My sister collected dozens of Nancy Drew novels

in the late 1960s to early 1970s.

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Oddly, I was not enthralled

by the teenage girl-detective or her boyfriend Ned,

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but I was smitten with the Black Rider (a girl! who knew!) in Zane Grey's "Riders of the Purple Sage." It was annoyingly difficult to find a cover that included this heroine, an early "Mighty Girl," Jane Withersteen. Most covers depicted Lassiter alone.

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What made these last-century heroines

so endearing and enduring with 21st Century readers?

“Agency. It is that which forms the foundation for any hero’s ability to save the day.

In America, agency for teenage girls in literature made its debut in 1930 in the person of Nancy Drew.” --Theodore Jefferson, Celebrating 85 Years Of Nancy Drew, The Girl Who Started It All

Nancy Drew 53: the Sky Phantom

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Sadly, Zane Grey's heroine, who began with such agency, soon shares the spotlight with a man who more or less steals the show. Ned, the Ken-doll sidekick of Nancy Drew, never upstaged her.

Nancy Drew was at first considered a poor role model?

Back in the day, yes. She frequently

... contradicted adults while she squared off with the villains… she is mechanically inclined and at the same time doesn’t act like most people in the 1930s would have expected a teenage girl to act.

In fact, many libraries and bookstores refused to carry the Nancy Drew stories. Despite -- or because of -- that disapproval, kids collected the books voraciously, and in the midst of the Depression, used copies were shared and traded like trading cards are today.

This original Mighty Girl character paved the way for many more heroic female characters and inspired generations of real-life girls and women.

It is difficult to overstate how powerful Nancy Drew’s presence remains in literature and in other media. She has influenced film, comics, video games and animation for 89 years, and will continue to do so as long as teenage girls take the lead as our heroes in the imaginative worlds of adventure.

To read Jefferson's entire essay, visit Celebrating 85 Years Of Nancy Drew, The Girl Who Started It All

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source: Penguin Random House series

A box set of the first four classic Nancy Drew books is for sale at A Mighty Girl

For younger children, ages 6 to 9, "Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew Collection"

The new Nancy Drew series is now available in a box set for ages 8 to 12

"Nancy Drew Diaries"

For more girl-empowering books starring mystery-solving Mighty Girls for all ages, check out “Elementary, My Dear Mighty Girl: 40 Books Starring Mighty Girl Detectives”

Learn more about Nancy Drew ghostwriter Millie Benson in the new youth biography for ages 10 and up:

Missing Millie Benson: The Secret Case of the Nancy Drew Ghostwriter and Journalist

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Growing up in Ladora, Iowa, Mildred "Millie" Benson had ample time to develop her imagination, sense of adventure, and independence. Millie left her small hometown to attend the University of Iowa, where she became the first person to earn a master's degree from the school of journalism. While still a graduate student, Millie began writing for the Stratemeyer Syndicate, which published the phenomenally popular Hardy Boys series, among many others. Soon, Edward Stratemeyer tapped Millie for a new series starring amateur sleuth Nancy Drew, a young, independent woman not unlike Millie herself.

Under the pen name Carolyn Keene,

Millie went on to write twenty-three of the first thirty books of the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories. In all, Millie wrote more than a hundred novels for young people under her own name and under pseudonyms. But there's more to the story: Millie was also a journalist for the Toledo (Ohio) Times and The Blade. At the age of sixty-two she obtained her pilot's license and combined her love of aviation with her passion for writing, sharing her travels and adventures with readers. Follow the clues throughout Missing Millie Benson to solve the mysteries of this ghostwriter, journalist, and adventurer.

How many of us owned all 64 books in our 20thC childhoods?

Nancy Drew Complete Series Set, Books 1-64

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I'm thinking it's time to revisit this series, even though it didn't captivate me in my childhood. How about you?

Were you hooked on Nancy Drew?