Contemplating.

Contemplating.
Wayzata, Minnesota

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Alphabe-Thursday - The Letter K.

Jenny wants our ALPHABE-THURSDAY Letter "K" assignments.  

Before I begin, I must confess my idea came from, Lisa Shafer, and this will take you to her post.

The little girl still living inside me felt something was missing from her list.  Read on and you'll understand what, and why possibly why she didn't include it at all.






My letter K is for- Keene, 

Knowing Carolyn Keene.



Remember Nancy Drew Mystery Stories by Carolyn Keene? 




Did you know, Nancy Drew books were written by ghost writers?


Carolyn Keene, was not the only author for the Nancy Drew Series.  See here.








The writer's story.


Did you know the writers were initially paid $125.00 for each book and were bound by a contract to give up all rights to their work, and to maintain confidentiality?


Stratemeyer Syndicate hired writers and instructed every writer to follow their provided outlines.  


Mildred Wirt Benson, and Harriet Adams are considered the two most important Nancy Drew authors, both women had a profound effect on the Nancy Drew series.  Walter King is also considered important because the three volumes he wrote are favorites of many readers.  He wrote: Nancy's Mysterious Letter, The Sign of the Twisted Candles, and The Password to Larkspur Lane.



Just reading the titles again, sparks the desire to solve the mystery!


More about Nancy Drew here at Wikipedia.





WHO IS CAROLYN KEENE READ HERE.

A complete list of Nancy Drew Mystery Stories - List of Titles and Publication Dates here.



Volumne # 5


Nancy Drew series book 1 through 34 in the original texts were published from 1930 to 1956 and contain 25 chapters and about 210- to 225 pages each.  The early Nancy Drew is smart, adventurous, flippant, and daring.  Nancy drives a smart blue roadster and has blond hair.  Helen Corning is Nancy's friend in the earliest books, but by volume 5, (and the girl I recall best) her best friend is Bess Marvin and George Fayne are Nancy's closest friends, while Helen only appears occasionally.  I guess I read more of the volumes after 35 and through 56 because I remember Bess and Ned as her constant friends helping her solve crimes.




As a child, I enjoyed the covers and drawings inside.






Remember these?


A first page dedicated to describing what the story was about.


Thanks for stopping by my K post for today!




15 comments:

Leovi said...

Undoubtedly a beautiful tribute!

TexWisGirl said...

never read nancy drew. did have the trixie beldon set, though. :)

EG CameraGirl said...

Great post. I was a Nancy Drew fan way back when. But I had no idea the books were written by more than one author.

Lisa Shafer said...

Nancy Drew. Good choice. :)

Unknown said...

I remember her books and the television series in the 70's based on them.

ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

My sister used to read those.

I was more of a Tom Swift fan...
~

Rocky Mountain Woman said...

They were my favorites when I was a kid...

fredamans said...

I had no idea they were ghost written and I read them all!

Lola said...

A great tribute!

Susan Anderson said...

I read every single Nancy Drew book as a child.

=)

Judie said...

Well OF COURSE I read all the Nancy Drew books! Didn't every girl??? What a great memory you have stirred!! xoxo

21 Wits said...

Judie, I know, and yesterday I checked one of my favorite libraries, and there she was, with a gigantic label too, Nancy Drew, may you long live in the hearts of many!

carol l mckenna said...

Oh I loved everyone of these ~ Great post for K ~
thanks for visiting ~ Happy Weekend ^_^

carol, xxx
www.acreativeharbor.com

storybeader said...

I remember Nancy Drew but don't remember all the stories. Don't think I read a lot of them. At least Carolyn got her name on the cover... {:-Deb

Jenny said...

I never knew these interesting facts about the Nancy Drew series...

The suspense used to kill me in these books!

Thanks for linking to the letter "K".

A+