Growing Up With Nancy Drew

by Cara Lou Strahley

To a naïve, reserved girl who admired her older, more poised neighbor, Ruthie, a trip to the local Paulding Carnegie Library was an adventure!  Usually a stay-at-home, I jumped at the chance, in 1956, to accompany my friend on a walk to the library where she usually chose a book or two to bring home to read.

When Ruthie finally decided I was old enough to read her favorite series, she introduced me to Nancy Drew’s The Hidden Staircase.  After that, I was hooked!

Just like Nancy Drew, in real life I had a father who was a lawyer; but unlike Nancy, we were far from rich.  I was going through a chubby phase and wore glasses, so I admired Nancy Drew’s good looks, wonderful friends George and Bess, and boyfriend, Ned Nickerson.  Nancy seemed to be everything I wasn’t; and I immersed myself in her adventures and hoped I’d learn from her books to be as independent, poised and courageous as she.  

Looking back, I believe I lived vicariously through the fictional teen detective Nancy Drew, and pretended to possess all of Nancy’s attributes.  This series helped me through an awkward phase and allowed me to fantasize about adventure and spine-tingling excitement in my otherwise dull and sheltered life.

I treasured the entire series and haunted the library shelves waiting for the next volume.  At that stage, I was too timid to boldly ask the Librarian anything. ( Not so now – the librarian is my very good friend.)   Even though my heart would race wondering what would happen next, I could always count on Nancy to solve the case, with the book ending satisfactorily.  

When not reading, Ruthie and I liked to walk through the woods seeking adventure and, hopefully, a mystery or two of our own, along an abandoned railroad complete with old abandoned houses and debris to sort through.  We spent quality time discussing the Nancy Drew books; and our imagination and friendship grew during those idyllic summer treks.  

To this day I am an avid reader, but have moved on to read Nancy Drew’s present-day counterparts as well as authors of other genre.  The catchy slogan “so many books, so little time” is my mantra.  I still haunt the library shelves and always find something to interest me there.

Thank you Carolyn Keene for bringing to literary life the teenage detective named Nancy Drew and all of her adventures which captivated and delighted scores of young girls for whom Nancy was a teen role model.