I was narrow then (and narrow now).
Patti, we all have our reading preferences. I’m sick of serial killer books. Overdone. And I refuse to read novels about child abuse…it’s just too upsetting!
I could never get into Nancy Drew. I felt (in the words of P. G. Wodehouse) she was a “turnip-brained fathead.” My girls agreed. Nor could I get into the Tom Swift, Jr., Bomba the Jungle Boy, or the Rick Brant series — can’t say why but I enjoy Rick Brant and the original Tom Swift series now. My sister was into horses so there were a number of Black Stallion books around and I enjoyed the first few.
I loved The Hardy Boys, however, and read and reread them until the time I discovered girls. I was too young to realize how racist and misogynistic they were (the books, not the girls). My local library had very few Hardy Boys books (their few original Tom Swift books were stored in a musty, dirt-floored closet in the basement), so I had to rely on Christmases and birthdays to get my fix of Frank and Joe, ordered through the Sears catalog. By sixth grade I was more interested in Perry Mason books and the revelation that girls could be pretty interesting.
Jerry, I was surprised when I discovered the original TOM SWIFT and HARDY BOY books from the 1930s. Big difference from the TOM SWIFT, JR. and HARDY BOY books of the 1950s! You were ahead of me on PERRY MASON. Although I watch the TV show, I didn’t start binging on Erie Stanley Gardner’s character until the mid-1960s.