NANCY DREW IT'S NO MYSTERY WHY TEEN SLEUTH IS STILL BELOVED BY HER LEGIONS OF FANS.Byline: EUGENE TONG Staff Writer BURBANK - There's a gathering afoot, of old chums and young sleuths enamored en·am·or tr.v. en·am·ored, en·am·or·ing, en·am·ors To inspire with love; captivate: was enamored of the beautiful dancer; were enamored with the charming island. with a nosey nos·ey adj. Variant of nosy. nosey or nosy Adjective [nosier, nosiest] Informal prying or inquisitive nosiness n , resourceful teen detective. The first clue is the silhouette of a girl on the corner of a flier, clad in a 1930s flapper dress and heels, a magnifying glass magnifying glass: see microscope. magnifying glass traditional detective equipment; from its use by Sherlock Holmes. [Br. Lit.: Payton, 473] See : Sleuthing in hand. She stands hunched over as if hot on the trail of an unsolved mystery. The flier itself, found at Burbank's Buena Vista Branch library, reveals a second clue: "Nancy Drew Convention!" Fans of the plucky pluck·y adj. pluck·i·er, pluck·i·est Having or showing courage and spirit in trying circumstances. See Synonyms at brave. pluck amateur teen sleuth from River Heights River Heights may refer to:
"She's just an independent, adventurous, spunky spunk·y adj. spunk·i·er, spunk·i·est Informal Spirited; plucky. spunk  i·ly adv. character
who loves to solve mysteries and loves to help people," said
convention organizer Jennifer Fisher Jennifer Fisher is an art historian and curator specializing in contemporary art and culture studies. In her research, she engages cultural studies approaches to examine contemporary art, curatorial practice, display culture and the aesthetics of the non-visual senses. , who heads the Queen Creek,
Ariz.-based national fan group, Nancy Drew Sleuths, and was a consultant
on the film. "No matter what era Nancy Drew is written, that
character has never changed.
"She's not Paris Hilton  Editing of this page by unregistered or newly registered users is currently disabled due to vandalism. and Lindsay Lohan Lindsay Dee Lohan (born July 2 1986) is an American actress and pop music singer. Lohan started in show business as a child fashion model for magazine advertisement and television commercials. , types that are
just off the charts. Nancy Drew is pretty safe and sane."
She's a creation of Edward Stratemeyer, whose Stratemeyer Syndicate The Stratemeyer Syndicate was the producer of a number of series for children and adults including the Nancy Drew mysteries, the Hardy Boys, the various Tom Swift series, the Bobbsey Twins and others. minted popular serial novels such as "Tom Swift Tom Swift is the young protagonist in several series of juvenile adventure novels which began in the early twentieth century and continue to the present. Each such series stars a hero named Tom Swift who is a genius inventor and whose breakthroughs in technology (especially " and "The Hardy Boys Hardy Boys teenagers solve crimes and mysteries with detective father. [Children’s Lit.: Clue in the Embers; Twisted Claw; Tower Treasure] See : Sleuthing " for the publishing houses of the day. Ghostwritten Ghostwritten is the first novel published by the author David Mitchell. Published in 1999, it won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and was widely acclaimed. The story takes place mainly around East Asia, but also moves through Russia, Britain and the USA. series Though each series was credited to an author, the books were actually written by ghostwriters Ghostwriters (sometimes also called "The Ghostwriters" or referred to as "Ghosties" by fans) are an Australian rock band, a collaboration principally involving former Midnight Oil drummer Rob Hirst and Hoodoo Gurus bassist Rick Grossman. working from outlines and settings established by Stratemeyer and his editors. For Nancy Drew, the pseudonym was "Carolyn Keene." "She was the only author that I had ever written a letter to, and then you find out she's not real," said Joan Cappocchi, 55, a library assistant at the Burbank Public Library. "Reality check there. "But for me, what's old is new. When something does come back around, you always hope it's one of the good things. Anything with a wonderful, smart heroine has got to be good." Stratemeyer conceived the girl detective in 1930 and outlined the first three novels before his death the same year. "We're not sure if he even saw the books, and he certainly didn't see their success," said James Keeline, a former antique-book dealer who has studied Stratemeyer history and written about it. "Even in the 1930s, Nancy Drew was outselling everything, even the boys' series. ... It has been and continues to be the most successful book started by the Stratemeyer Syndicate." The series has sold an estimated 200 million copies over 77 years -- not quite Harry Potter numbers. (The six books in the planned seven-book series about the boy wizard have sold at least 325 million copies since 1997.) Series has legs But what Nancy lacks in sales is made up by her endurance and timelessness. What young reader could resist a teen heroine who cruises around town in a blue roadster, who has a boyfriend -- but doesn't need him -- and is resourceful enough to tap out Morse Code messages with her high-heel oxfords while bound inside a boat? "Many different groups of people have seen in Nancy something they really like, like that spirit of individualism, that can-do attitude," Keeline said. "That's a timeless quality that's not just for the 1930s, it's for today. Sometimes it's called feminism, sometimes it's girl power. It doesn't matter. The desire for respect and to do things and not be limited by one's gender has a common appeal for everybody." A preconvention dinner with the Nancy Drew Sleuths at their Pasadena hotel offered another clue. On one end sat Diana McInerney, 71, of Meriden, Conn., who found a role model in the detective as a young girl. "She's like an older sister," she said. "Everything I wasn't able to do, she could. I identified with that." New generations Meanwhile, Jessica Gentrup, 8, of Gilbert, Ariz., couldn't be bothered to pull her nose away from a Nancy Drew illustrated guide for a meal. She is among the third generation of her family to discover the sleuth. "It's exciting," she said, recalling her first encounter with the books. "She was trying to find a will. It was hidden." For others, collecting the novels in their various incarnations is part of the allure. Some of the older titles were revised in the 1950s to remove archaic language and references considered racist, and to quicken pacing. "It's fun to sleuth the attics and the antique stores and used bookstores, and of course on eBay," Fisher said. "And they're just endearing. There is a certain comfort level you get from reading them. They're not getting bogged down in social issues. They're just fun entertainment." eugene.tong@dailynews.com (818) 546-3304 GETTING A CLUE ABOUT MS. DREW Sleuths convention Today, 10:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Burbank Library, 300 N. Buena Vista St. Call (818) 238-5620. Saturday, 9 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Pasadena Hilton, 168 S. Los Robles Robles is a common surname in the Spanish language meaning oaks, and may refer to:
Nancy Drew trivia questions 1. Where is Nancy's hometown of River Heights located? 2. In what book did Nancy Drew's dog, Togo, appear for the first time? 3. What age was Nancy Drew when the series debuted in 1930? 4. Name Nancy Drew's first mystery. 5. In which book do Nancy's best friends, Bess Marvin and George Fayne, appear? Nancy Drew's mysterious history 1930: The first three Nancy Drew books debuted April 28, created by Edward Stratemeyer. Carolyn Keene was a pseudonym for many ghostwriters over the years. 1938-39: Warner Bros BROS Brothers BROS Benefits and Retirement Operations Section (King County, Washington) BROS Barnes and Richmond Operatic Society (London, UK) . releases four Nancy Drew movies. 1957: The Nancy Drew Mystery Game appears on the market, created by Parker Brothers. 1977: Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys appear on TV in a weekly mystery hour on ABC ABC in full American Broadcasting Co. Major U.S. television network. It began when the expanding national radio network NBC split into the separate Red and Blue networks in 1928. . 1986: A modern take on Nancy Drew is published: "The Nancy Drew Files" series. 1993: The first Nancy Drew Conference is held at the University of Iowa Not to be confused with Iowa State University. The first faculty offered instruction at the University in March 1855 to students in the Old Mechanics Building, situated where Seashore Hall is now. In September 1855, the student body numbered 124, of which, 41 were women. . 1995: Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys return to TV in a short-lived 1995 series. 1998: Nancy Drew computer games debut. 2003: The classic "Nancy Drew Mystery Stories" series ends with volume No. 175. 2004: Nancy Drew is relaunched in the new "Nancy Drew: Girl Detective" series in which the books are written in first-person style. 2007: A new Warner Bros. Nancy Drew movie debuts Answers to trivia questions 1. Nowhere, it's a fictional town 2. "The Whispering Statue" 3. 16 4. "The Secret of the Old Clock" 5. "The Secret of Shadow Ranch" (Compiled by Nancy Drew consultant Jennifer Fisher, www.nancydrewsleuth.com) CAPTION(S): 3 photos, 3 boxes Photo: (1 -- color) Jennifer Fisher of New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of holds a banner with a vintage poster of a Nancy Drew movie made in the 1930s as she and other fans gather at the Pasadena Hilton hotel for a convention. Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer (2 -- color) no caption ("Nancy Drew") (3 -- color) Nancy Drew fans Jennifer Fisher, left, and Meredith Jaffe from New York view Fisher's collection of Nancy Drew novels in the lobby of the Pasadena Hilton, site of a weekend convention honoring the teenage sleuth. Box: (1) GETTING A CLUE ABOUT MS. DREW (see text) (2) Nancy Drew's mysterious history (see text) (3) Answers to trivia questions (see text) (Compiled by Nancy Drew consultant Jennifer Fisher, www.nancydrewsleuth.com) |
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