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"Carolyn Keene" Was My First Reading/Writing InspirationJun 01 '02 Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line Encourage your kids to read the original Nancy Drew and/or The Hardy Boys Mystery Stories!
My grade school years were literally a haze of mystery books. I breathed them in like fresh air one after another and felt as heroic and beloved as Nancy Drew, as clever and resourceful as Frank and Joe Hardy in another mystery series for kids by the same author. Consequently I was inspired at age nine to write mystery stories along the same lines and even completed my own novel called The Mystery of the Underground Castle. I became Nancy Drew, teenage detective extraordinaire who always solved the mystery to the amazement of the good and bad guys. (“Carolyn Keene” and “Franklin W. Dixon” are pen names for the recently-deceased author, Mildred Wirt by name, I think. May she rest in peace.) How did Nancy solve the mystery? ...When the group entered the house, members of the Double Scorps (bad guys)surrounded by police, were all protesting their innocence. The captors stared in stupefaction and disbelief at Nancy and Ned. "Yes, we escaped," said Nancy icily. The sight of the couple and the fact that he had been outwitted by a girl unnerved Mike O'Brien (gangleader) completely. He readily confessed to his part in the scheme...(The Secret of the Golden Pavilion, pp 178-9) Through clever deduction and, yes, well-timed luck, Nancy and her two girlfriends of River Heights with their bumbling, but oh so handy in a pinch, boyfriends solve such cases as Nancy's lawyer father will usually find for them. Some titles I own are The Secret of the Golden Pavilion, The Ghost of Blackwood Hall (soon to be reviewed) and The Mysterious Mannequin. There are almost fifty in all, published in the fifties and sixties. In The Hardy Boys, how did Frank and Joe solve the mystery? "But Chet...What...? How...?" Frank stammered (to his friend). "Nothing to be amazed about," said Chet as the others, grinning, made a place for Frank at the table. "Old Chet went for the police and brought 'em back, that's all!" "But the smashed car-you weren't in it?" "Right! Just a little detective's trick." The stout boy attempted modesty. "I had a headstart on the hijacker, so I hid the convertible in some trees..." (The Case of the Screeching Owl, pp 174.) Frank and Joe actually don't always solve the mystery and are surprised when their stout friend Chet does, instead. Action, adventure, thrills and deductive skills fill these fifty or so books. I enjoyed the more thoughtful writing even more than Nancy Drew mysteries and especially the television series with supercutie Shaun Cassidy as Joe and Parker Stevenson as Frank. The writing in both series is well-suited for a girl or boy to understand and enjoy. New words are introduced and explained by other characters and the history behind new concepts or locations are shared. They are educational as well as exciting for a young person. No swear words are uttered by the good or bad guys and family values are clearly upheld and enjoyed. My parents were very pleased that I read them. How was I influenced by these books? Because solving a mystery takes concentration, creativity and courage, I learned how to think problems through and face up to challenges with the means of solving them. Some mysteries written for kids today, like the ones written by R.L. Stine, are more gratuitous suspense than they are novels that require thought and that teach you. My writing has also been inspired and influenced by these books by grounding me in the structure of a novel. I don't read mysteries too often these days, but I’ll have to admit just last week I picked up Victoria Holt’s Secret For A Nightingale to consider reviewing the gothic romance/suspense novel for lyagushka’s This Book Changed My Life write-off since I once inhaled her dozens of books like they were my reason for living, hehe. I decided I had little of good to say about their influence and considered commenting on it in my review of Ten Stupid Things Couples Do To Mess Up Their Relationships, but again decided it was more helpful to not do so. Now in this essay I can comment on them in negative comparison to “Carolyn Keene”’s novels. Holt’s heroines have the appearance of being independent or wanting independence, but they’re only maneuvered by men, consumed by thinking of them and exasperatingly stupid, in my opinion, which is unlike the responsible Nancy Drew. There, I feel better! If your kids start reading mysteries such as Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys, I think you will be pleased with the results, but there are better-written gothic romance/suspense novels than Victoria Holt, probably, for young adults. Phyllis Whitney maybe?  |
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