Nancy Drew: Happy 89th Birthday Nancy Drew!

“Nancy Drew”

Happy 89th Birthday Nancy Drew!

I made this card for my granddaughter Ella’s 8th birthday!

The first Nancy Drew “book” appeared in print on April 28, 1930… just twenty-two days after my mother was born. Although the character of Nancy Drew was technically “born”… but, born at age sixteen… then later aged to 18 when they did revisions, and many years later, she regressed back to age eight in the Nancy Drew Clues Crew! We all wish we could go back and be that eight-year old girl again… but it seems only Nancy can accomplish that!

Nancy Drew turns 89 years old today… and just look at all she has accomplished during her lifetime!

Nancy Drew has appeared in:

• 175 Mystery Book Stories:  (1930 -2003)
• 1-56 were the classic original Nancy Drew Stories
•  Nancy Drew classic books were revised (1959 -1979)
• 6 Nancy Drew & The Hardy Boys: Be a Detective Mystery Stories (1984 – 1985)
• 69 Nancy Drew Notebooks Stories (1994 – 2005)
• 25 Nancy Drew on Campus (1995 – 1998)
• 124 The Nancy Drew Files (1986 – 1997)
• 47 Nancy Drew: Girl Detective (2004 – 2012)
• 40 Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew (2006 – 2014)
• 18 Nancy Drew Diaries (2013 – current)
• 13 Nancy Drew Clue Book Series (2015 – current)

Miscellaneous Nancy Drew Books:

• The Nancy Drew Cookbook: Clues to Good Cooking (1973)
• Nancy Drew Picture Book: Mystery of the Lost Dogs (1977)
• Nancy Drew Picture Book: The Secret of the Twin Puppets (1977)
• The Nancy Drew Sleuth Book: Clues to Good Sleuthing (1979)
• Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys: Super Sleuths (1981)
• Nancy Drew Ghost Stories (1983)
• Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys: Super Sleuths #2 (1984)
• Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys: Campfire Stories (1984)
• Nancy Drew Ghost Stories #2 (1985)
• The Nancy Drew Scrapbook (1993)
• Nancy Drew’s Guide to Life (2001)
• Nancy Drew Mad Libs (2005)
• Clues to Real Life: The Wit and Wisdom of Nancy Drew (2007)
• The Lost Files Of Nancy Drew (2007)
• The Official Nancy Drew Handbook (2007)
• Nancy Drew Classic Paper Dolls (2011)
• Nancy Drew & Her Friends Paper Dolls (2012)

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I wrote my yearly April A to Z 2018 challenge on

All About Nancy Drew

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Nancy Drew in the Movies:

• Nancy Drew: Detective (1938)

• Nancy Drew… Reporter (1939)

• Nancy Drew… Trouble Shooter (1939)

• Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase (1939)

• Nancy Drew “Get a Clue” (2007)

• Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase (2019)

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Nancy Drew in Television:

• The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries (1977-78)
• Nancy Drew: (2015) CBS pilot made, but series never picked up
• Nancy Drew CW series (2019) I’m anxiously awaiting this series!

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The girls were excited to watch the movie… even Molly who wasn’t interested in saying cheese for the camera!

While visiting my three grandchildren, Nina, Ella and Ana, in Florida, I brought them the 2007 and 2019 Nancy Drew movies… and they fell in love with them instantly… and watched them almost daily. They especially loved the new movie as it was filmed in their great grandmother’s hometown of Monroe, Georgia… and we’re excited when I pointed out sites where I stood when it was filmed. You can read my post on the making of the Nancy Drew movie… HERE.

The “Haunted House” in the Nancy Drew movie! It was absolutely beautiful to see in person!

While watching the 2007 Nancy Drew movie, Ella disappeared quickly to only return with two books in hand… telling me how she’d checked them out from her school library… she was super excited that they matched the movie we were watching. The girls wanted to watch “Nancy Drew” everyday as soon as they came home from school!

Ella was excited to learn that a movie  had been made about the very books she’d discovered in her school library! As she’d already started reading the books, she related to the movie from the scenes she’d seen in the books, and anxious to return to school to tell her teacher about the movie.

Ella holding her favorite books and movies!

My granddaughters are ages 9 and 6 (twins) and were a little scared of the haunted house scenes at first, but after watching once… they eagerly anticipated those scenes… often narrating what was happening! Ella, the 9-year old would repeat Nancy’s words before she did, and they’d all talk to Nancy… saying, “see there’s the pink footsteps“, or yelling out loud… “watch out Nancy“. They quickly learned what “clues” were, and looked for them in the movie. After the movie ended… they’d yell out… “let’s play Nancy Drew and find the pink footsteps.”

I asked them what they thought about when Nancy turned the bully “blue”…. and they all responded that while it was funny, it was wrong, but they also wanted to know why the other two girls, Bess and George, didn’t get into trouble also… as they were just as involved in that escapade!

After watching both movies, which are entirely so different, and with an entirely different looking Nancy, I asked them which one was their favorite. They hesitated, but all said, “we love them both.” They had favorite scenes in both movies and looked forward to watching them over and over. After discovering how the drawers opened in the kitchen in The Hidden Staircase… they thought it very clever, especially when Nancy walked up on the open drawers like a staircase… and naturally they all wanted to go and discover a hidden staircase in their house. I’m sure they have drove their mother mad after I left in playing Nancy Drew and running through the house looking for clues! I think I’ll make some pink footprints and send for her to leave out one day and there be a gift box waiting for them at the end!

In talking about Nancy Drew to my granddaughters, I explained that in the books, Nancy Drew is a master at everything she does… and like a Girl Scout, she’s always prepared. After telling Ella how Nancy never leaves home without a “bag” in her car with an extra set of clothes, flashlight, bathing suit and a first aid kit… I could see her mind swirling…. and I’m wondering, if at some point, she might pack her own Nancy Drew bag!

Ella was amazed when I explained how Nancy was written as an expert at everything she did in the books… from swimming, skiing, horseback riding, skydiving, driving, cooking, tennis… but most of all… an expert at being a detective, although it was often said… how she was only an amatuer detective. Nancy Drew is quite the role model to look up to, and I wonder how the young girls of years ago looked at her, as I have no memory of being in awe of all she accomplished.

Ella heading out for a horse riding lesson… wearing her favorite shirt!

Want to read more Nancy Drew stories click HERE 

© 2019, copyright Jeanne Bryan Insalaco; all rights reserved