Just recently I discovered that Nancy Drew has joined the 21st century! Here is my review of one of her new books…

Nancy Drew: bad times, big crimes

Carolyn Keene
Aladdin paperbacks, New York, 2005

Nancy Drew is a dectective character known to many girls – personally, I read a number of her books and they may well have paved the way to my current love of crime/mystery books. So it was interesting to find a new series of Nancy Drew books has been written by Carolyn Keene, the original Nancy Drew author.

I am impressed that Keene has managed to stay true to the style of her original books after so long – the last original book was written something like 40 years prior to this one! The book is still simple enough and appropriate for its young audience, and based on the principles of kindness, generosity and common sense.

It was perhaps a strange book to read as the comparison between the 1970s and 2005 Nancys was mixed in with a 1930s time travel adventure!Young readers will get a simple history lesson about the depression as they read Nancy’s struggles to live without a mobile (cell) phone and computer.

Nancy and her best friends, Bess and George, solve a string of crimes that Nancy heard about in the present, as well as solving some human issues in Riversdale.

The biggest change from the original, apart from technological updates, was the narration style. In theearlier series, Keene wrote in the third person whereas the new books are narated by Nancy. The new series follows the old series, but it isn’t clear how much after they are – Nancy still lives with her Dad and housekeeper and has had Ned Nickerson as her “boyfriend for years”, but there is no mention of her age (whereas we knew she was 18 in the first series.)

Overall, it is an easy read for an adult and suitably paced for 8 to 13 year olds – and I happily recommend it for that age group.