Five Classic Series That Have Endured

September 2007 Special Sections
What makes a classic a classic? It’s the kind of question that’s often tackled by literati armed with bestseller lists and scholarly reviews. But those of us who stalk the racks at used bookstores hoping to spy Hardy Boys #36—The Secret of Pirate’s Hill don’t need an expert to tell us what children’s series qualify as classics. We read them…all.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise, then, that many classic series are still available, published with modern storylines and updated characters or are being re-released with a nod to nostalgia and the new generation of readers waiting to scoop them up. Here are five whose popularity rightly endures.

Nancy Drew

Publishing History
Edward Stratemeyer, owner of the Stratemeyer Syndicate and creator of the Bobbsey Twins, Tom Swift, and Hardy Boys series, hired a young female journalist to write stories featuring a resourceful, sleuthing teen. The journalist and nearly a dozen ghostwriters—both men and women—who penned the Nancy Drew series over the years wrote under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene. The first three books in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series were published in 1930 by Grosset & Dunlap. In 1979, Simon & Schuster continued the series in paperback, ending with volume 175 in 2003.

On Shelves Now?
In 1991, Applewood Books began issuing reprints of the originals, using the original text and illustrations. The paperback segment of the series is mostly out of print. Simon & Schuster releases a new book every other month or so in the spinoff series Nancy Drew: Girl Detective.

The Controversy
In 1959, a project was undertaken to revise the first thirty-four books in the series; they were condensed; racial stereotypes were removed; and anachronistic language was replaced. A few titles were completely rewritten, much to the chagrin of purists, who contend that the revised versions lacked the originals’ polish.

Pop Culture Spinoffs
The Nancy Drew character has spawned feature films, including a movie released this past June; television series, board games, a cookbook, a picturebook, and computer games.

Did You Know?
Originally a blonde, Nancy’s hair took on a reddish tint in a misprinted cover illustration, causing the writers to describe her thereafter as “titian-haired.”