Contemporary Collectibles by Linda Rosenkrantz

Some people may have been a bit surprised when President Obama referenced Nancy Drew in his speech nominating Sonia Sotomayor for Supreme Court Justice, noting that as a young girl the mystery series had ignited her interest in the law. But why should they have been? The independent, spirited teen sleuth has been inspiring and intriguing young girls for seven decades —including the two other successful female Supreme Court nominees, Sandra Day O'Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who said she admired Nancy because she was "adventuresome, daring, and her boyfriend was a much more passive type than she was." Other Nancy Drew fans include Hillary Rodham Clinton, Laura Bush and Barbara Walters.

Most of the other young girls who were addicted to the series — myself included — had a pleasant image of the author, Carolyn Keene, never suspecting that she didn't exist any more than "Victor Appleton," who wrote the Tom Swift books for boys. None of us were aware at the time that there was a virtual children's fiction book factory known as the Stratemeyer Syndicate. It was conceived and engineered by a brilliant entrepreneur named Edward Stratemeyer, who had a keen instinct for both boys' and girls' hunger for fantasy, and mystery. He was behind not only Nancy and Tom, but, among others, the Bobbsey Twins, the Rover Boys and the Hardy Boys — 125 series in all.

Born in 1862, the precocious Stratemeyer wrote his first story at 14, published his own newspaper for boys the following year, and published a novel at 17. By 1893, he had sold 49 dime novels and numerous magazine stories. In 1899, he launched his first series, The Rover Boys. His later huge success with The Hardy Boys prompted him to create a parallel girls' detective series. He sent a plot summary to a 25-year-old writer named Mildred Wirt, commissioning her to write "The Secret of the Old Clock, to be published under the name of Carolyn Keene." The book featured an attractive 16-year-old (later she's 18) sleuth named Nancy Drew, the spunky and clever daughter of an attorney

Nancy Drew Mystery Stories was launched on April 28, 1930 — two weeks before Edward Stratemeyer died, so he never got to see his creation go on to become the most popular character in young people's series fiction.

The Syndicate was carried on by his two daughters, Edna Stratemeyer and Harriet Adams, the latter writing the outlines for the stories and exerting more editorial control over the various ghostwriters who succeeded Mildred Wirt. Nancy's character became a little less feisty and independent as the series progressed, and her physical appearance changed as well, as depicted by various illustrators beginning with Russell H. Tandy, who depicted her as sophisticated young woman wearing pearls and high heels.

In addition to the hundreds of American publications, Nancy has been translated into about 25 languages (known variously as Alice Roy, Kitty Drew, Susanne Langen, etc.), appeared in six feature films — most recently in 2007 — and two television series. Always one to keep up with the times, Nancy Drew's interactive life began with a 1998 computer game, and continues with new games today.

Early Nancy Drew books are quite collectible, so it's worth looking at the volumes you might have saved from your own childhood. The "Encyclopedia of Collectible Children's Books" by Diane McClure Jones and Rosemary Jones (Collector Books) gives the following price structure for books with dust jackets:

— 1930-1950 blue hardcovers, first editions, $60-$300; later edition blue hardcovers, $40-$100.

— 1950-1953 blue hardcovers with frontispiece illustrations, $30-$60.

— 1952-1962 blue tweed hardcovers with six illustrations, $30.

— Yellow spine pictorial hardcovers beginning in 1962, $15.

— 1959-1960 Nancy Drew Cameo Editions, Grosset & Dunlap Book Club, hardcovers with "cameo locket" picture, nine illustrations, $30.

Linda Rosenkrantz has edited Auction magazine and authored 18 books, including "Cool Names for Babies" and "The Baby Name Bible" (St. Martin's Press). Visit her baby names website at http://nameberry.com. She cannot answer letters personally. To find out more about Linda Rosenkrantz and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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