Nancy Drew on Campus

Last updated
Nancy Drew on Campus
Author Carolyn Keene
Country United States
Language English
Genre Young adult novel
Publisher Simon Pulse
Published1995 - 1998
Media typePrint (Paperback)
No. of books25

Nancy Drew on Campus is a series of twenty-five books published as a young adult spin-off from the long-running Nancy Drew mystery series. [1] The series was published between 1995 and 1998 by Simon & Schuster's Young Adult imprint Simon Pulse and followed Nancy and her friends as they attended college and dealt with issues such as date rape and drug usage. [2] [3]

Contents

Nancy Drew on Campus utilized reader interaction, most notably in the first two books where they were asked to call a 1-800 number to decide whether Nancy and her boyfriend Ned were to break up or stay together. [4] Nancy Drew ends her relationship to Ned Nickerson in the second book in the series, supposedly based on reader feedback to the telephone poll in the previous book.

This series focused more on romance and problems facing teens than on mysteries. A large group of new characters was introduced and became the focus of story-lines during the run of the series. Nancy Drew works as a reporter for the school newspaper and becomes involved in minor mysteries, often the sub-plot or tertiary plot of the book. The larger secondary cast takes center stage as they deal with drugs, potential pregnancy, date rape, and other incidents that are the staples of the genre.

The series was cancelled in 1997, when Simon & Schuster decided to cancel all Nancy Drew & Hardy Boys spin-offs.

Synopsis

The series followed Nancy and her friends George and Bess as they attend the fictional Wilder University. [5] Nancy is attending in order to receive a degree in journalism, much to the chagrin of her longtime boyfriend Ned Nickerson, who wants her to attend Emerson College with him instead. [6] Despite initial attempts to make their relationship work, [7] the two break up in the second book On Her Own after Nancy decides that Ned is too controlling. [8]

List of books in the series

  1. New Lives, New Loves
  2. On Her Own
  3. Don't Look Back
  4. Tell Me the Truth
  5. Secret Rules
  6. It's Your Move
  7. False Friends
  8. Getting Closer
  9. Broken Promises
  10. Party Weekend
  11. In the Name of Love
  12. Just the Two of Us
  13. Campus Exposures
  14. Hard to Get
  15. Loving and Losing
  16. Going Home
  17. New Beginnings
  18. Keeping Secrets
  19. Love On-Line
  20. Jealous Feelings
  21. Love and Betrayal
  22. In and Out of Love
  23. Otherwise Engaged
  24. In the Spotlight
  25. Snowbound

Reception

Reception to the series was mixed, with some critics viewing the inclusion of adult themes such as date rape "unsuccessful". [2] In her book Sisters, Schoolgirls, and Sleuths, Carolyn Carpan commented that the series was "more soap opera romance than mystery" and that Nancy "comes across as dumb, missing easy clues she wouldn't have missed in previous series". [9] The series was also criticized for focusing more on romance than on grades or studying, with one critic stating that the series resembled collegiate academic studying in the 1950s, where "women were more interested in pursuing ... the "MRS" degree." [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nancy Drew</span> Fictional character in a juvenile mystery series

Nancy Drew is a fictional character appearing in several mystery book series, movies, video games, and a TV show as a teenage amateur sleuth. The books are ghostwritten by a number of authors and published under the collective pseudonym Carolyn Keene. Created by the publisher Edward Stratemeyer as the female counterpart to his Hardy Boys series, the character first appeared in 1930 in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series, which lasted until 2003 and consisted of 175 novels.

The Stratemeyer Syndicate was a publishing company that produced a number of mystery book series for children, including Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, the various Tom Swift series, the Bobbsey Twins, the Rover Boys, and others. It published and contracted the many pseudonymous authors who wrote the series from 1899 to 1987, when it was sold to Simon & Schuster.

The Dana Girls was a series of young adult mystery novels produced by the Stratemeyer Syndicate. The title heroines, Jean and Louise Dana, are teenage sisters and amateur detectives who solve mysteries while at boarding school. The series was created in 1934 in an attempt to capitalize on the popularity of both the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories and the Hardy Boys series, but was less successful than either. The series was written by a number of ghostwriters and, despite going out-of-print twice, lasted from 1934 to 1979; the books have also been translated into a number of other languages. While subject to less critical attention than either Nancy Drew or the Hardy Boys, a number of critics have written about the series, most arguing that the Dana Girls' relative lack of success was due to the more dated nature of the series.

<i>The Secret at Shadow Ranch</i> Nancy Drew 5, published 1931

The Secret at Shadow Ranch is the fifth volume in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series. It was first published in 1931 under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene, and was ghostwritten by Mildred Wirt Benson. This book, as of 2001, ranks 50 on the list of All-Time Bestselling Children's Books, according to Publishers Weekly, with 2,347,750 sales since 1931.

<i>The Clue in the Diary</i> Nancy Drew 7, published 1932

The Clue in the Diary is the seventh volume in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series, and was first published in 1932 under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene. Its text was revised in 1962.

<i>Nancys Mysterious Letter</i> Nancy Drew 8, published 1932

Nancy's Mysterious Letter is the eighth volume in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series. It was first published in 1932 and was penned by Walter Karig, a replacement writer for Mildred Wirt Benson. Benson declined series work when the Depression forced a reduction in the contract fee provided to Stratemeyer Syndicate writers, so Karig, already an established Stratemeyer writer, took over the authorship. Due to Karig having died in 1956, the 1932 version passed into the public domain in Canada and other countries that have a life plus 50 policy, in 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Judy Bolton Series</span> Young adult series by Margaret Sutton

The Judy Bolton Mystery Series, written by Margaret Sutton, follows a realistic young woman who solves mysteries. Although the series was not quite as popular as Nancy Drew, Judy Bolton has been called a more complex and believable role model for girls. Judy was also unique in that halfway through the series, she married The 38-volume series was written from 1932 and 1967 and is the longest-lasting juvenile mystery series written by an individual author.

<i>The Password to Larkspur Lane</i> Nancy Drew 10, published 1933

The Password to Larkspur Lane is the tenth volume in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series. It was first published in 1933 under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene. The actual author was ghostwriter Walter Karig in his third and final Nancy Drew novel and his final appearance for the Stratemeyer Syndicate. Due to Karig's death in 1956, this book and his other two Nancy Drews, as of January 1, 2007, have passed into the public domain in Canada and other countries with a life-plus-50 policy.

<i>Nancy Drew</i> (2007 film) 2007 American mystery thriller film

Nancy Drew is a 2007 American mystery comedy film loosely based on the series of mystery novels about the titular teen detective of the same name by Edward Stratemeyer. It stars Emma Roberts as Nancy Drew, with Josh Flitter and Max Thieriot. Directed by Andrew Fleming, the film follows Nancy Drew (Roberts) as she moves to Los Angeles with her father Carson on an extended business trip and stumbles across evidence of an unsolved mystery involving the death of a murdered movie star, prompting Nancy to solve the cold case. It was released in theaters on June 15, 2007, by Warner Bros. Pictures. Critical reactions were mixed, but the film grossed $30 million worldwide on a $20 million budget.

<i>Nancy Drew: Girl Detective</i> Book series

Nancy Drew: Girl Detective is a 2004–2012 book series which replaced the long-running Nancy Drew mystery series. This new series is written in first person narration, from Nancy's point of view, and features updated versions of the main Nancy Drew characters. New secondary characters are introduced to populate River Heights and appear over multiple books, adding a framework to Nancy's world.

<i>The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries</i> American television series

The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries is an American television mystery series based on the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew juvenile novels. The series, which ran from January 30, 1977, to January 14, 1979, was produced by Glen A. Larson from Universal Television for ABC. Parker Stevenson and Shaun Cassidy starred as amateur detective brothers Frank and Joe Hardy, respectively, while Pamela Sue Martin starred as amateur sleuth Nancy Drew.

<i>The Secret in the Old Attic</i> Nancy Drew 21, published 1944

The Secret in the Old Attic is the twenty-first volume in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series. It was first published in 1944 under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene. The actual author was ghostwriter Mildred Wirt Benson.

Ned Nickerson is a fictional character in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series written under the collective pseudonym "Carolyn Keene". Ned is often referred to as Nancy Drew's boyfriend. He first appears in The Clue in the Diary, the seventh volume in the series.

<i>Kay Tracey</i> Book series featuring girl detective

The Kay Tracey Mysteries were published under the name Frances K. Judd, a house pseudonym of the Stratemeyer Syndicate, a book packager. The series was conceived as a response to the popularity of the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories and likewise features a teenage girl detective. While the original entries in the series lasted only from 1934 to 1942, the books were updated, revised, and have been re-issued numerous times, most recently by Bantam Books in the 1980s, and have been translated into Swedish and French. Many critics see Kay Tracey as markedly inferior to Nancy Drew, but some find the series to be significant as one of a number of series that provided girls with a feminist role model prior to third-wave feminism.

<i>The Nancy Drew Files</i> Fiction series by Simon & Schuster

The Nancy Drew Files, or the Nancy Drew Case Files, is a detective fiction series started in 1986 and released by Simon & Schuster, New York. It is a spin-off of the original series of novels featuring Nancy Drew, with a greater emphasis on adventure, malice and romance. All the books have been written under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene. This series has been targeted at readers who are age eleven and up. With a new book released almost every month, 124 titles were released in 11 years. More than 17 million copies are in print and the books have appeared on the bestseller lists of Publishers Weekly, B. Dalton, and Waldenbooks. In 2014, Simon & Schuster started releasing this series in eBook format.

The Nancy Drew Mystery Stories is the long-running "main" series of the Nancy Drew franchise, which was published under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene. There are 175 novels — plus 34 revised stories — that were published between 1930 and 2003 under the banner; Grosset & Dunlap published the first 56, and 34 revised stories, while Simon & Schuster published the series beginning with volume 57.

Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew is a book series featuring a grade-school-aged Nancy Drew. Like the Nancy Drew Notebooks, the series is aimed at a younger audience.

Nancy Drew is a 2002 American television film directed by James Frawley and written by Ami Canaan Mann. It stars Maggie Lawson as teen sleuth Nancy Drew, who heads off to college and finds yet another mystery to solve. The film first aired on December 15, 2002, on ABC.

<i>Confessions of a Teen Sleuth</i> Book by Chelsea Cain

Confessions of a Teen Sleuth: A Parody is a 2005 parody novel by American writer Chelsea Cain. The book is a parody of the Nancy Drew mystery series published under the collective pseudonym Carolyn Keene and created by Edward Stratemeyer. The novel purports to be the true story of Nancy Drew, who claims that Keene was a former college roommate who plagiarized her life story while also misrepresenting Drew in the process. It incorporates characters from the mystery series while also including or mentioning characters from other series such as The Hardy Boys, Cherry Ames, and Encyclopedia Brown.

References

  1. ↑ "A NEW IMAGE FOR NANCY DREW". Chicago Tribune. May 26, 1995. Archived from the original on February 16, 2013. Retrieved 3 February 2013.
  2. 1 2 Mitchell, Claudia (2007). Girl Culture: Studying girl culture : a readers' guide. Greenwood. p. 450. ISBN   978-0313339097.
  3. ↑ "NANCY DREW IS UPDATED - AND DATED". Akron Beacon Journal. September 21, 1995. Retrieved 3 February 2013.
  4. ↑ "Will Ned fit in college life of Nancy Drew?". USA Today. Aug 11, 1995. Archived from the original on February 16, 2013. Retrieved 3 February 2013.
  5. ↑ "It's a new Nancy Drew teen sleuth enters '90s". Dallas Morning News. September 13, 1995. Retrieved 3 February 2013.
  6. ↑ "BOOK REVIEW NANCY INVESTIGATES COLLEGE LIFE". Star Telegram. August 22, 1995. Retrieved 3 February 2013.
  7. ↑ Drew, Bernard (1997). The 100 Most Popular Young Adult Authors . Libraries Unlimited. pp.  185. ISBN   1563086158. nancy drew on campus.
  8. ↑ Inness, Sherrie A. (1997). Nancy Drew and Company . Popular Press. pp.  157. ISBN   0879727365. Nancy Drew on Campus.
  9. ↑ Carpan, Carolyn (2009). Sisters, Schoolgirls, and Sleuths. Scarecrow Press. pp. 135–136. ISBN   978-0810863958.
  10. ↑ Johnson, Naomi (2008). Consuming Desires: A Feminist Analysis of Bestselling Teen Romance Novels. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. p. 18. ISBN   9780549324775.
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