Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her by Melanie Rehak
A very enjoyable (if you have any interest in the subject) book about Nancy Drew's publication history, creation, writers, and the history of the Stratemeyer syndicate. The book primarily focuses on Harriet Stratemeyer Adams, who ran the syndicate for decades, outlined most of the Nancy Drew books, and ghostwrote some, and Mildred Augustine Wirt Benson, the original ghostwriter for the series, who also wrote under her own name, with some early attention given to Edward Stratemeyer, the founder of the syndicate and actual creator of Nancy Drew and briefly (almost grudgingly) on Walter Karig, who ghostwrote a few of the Nancy Drew books and broke contract to claim credit for the books, mistakenly being attributed as the writer for the entire series at one point.
As much as I enjoyed reading about HSA and MAWB (and especially trivia about how HSA objected to being given no middle name-her parents assuming she's use "Stratemeyer" as a middle name after she married-and so tried to change her name to Harriet Margaret Stratemeyer, and how MAWB maintained her full workload through her entire pregnancy and almost literally worked until the day she died and did about 50 bajillion adventurous things) the history and evolution of children's series books from roughly 1900-1970 was actually more interesting, along with the inner workings of the syndicate and the juggling HSA did (sometimes aided by her sister, Edna) to keep it going, especially during the depression.
Like most discussing Nancy Drew's creators, Rehak points out that ES thought women (at least women in families of the Stratemeyer's status) belonged "in the home" and neither HSA nor MAWB regarded themselves as feminist. However, she also makes sure to draw attention to the fact that ES was aware enough that if girls like something with a male lead, they'd probably like something along the same lines with a female lead with equal resources and independence even more, and relied on the feedback of women, including his daughters, in creating the series, assuming they'd have a better idea of what adolescent girls wanted than he did, and that HSA and MAWB did everything typically attributed to what feminists of the time said women should be doing, but came from an earlier time when it wasn't proper to openly buck the system, instead sutting back and doing their thing.
Again, probably only of interest to those with an existing interest in the topic, but very good if you are interested in it.
As much as I enjoyed reading about HSA and MAWB (and especially trivia about how HSA objected to being given no middle name-her parents assuming she's use "Stratemeyer" as a middle name after she married-and so tried to change her name to Harriet Margaret Stratemeyer, and how MAWB maintained her full workload through her entire pregnancy and almost literally worked until the day she died and did about 50 bajillion adventurous things) the history and evolution of children's series books from roughly 1900-1970 was actually more interesting, along with the inner workings of the syndicate and the juggling HSA did (sometimes aided by her sister, Edna) to keep it going, especially during the depression.
Like most discussing Nancy Drew's creators, Rehak points out that ES thought women (at least women in families of the Stratemeyer's status) belonged "in the home" and neither HSA nor MAWB regarded themselves as feminist. However, she also makes sure to draw attention to the fact that ES was aware enough that if girls like something with a male lead, they'd probably like something along the same lines with a female lead with equal resources and independence even more, and relied on the feedback of women, including his daughters, in creating the series, assuming they'd have a better idea of what adolescent girls wanted than he did, and that HSA and MAWB did everything typically attributed to what feminists of the time said women should be doing, but came from an earlier time when it wasn't proper to openly buck the system, instead sutting back and doing their thing.
Again, probably only of interest to those with an existing interest in the topic, but very good if you are interested in it.