Endangered Series #30: Nancy Drew
Popularity comes, popularity goes. As librarians we’re always balancing between what will circulate like crazy and what we need to have in the collection. And we’re not the Library of Congress – we can’t (and shouldn’t) keep everything.
An endangered series is one that appears to be waning in terms of popularity. But popularity isn’t everything. Should it stay, or should it go? Or think of it this way – if you were starting a library today, would this series make the cut? Let’s discuss.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Nancy Drew (series) by Carolyn Keene
This one’s an oldie. The original Nancy Drew mystery series ran from 1930-2003 and spanned 175 books. There have been many spinoff series, including The Nancy Drew Files, Nancy Drew: Diaries, and many more.
The Case for Keeping: It’s a well-known series that has become a part of the popular culture.
The Case for Not: If you have the original books from this series on your shelf, how are they doing? And more importantly, how are you doing? Because unless you are running an archive, these books are seriously out-of-date.
Refresh? There are certainly some new cover options and new Nancy Drew series to explore, including chapter book and graphic novel options.
My Verdict: The originals are long gone. We do have some of the more recent series.
How are you handing this series in your library?
Previously:
Endangered Series #1: The Boxcar Children
Endangered Series #2: The Hardy Boys
Endangered Series #3: American Girl
Endangered Series #4: The Baby Sitter’s Club
Endangered Series #5: The Bailey School Kids
Endangered Series #6: Nate the Great
Endangered Series #7: Cam Jansen
Endangered Series #8: The Kids of the Polk Street School
Endangered Series #9: Pony Pals
Endangered Series #10: Little Bill
Endagered Series #11: Animal Ark
Endangered Series #13: The English Roses
Endangered Series #14: Marvin Redpost
Endangered Series #15: Little Critter
Endangered Series #16: Spiderwick Chronicles
Endangered Series #17: Junie B. Jones
Endangered Series #18: Magic School Bus
Endangered Series #19: Dear America
Endangered Series #20: The 39 Clues
Endangered Series #21: Dear Dumb Diary
Endangered Series #22: The Adventures of Mary-Kate and Ashley
Endangered Series #23: Horrible Harry
Endangered Series #24: Santa Paws
Endangered Series #25: Amelia’s Notebook
Endangered Series #26: A to Z Mysteries
Endangered Series #27: Encyclopedia Brown
Endangered Series #28: The Secrets of Droon
Endangered Series #29: The Zack Files
Filed under: Endangered Series
About Travis Jonker
Travis Jonker is an elementary school librarian in Michigan. He writes reviews (and the occasional article or two) for School Library Journal and is a member of the 2014 Caldecott committee. You can email Travis at scopenotes@gmail.com, or follow him on Twitter: @100scopenotes.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
SLJ Blog Network
31 Days, 31 Lists: 2024 Fabulous Photography Books for Kids
Recent Graphic Novel Deals, Early December 2024 | News
The Seven Bills That Will Safeguard the Future of School Librarianship
The Importance of Making Stories Personal, a guest post by Amy Christine Parker
ADVERTISEMENT
When I was in library school in the 1970’s there was a huge debate about whether to have Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, etc. in the public libraries. The argument against was that they were not “literature.” The argument for, which I support, was that children liked to read them, and might develop a love of reading because of them. Whether to keep the original ones is another matter. They’re probably looking a bit ratty by now. However, they do have nostalgia value if you wanted to de-accession them and sell them. I’m not sure about some of the other series listed here, though. They may have been too short-lived.
While there isn’t outright hostility towards Nancy Drew today (largely because so many library workers grew up reading them), there was along period of time in which most series books were libris non grata in circulating collections. There were lists of the authors and series “not to be circulated” in regional library journals. So there was an organized and systematic effort to exclude these from circulating libraries at both the public and school levels.
In an era when librarians are seen as defenders of anyone being able to read anything, it is worth recognizing that this was not always the case.
The rationales given were several, including the “not literature” mentioned as well as being “unrealistic” and poorly bound.
I frequently tell people that the reason I collect, and have nearly 10,000 books in our home, is that I cannot rely on libraries getting or retaining the books that interest me. Inter-library Loan is not really an option when those books are not held by (m)any libraries.
Emily I’m glad that some libraries kept those series because I learned to read in the 70’s and Nancy Drew books were my favorites to read when I was 8. Most of my books came from the public library or my school library. I became a life-long reader and after reading your comment, I’m grateful I had that access. I never would have guessed that Nancy Drew was controversial!
Today, it seems like graphic novels are the new “not literature” books that adults dislike but children love to read.
As a person in a generation that had very few female role models, Nancy was a heroine to inspire us to rely on ourselves and make things happen. I suspect that there are many more such role models now, though I’m not super familiar with elementary lit. Still, there is something to be said for having parents’ (or really grandparents’) favorite books that can provide a shared experience with new generations. I’ve been re-reading the first 56 novels myself for a project I’m doing, and I think there is still value in the stories they tell.