Mystery Scene Community
General Discussion => Welcome and General Discussion => Topic started by: Kate Stine, Editor on June 06, 2019, 06:22:32 pm
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Here's a poll asking for your favorite young detective.
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I wish I could vote on this but I never read children's mysteries. I went straight to Agatha Christie, Rex Stout and a variety of small hard covers that were published during the late 1930s and 1940s. I still have most of those.
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I can't really decide on which to pick in the poll.
I started with Encyclopedia Brown, had the entire blue hardcover set of The Hardy Boys and just freaking loved The Three Investigators.
The only Nancy Drew novels I read were the paperbacks published, I think, in the late 80's or early 90's where she was teamed up with The Hardy Boys. Oh, and I've read a couple of Nancy Drew series in the comics that were recently published. One was with the Hardy Boys but the other one was a solo adventure.
I'm sorry but I've never read Trixie Belden.
If forced to make a choice I will probably say The Hardy Boys because "The Shattered Helmet" is my favorite story from all of the books I've read from any of the characters.
But it really is quite a toss up.
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The first mysteries I ever read were the Trixie Beldens and the Ginny Gordons (both by Julie Campbell). I read them when they first came out (on papyrus scrolls).
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I think the first mysteries I read were the Ellery Queen, Junior books about a gypsy orphan named Djuna. Sixty years ago, they were pretty good. Now? Who knows? No relation to Djuna Barnes, by the way.
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Actually, my fav was Connie Blair and her twin, Kit, as written by Betsy Allen (Betty Cavanna). I bought the paperbacks at the school bookmobile with my own allowance.
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Harriet the Spy, for sure!
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Hardy Boys for me, in a landslide. Read so many of them as a kid growing up in 1980s New Zealand.
Also popular for us (being a British Commonwealth country) where the Secret Seven and Famous Five by Enid Blyton. Not sure if they were as big in North America. Nancy Drew was also popular in New Zealand, not so much Trixie Belden etc.
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Also popular for us (being a British Commonwealth country) where the Secret Seven and Famous Five by Enid Blyton. Not sure if they were as big in North America.
You've got me stumped. I've never heard about either of these series before.
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Also popular for us (being a British Commonwealth country) where the Secret Seven and Famous Five by Enid Blyton. Not sure if they were as big in North America.
You've got me stumped. I've never heard about either of these series before.
It's interesting how world geography affects these things. I grew up in New Zealand, and we got plenty of media (film, TV, books) from both UK and USA, as well as our own local NZ/Australia stuff. As I've gotten older I realised that was unusual - eg chatting to a UK friend recently of a similar age who'd never seen or heard of the show "Married With Children", which to me was one of those incredibly well-known shows that even if people hadn't watched, they would have still heard of, eg The Simpsons, Friends, Seinfeld, MacGyver, Magnum PI etc. But she was British and never recalled seeing it on British TV growing up. Similarly Enid Blyton is one of the most popular children's authors of all time - she's sold more than 600 million books. She's still 'pop culture' in UK and I imagine Commonwealth countries even for those who haven't read her, but perhaps didn't penetrate as much in USA because you had other alternatives - eg the Stratemeyer Syndicate (Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew etc) put out many kids adventure/mystery series that were hugely popular in US and historically, but only Nancy/Hardy Boys really went huge internationally and for decades of longevity. Interesting how that works sometimes.
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It's interesting how world geography affects these things. I grew up in New Zealand, and we got plenty of media (film, TV, books) from both UK and USA, as well as our own local NZ/Australia stuff. As I've gotten older I realised that was unusual - eg chatting to a UK friend recently of a similar age who'd never seen or heard of the show "Married With Children", which to me was one of those incredibly well-known shows that even if people hadn't watched, they would have still heard of, eg The Simpsons, Friends, Seinfeld, MacGyver, Magnum PI etc. But she was British and never recalled seeing it on British TV growing up. Similarly Enid Blyton is one of the most popular children's authors of all time - she's sold more than 600 million books. She's still 'pop culture' in UK and I imagine Commonwealth countries even for those who haven't read her, but perhaps didn't penetrate as much in USA because you had other alternatives - eg the Stratemeyer Syndicate (Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew etc) put out many kids adventure/mystery series that were hugely popular in US and historically, but only Nancy/Hardy Boys really went huge internationally and for decades of longevity. Interesting how that works sometimes.
Yes, it does tend to intrigue when I hear about something previously unknown to me only to learn that it is a massive success elsewhere. Sadly, since it is kid fiction, I can't say that I really have much of an interest in going back to check out what I missed. I've just got too many other things to read these days.
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It's interesting how world geography affects these things. I grew up in New Zealand, and we got plenty of media (film, TV, books) from both UK and USA, as well as our own local NZ/Australia stuff. As I've gotten older I realised that was unusual - eg chatting to a UK friend recently of a similar age who'd never seen or heard of the show "Married With Children", which to me was one of those incredibly well-known shows that even if people hadn't watched, they would have still heard of, eg The Simpsons, Friends, Seinfeld, MacGyver, Magnum PI etc. But she was British and never recalled seeing it on British TV growing up. Similarly Enid Blyton is one of the most popular children's authors of all time - she's sold more than 600 million books. She's still 'pop culture' in UK and I imagine Commonwealth countries even for those who haven't read her, but perhaps didn't penetrate as much in USA because you had other alternatives - eg the Stratemeyer Syndicate (Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew etc) put out many kids adventure/mystery series that were hugely popular in US and historically, but only Nancy/Hardy Boys really went huge internationally and for decades of longevity. Interesting how that works sometimes.
Yes, it does tend to intrigue when I hear about something previously unknown to me only to learn that it is a massive success elsewhere. Sadly, since it is kid fiction, I can't say that I really have much of an interest in going back to check out what I missed. I've just got too many other things to read these days.
Absolutely. I'm in the same boat with the likes of Trixie Belden, who an author described to me as a much more tomboyish and badass Nancy Drew. I may have loved those books if I read them as an adolescent, but harder to go back now as an adult. Different experience too. Especially with so much else to read.
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Apologies - I'm coming to this discussion late. As a child, I loved Nancy Drew, Judy Bolton and Trixie Belden. As an adult, my favorite young detective is Flavia de Luce by Alan Bradley. Unfortunately, on re-reading the Nancy Drew books, I was pretty horrified by the attitudes portrayed. I read a lot of Golden Age mysteries, and while many of those are dated to some degree, the Nancy Drew books kind of horrified me because I could have absorbed those attitudes so easily.
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I voted for Nancy Drew, because I devoured all of the books that had been written at that point when I was a kid. When we visited my aunt, my cousin had a bunch, so I would read them there, and a neighbor had the whole series, so I borrowed most of them from her. I only owned a few.
I was given two secondhand Trixie Belden mysteries, which I also enjoyed, but never read any more than that.
Those are the only two of these series that I've read any of. But I also LOVED the Bobbsey Twins mystery series when I was kid!
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Here's a poll asking for your favorite young detective.
I voted for Nancy Drew - I don't think the Nancy Drew books hold up for an adult reader, but I still remember the thrill of finding a title I hadn't read in the library. And my beloved aunt Emily would often surprise me with a new book, which was the best treat ever!
When I look back on those books, it's the titles I remember most. They were so evocative - exciting without being terrifying. And I still remember a lot of the words I had to look up - bayou, coupe, hearth, pavilion - although it was years before I learned to pronounce those words correctly.
There was something so intriguing about THE SECRET OF THE OLD CLOCK, THE HIDDEN STAIRCASE, THE CLUE IN THE CRUMBLING WALL, THE CLUE OF THE LEANING CHIMNEY, THE SIGN OF THE TWISTED CANDLE, THE MOONSTONE CASTLE MYSTERY (which inspired an interactive story, a continuing saga, with my best friend and a heroine called Lillian P. Potter. Yes, Harry Potter's mom-to-be! Little did we know...) and so many more. Just going through the titles makes me want to read them again.
I liked Trixie Belden and her friend Honey a lot, too. Also Judy Bolton and occasionally Cherry Ames.
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Interesting that you should mention The Moonstone Castle Mystery, because that is one of the ones I have! The others are The Secret of the Old Clock and The Mystery of the Fire Dragon. Of course, I had read Old Clock before I got it, since it's the first, but I think the other two were more recent ones at the time, and my "sources" didn't have those. I see that they are #s 40 and 38, respectively.
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I voted for Nancy Drew, because I devoured all of the books that had been written at that point when I was a kid. When we visited my aunt, my cousin had a bunch, so I would read them there, and a neighbor had the whole series, so I borrowed most of them from her. I only owned a few.
I was given two secondhand Trixie Belden mysteries, which I also enjoyed, but never read any more than that.
Those are the only two of these series that I've read any of. But I also LOVED the Bobbsey Twins mystery series when I was kid!
The Trixie Belden books were available in a sort of laminated cardboard pseudo-hardcover that sold for under a dollar at Ben Franklin when I was a kid. I don't remember finding those at the library but I did eventually buy a couple. :-)