The NYT yesterday had an article that picked up on the "successful women lawyers love Nancy Drew "called "Nancy Drew' Granddaughters." (Earlier Washington Post story here.) Everyone from Sonia Sotomayor to Sandra Day O'Connor is confessing a deep love for the series. So, here's my confession (Sorry, Mom) -- I hated Nancy Drew.
My mom (who is actually closer to age to the woman cited in these articles than I am) loved Nancy Drw and had the whole series in little yellow hardbacks. Not only did she try to pawn these off on my sister and I, but then she ordered another set through a "book-of-the-month" club. (My mom loved these clubs -- this is why we have every Dr. Seuss book known to man.) But even with a choice between yellow cover and light purple cover, the Nancy Drew books were boring! In the late 1970s, did I really want to read a story about someone's female friend named George, who must be a tomboy because she had short hair and wore "dungarees"? What are dungarees? Is it some sort of medieval self-torture device like a hair shirt? Being blond, I wanted to identify with the Bess character, who was "pleasingly plump" and sort of dumb. And Nancy had "titian-colored" hair. What is that? And poor Ned. I just wanted to take him aside and say, "Dude, she's just not that in to you. ( I did, however, watch "The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries" series on Sunday evenings -- but just for Shaun Cassidy.)
So, when women born in the late 1960s and 1970s become Supreme Court justices and Presidents and Secretaries of State, will they pretend they liked Nancy Drew? Or will they confess what they really read? Judy Blume. My friends and I didn't gobble up Nancy Drew volumes from the library like candy. We surreptitiously passed Forever back and forth a million times. Just as Nancy Drew mysteries were rare in that they portrayed a smart, courageous female star, Judy Blume books were rare in that they had honest and frank discussions of topics girls faced but could get no information on: divorce, puberty, birth control pills.
Will my daughter be a "Judy Blume Granddaughter"? I don't know. She has also not succombed to my mom's Nancy Drew indoctrination. (She liked the 2007 Emma Roberts movie, though.) She used to like Blume's "Fudge" books (aimed at about 4th grade), but last summer I gave her the "pre-teen" books: Are You There God, It's Me, Margaret," "It's Not the End of the World," etc. She read them, but she found them sad and depressing. The kids in the books had real problems, and they were kind of bringing her down. Books about teenagers whose boyfriends are secretly vampires are much more entertaining than 12 year-olds who can't decide whether to be Jewish or Protestant or whose parents are getting a divorce. I guess she'll be part of the "Stephanie Meyer generation."
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1. Posted by Rebekah on July 20, 2009 @ 15:48 | Permalink
I enjoyed this post fantastically, although I must admit I was born in the early 70's and absolutely adored Nancy Drew. But then I still as an adult love mysteries of all sorts.
I never could quite enjoy the Blume books, they were too realistic for me as well, I enjoyed the thoughts of houses with secret passages much better then real life.
2. Posted by Marie on July 28, 2009 @ 12:20 | Permalink
Actually, sis, I think she bought the purple covered ones for me (they are currently in my trunk after her move) and I loved them. I find myself unable to get past the first page of one now. I sort of remember her buying you the Hardy Boys.
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