Books For Teens: If Nancy Drew Were Alive Today

Books for teens today have so many sub categories it can make your head spin!  I was in Barnes & Noble’s the other day and here is what I can REMEMBER of the vast identifiers that lined the shelves: teen fiction, teen romance, teen horror, teen sci-fi, teen vampire.  I mean REALLY?  Teen Vampire?  It is getting as tricky to pick out a book in a bookstore as is it choosing a greeting card in your local Hallmark Shop!

I look back fondly, recalling when the telephone stayed glued to the wall in the kitchen; when playing outside didn’t require a chaperone; when it was dusk and you just KNEW it was time to come home; and when Nancy Drew Mystery Books ruled girls imaginations from coast to coast.  My Mother, Bless Her In Heaven, had the volumes and volumes of light denim-like blue bound hardbacks lining the shelves in our home.  We had many many other books as well, but there was no denying the almost wallpaper effect of this series, dominating the space, as if saying “Read Me!” on a daily basis.

And did I EVER read them!  One after the other, almost eating them, sometimes so fast I had to go back and read them again, just to be sure if it was Nancy’s best friend Bess that discovered the old shed out back, or if it was really Nancy’s other best friend, George.

And it did seem that in the earliest of the books, Nancy was more exciting; she just had more spunk!  She seemed to get a bit less daring somewhere in the middle.  But even that did not hinder my addiction!  No!  I wanted to emulate the great author, Carolyn Keene! And I would read any little droplet of a word that she wrote! Now that I am grown, and now that we have the internet, I know that Carolyn Keene did not actually write the books.  (sigh)  They were written by various authors over the years, with templates given to them that they had to follow.  Although this knowledge crushes my dreams a bit I will not to be hindered altogether!  I have written my first Young Adult Novel, Burning Gold.  Although it may be deemed a bit racier than some of the old Nancy Drew books, I think it will still satisfy a reading audience that appreciates a strong female character.

How would Nancy Drew fare today?  Well with the resurgence of her character, played by Julia Roberts talented niece, Emma Roberts,  Hollywood and the Big Screen Media Moguls managed to give her quite a come back and she seems to be doing A-Okay even today!

What is a favorite series that you just couldn’t live without?

What was one of your favorite books growing up?