Revised versions of children’s books - and others

[Critteranne]

Originally Posted by issybird

I wasn’t going to comment, but since I’m back in the thread I’ll say that I wasn’t researching at Wikipedia, just looking for a handy quote. I know my Nancy Drew. .

If you’re ever in Ellicott City, Maryland, visit Main Street and check out the used book vendor at the top floor of the Antique Depot. They specialize in Nancy Drew and other series. They have one or two bookcases dedicated to Nancy Drew and other series. They have them from all eras, including some Nancy Drew early editions with dust jackets.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Critteranne

If you’re ever in Ellicott City, Maryland, visit Main Street and check out the used book vendor at the top floor of the Antique Depot. They specialize in Nancy Drew and other series. They have one or two bookcases dedicated to Nancy Drew and other series. They have them from all eras, including some Nancy Drew early editions with dust jackets.

I can’t even imagine how pricey they must be!

At some point and I suspect we’re talking a couple of decades now, facsimile editions of the earliest books were released. I don’t know if they’re still in print; racial bias might have caused them to peter out quietly, unlike those Dr. Seuss books where a big noise was made. In any case, I wouldn’t be surprised if today’s girls preferred the updated versions; my sense is that kids today aren’t as comfortable reading books written much earlier. Do girls still read Louisa May Alcott, for example?

[Critteranne]

Originally Posted by issybird

I can’t even imagine how pricey they must be!

It varies. Some are first printings, some are second. Some are in great condition, and some are not, so if I buy one, I get the dinged-up one. They even had some British editions (but later ones I think).

They include notes for collectors -- in pencil, of course.

Originally Posted by issybird

At some point and I suspect we’re talking a couple of decades now, facsimile editions of the earliest books were released. I don’t know if they’re still in print; racial bias might have caused them to peter out quietly, unlike those Dr. Seuss books where a big noise was made. In any case, I wouldn’t be surprised if today’s girls preferred the updated versions; my sense is that kids today aren’t as comfortable reading books written much earlier. Do girls still read Louisa May Alcott, for example?

I remember those. I wonder if they sold more to collectors than to people buying them for their children. I just saw just the first couple in the bookstores, but the company had others available. So they might not have sold well except to people who bought the later books directly from them. (And the publisher might have lost the rights. They still sell Tom Swift from their site, but not Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys.)

I've seen the facsimile editions at that booth -- properly labeled as facsimile editions, of course.

[Sunlite]

The Three Investigators are called 'Die drei ??? ' and I had quite a number of their audio plays as a Child. Those are still produced today, even with the same speakers. I hear them sometimes during a power walk.

[Catlady]

Farah's Guide is an extensive examination of Nancy Drew editions and printings and how to identify them. There are an enormous number of variations, beyond just the original vs. updated text (e.g., various covers and endpapers). The yellow-spine pictorial-cover versions are mostly updated text, but not always--e.g., I have a yellow-spine copy of The Mystery of the Ivory Charm that is original text.

The blue "tweed" covers that originally came with dust jackets are generally original text, I believe--I have a batch of those. The really pricey editions are earlier ones with light blue covers and dust jackets.

Applewood Books published facsimile editions of Nancy Drew; I think they published facsimile Judy Bolton books too.

I must stand up for Cherry Ames, who, instead of being an overprivileged prima donna like Nancy Drew, actually had a worthwhile career. She and the other career girls, like Vicki Barr and Connie Blair, showed girls that marriage was not the only goal for a woman, that they could have jobs that mattered and didn't need to rely on men for financial independence. Even Sue Barton postponed marriage in favor of career. These characters were generally good role models for their times.

[JSWolf]

I did read The Hardy Boys when I was young. I did not read Nancy Drew. I also read Alfred Hitchcock and The Three Investigators.

[graycyn]

Originally Posted by Critteranne

If you’re ever in Ellicott City, Maryland, visit Main Street and check out the used book vendor at the top floor of the Antique Depot. They specialize in Nancy Drew and other series. They have one or two bookcases dedicated to Nancy Drew and other series. They have them from all eras, including some Nancy Drew early editions with dust jackets.

That sounds like so much fun! Probably some of what I read of Nancy Drew was original, some revised. One grandmother produced a few originals, and the rest were mostly through the library.

However, my dad had an extensive collection of Hardy Boys, so those were what I grew up with, along with dad's nearly complete (though also completely sans dust jacket) Jerry Todd and Poppy Ott books.

I feel fortunate to have grown up with mostly the original Hardy Boys stories, even if I never saw a single dust jacket. I guess my dad was hard on those, LOL!

At any rate, I can't see myself purchasing any Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys ebooks, as I'd prefer, if I want a nostalgia re-read, to do so with the originals.

[Almamida]

Originally Posted by issybird

LOL! I saw this earlier this morning and contemplated sending the link to my sister, but I haven’t got round to it. She rereads the Nancy Drews every summer.

PRH needs to update the blurb; The Secret of the Old Clock was published in 1930. Unfortunately, this is the revised edition and IMNSHO, the revised editions stink. They were dumbed down; they’re shorter and have simpler sentence structure. And then there’s the updated material which never is successful; ultimately books like this can’t be updated. They become inconsistent gobbledegook. How many dirt roads with a bridge out does one drive down these days? And all those telegrams with vital information!

I admit it; if the original versions became available in ebook, I’d buy at least a few. However, I find the revised books unreadable.

One final point: for Canadians and others in Life+50 countries, Faded Page has this and a few other revised Nancy Drews as well as some originals later in the series available.

Thank you so much for mentioning this, I'll try to read the unrevised version.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Critteranne

I liked Encyclopedia Brown. But even as a kid, I thought some of the solutions weren’t that great. I remember thinking, “Are you sure that’s enough to get someone arrested?”

Yeah, sometimes the solutions are questionable.

I've also run in to issues where the Encyclopedia Brown stories not being updated has kept my kid from being able to figure out the solutions, even if they were otherwise fair.

Sure, it was a great way to teach kids to look for clues in the text. Our teachers used to read the chapters to the class and get us to guess. They were better than the other “mini-mysteries” out there. But sometimes, the solutions were too forced. And the stories could be even more formulaic than Nancy Drew. (Why the bully didn’t end up either in jail or running for mayor I’ll never know…)

The books in general follow a pattern. Each book has ten mysteries. Bugs Meany, the bully, shows up at least once.

I do wish Sally got to headline at least a story in each book. She was sold as the equal to Encyclopedia in the brains department and more than a match for Bugs in brawn. She would be great for my kid to read about. But instead, Sally plays Watson to Encyclopedia's Holmes.

But I really appreciate that those books get my kid to think beyond just following the text.

This was always an issue for those “mini-mysteries.” I seem to remember there was one where the sleuth figured out someone claiming to be an English professor was a fake because the sleuth told him to “scan” a document for clues, and he quickly read it (skimmed it); instead of quickly looking over the paper (scanning it). Come on!

Donald J. Sobol (the author of Encyclopedia Brown) also wrote stories for young adults called Two Minute Mysteries. Aside from the occasional murder, they were the same as the Encyclopedia Brown stories (in both good and bad ways).