Just wanting answers as well. My oldest daughter (almost 9) just picked up the first Nancy Drew and is liking it so far. I read them as a kid, but don’t remember much.
I am answering based on the Hardy boys. I think it can border on twaddle… But that said, I think reading couple are fine and can be helpful for the child that still struggles with enjoying reading. The trap is there are huge numbers of books that are about the same and so no development is happening.
Also they have been updated a few times. They were written in the 20s at first, I think, then updated in the 50z and then in the 90s or 80s. You don’t want the later version as they are twaddle. The 50s versions are fairly good.
I was a huge Nancy Drew fan as a kid, and now own the entire 175 books series. The best ones are the older ones, which are usually hardcover books. Mine are yellow hardcovers, but I believe there was at least one edition that’s older than that. After book 56 they were only published in softcover. The further along the series you go, the further the quality goes down, at least in my view. To tell the truth, I haven’t read the last 40 or so books. I collected them to have the collection, but lost interest in reading them. It was a tradition between my mom and I – she gave me at least one every Christmas from kindergarten to graduation, and then I scoured used bookstores to fill out the collection.
There are also several spin-off series. The Nancy Drew files, Nancy Drew on Campus, Nancy Drew Notebooks, as well as as the Clue Crew which are easy reading chapter books. These are pure twaddle as far as I’m concerned. My six year old has read a few of the Clue Crew, but then asked if I would read her the ‘real ones’.
If you stick to the main series, the older the better, there isn’t anything inappropriate that I can remember.
I read on a thread on here from a past post (could be years ago) to stay away from the Nancy Drew files because of some questionable boy/girl relationships. But I read many Nancy Drew Mysteries as a kid and loved them. My great aunt let me borrow her yellow hardback set from the 1950’s and I do remember enjoying those the most.
Sarah, is this the post to which you are referring? If so, it is in reference to The Nancy Drew Files, which is a different series. Thanks for the heads up, though…I actually think I might read a few of these myself before letting her read any…
Yes, that was the one. I have seen many Nancy Drew FILES books at used book sales and did not buy them. But, I have come across a few of the older yellow hardbacks at used book sales. We have also gotten some of the Clue Crew and Notebooks series on audiobook, for young readers from the library. I was not very impressed with them. In fact, I did not care for some of the young character’s language; kind of bratty sounding.
My 11 yr old DD loves Nancy Drew. We try to stick to the old, old ones too…and be sparse in their reading. She understands they are completely for fun. We’re the same way with the Mandie series (which she’s asked for for Christmas). I explained to her that we could certainly check out/request them from the library…but actually spending Dad’s hard earned money on them was probably NOT going to happen 🙂