When I was a kid there was nothing that I loved more than running my hands through my middle school’s library book stacks. I’d ask to leave class early and then happily skip my way to my favorite section. Once I spent an hour in the library only to come back to class embarrassed and in trouble. In middle and highschool, the library was my sanctuary. It was a place to go to get free books, and I devoured every young adult and genre book with an intense swiftness. A competition was born: who could empty out the shelf with what they read the fastest? It was always me. One series I gravitated towards a lot as a young girl was Nancy Drew.
Like most, my love affair with the teen sleuth began as a young girl. Nancy was beautiful, young, and very intelligent. She had a fun cast of revolving characters that sometimes came with her on these amazing journeys and each book had a moral or some type of ending note that tied the story up in a neat bow. Those yellow hardback covers were beacons of light and each one transported me back in time.
Nancy’s unique sense of fashion inspired some of my early outfit choices. Penny loafers, pencil skirts and cardigans became a staple of my own wardrobe and eventually I took my love over to the next medium: video games.
Her Interactive, the video game company that produced 32 of the Nancy Drew computer games, has been one of my favorite companies since I discovered Secrets Can Kill. Like the early games (many of which were made in the late 90s-early 2000s) the graphics of SCK are poor and reflect the time. However, the dialogue and interactive story make up for its shortcomings. As time has progressed so has Her Interactive and video games.
I’ve played most if not all of the Nancy Drew computer games, and so many of them remain unfinished and unsolved. Each one harder and more challenging than the last but all of them deeply satisfying and fun. Last Train To Blue Moon Canyon and Danger By Design are two of my favorites and by far my most replayable ones.
I followed my love of Nancy to every single film incarnation of her, and most of the time left feeling unimpressed. The essence of Nancy is difficult to capture to her die-hard fans, but the series that came the closest to the Nancy that I know is that of the 90s Canadian show called Nancy Drew. It ran in tandem with The Hardy Boys and had 13 episodes. From the style to the cinematography to the actress that played Nancy, not much will compare to this series.
Nancy is a lasting literary icon and staple of so many young girls’ youths because of what she represents. Nancy was a feminist before most others, Nancy stood up for people and always knew her self worth. Nancy loved the men in her life with the same ferociousness she loved the women. Nancy taught me what a good relationship with a father was supposed to be. Nancy displayed honesty and integrity in every action and never let anyone bully or intimidate her.
You can catch the newest incarnation of Nancy Drew on the CW every Wednesday at 9.
(Photos courtesy of Random Acts of Momness and Den of Geek.)