Childrens Classics Mystery Challenge-Nancy Drew

5 Minutes for Books is hosting the Childrens Classics Mystery Challenge that I signed up for a few weeks ago. This all seemed like a great idea, and I do love revisiting the mysteries I read while growing up, but the second Tuesday of the month has come up much too fast, so I am speed reading a Nancy Drew mystery tonight in order to have something to post about. February should go much more smoothly since I will have an entire month between now and then to read two mysteries like I planned, as opposed to the twelve days I have had this time.

When I first started re-reading and collecting childrens books one of the first things I wanted to own was an entire set of Nancy Drew books. Of course there are different editions and so many of them, who would know where to start? I decided that what I most wanted were the yellow spine books #1-56, along with the books that came out in the 1980s when I was interested in Nancy Drew. I bought the yellow spine books over time, and acquired the others off of Ebay, all except for #57 - I couldn't find that one anywhere. A few weeks ago I was at The Book Nook, the public library's used book store, and came across #57. It has been years since I have thought about which book I was missing or even looked for it, and ended up purchasing it for 50 cents, not really sure if it was what I needed or not. I am quite excited that I did complete the whole set and that purchase has also made me a little more anxious to read some Nancy Drew.

However, several years ago I decided to read the entire set in order. I got halfway through and just was not that into it anymore - it also was around the time that I had to read series books for writing my masters' research paper. Last night I dug out #29, Mystery at the Ski Jump to begin.

As with all Nancy Drew books, this one starts out with a mystery almost from page one. Nancy is in hot pursuit of a group of people selling false stock for a fur company. These criminals are also selling furs for a low price and are using false names to carry out their crimes. The woman involved is presenting herself as Nancy Drew. This installment has Nancy travelling to Canada to ski, and her friends Bess, George and Ned are also involved. Her aunt Eloise also plays a bit part (since Eloise was in the very first Nancy Drew book I ever read, I have always been a bit partial to her). Even though I haven't read one of these books in years, they read just as they did long ago. Yes, they are from another time- so obviously a different era. I am wondering how my own daughters will like them someday because of that, yet I am not excited about the new modern Nancy Drews that have been created to keep up with the times. Nancy is a slice of my chidhood I prefer to remain as is.