Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys

Greetings!

I received a question recently regarding Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books and whether or not to put them in the school library. I know some of you will find this difficult to believe, but I actually have never read them. I have a vague idea of the storylines but really do not know much about the series at all. I went to the popular *Wikipedia to do some quick research.

I learned that the Nancy Drew series began in 1930 and The Hardy Boys began in 1927. Both series were created by Edward Stratemeyer and both were written by ghostwriters that use the pseudonyms Carolyn Keene and Franklin W. Dixon respectively. Nancy was portrayed as an independent teenager of about 16 years old and was graduated from high school. The Hardy Boys are also older teenagers. Their lives are fairly similar, they are affluent, and they have exciting adventures.

Big criticisms came from some racism and classism in the books between 1927 and 1959. I know that my parents did not buy Nancy Drew books for us and I suspect now that our SDA schools likely did not use them for those criticisms.

Between 1959 and 1980 both series were revised. The story lines were more modern and racist stereotypes were eliminated. Other revisions happened between 1980 and 2003. Romance for Nancy was included in the story lines and she is portrayed a bit differently. A little more violence is also included. Other teen books in this time period include romance and violence as well, so Nancy is just keeping up with the times. The Hardy Boys series also has become more violent. The boys carry guns and are involved in more violent cases. One writer comments that her instructions for the book she wrote involved a story line and each chapter must be full of action and have a cliff hanger at the end.

My guess is that parents or grandparents read Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys when they were young, enjoyed the books and have suggested their kids read them. Then the students come to the library to find more.

I contacted the NAD to ask if they had a stance on Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys. Carol Campbell – no relation – responded and said that the NAD has not taken a position on any particular books for Adventist schools. It is left up to the local school, teacher, or conference to determine what is appropriate. She suggested that if there is a question about a particular book, to read it first and judge its merit based on the new standards for literature selection. I will send them as an attachment for you to have.

Based on the information from Wikipedia and from the NAD, I would suggest that you not add these books to your libraries. If the books are a part of your library at this time, and you feel that you need to remove them, just do it and replace them with better books. We need to weed our libraries anyway, so this is just one place to start.

I hope you have a great week.

Audrey

*I know that for research purposes Wikipedia is not the best website to use but if all you want is to get a general overview, it is certainly a great place to begin.