The classic Nancy Drew series was written from 1930 to 1979. Thirty-four of those books were written over a period of twenty-nine years, then in 1959, those books began to be revised and the next twenty-two books started being written in this new format. The books were revised for several reasons. Mainly to update the books and remove all stereotypes. Here is a list of the changes that were made to the revised books. The (o) stands for original and the (r) for revised.
1. (o) Nancy's mother died when Nancy was ten years old.
(r) Nancy's mother died when Nancy was three years old.
2. (o) Nancy's hair was blonde.
(r) Nancy's hair is strawberry blonde.
3. (o) Nancy was sixteen years old.
(r) Nancy is eighteen years old.
4. (o) The books had 25 chapters.
(r) The books have 20 chapters.
5. (o) The books were approximately 200 pages long.
(r) The books are approximately 180 pages long.
6. (o) The books were illustrated mainly by Russell H. Tandy.
(r) The books are illustrated mainly by Rudy Nappi.
7. (o) Bess and George were sixteen years old.
(r) Bess and George are eighteen years old.
8. (o) Hannah Gruen was nothing more than a housekeeper.
(r) Hannah Gruen was Nancy's dear friend and mother figure.
9. (o) Nancy was fearless.
(r) Nancy was much more careful.
10. (o) Nancy didn't mind breaking the rules a little bit if it meant she would solve the mystery.
(r) Nancy would never break the rules.
11. (o) Nancy was described as "pretty".
(r) Nancy was described as "attractive".
12. Books 2, 4, 5, 11, 12, 14, 17, and 18 got brand new stories when they were revised.
13. Several titles were slightly altered. (e.g. The Secret at Shadow Ranch became The Secret of Shadow Ranch)
~Sienna
Random Fact of the Week: When Edward Stratemeyer was creating Nancy Drew, some of the names he considered were Diana Drew, Nell Cody, Stella Strong, Nan Nelson, Diana Dare, Helen Hale, and Nan Drew.
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