Nancy Drew: The Message in the Hollow Oak (revised)

    "A group of professional detective challenge Nancy to tackle a mystery that they have failed to solve: find an invaluable message hidden by a missionary centuries ago in a hollow oak tree in Illinois. While searching the woods for the ancient tree, Nancy and her friends live with a group of young archaeologists who are excavating prehistoric Indian burial mounds on a nearby farm. A shadowy enemy stalks Nancy and harasses everyone at the dig. The young investigator pursues her dangerous adversary to the outlaws' cave, and is threatened hen she discovers an unusual treasure. How Nancy , with few clues to go on, solves this complex mystery will thrill all readers."

- I don't understand why church was added into all the revised texts. Was Harriet Stratemeyer very religious or was there a big church craze in the 1970's? It's ridiculous that even out in the Illinois wilderness they have a makeshift church sermon. I personally have no problem with Nancy attending church or being religious but it feels a little awkwardly placed into the text, not natural at all.

- While I was taking notes while reading this I simply wrote down "pg. 38-41" for this because there was just so much I had to remark on. Nancy, Julie Anne, and Clem are out searching for a hollow oak when they stop to have a picnic lunch. Clem entertains the girls with funny old stories such as one about a big catfish knocking over a fisherman, then suddenly changes the subject to his good luck coin: "Clem said there were no more big fish in the river, then abruptly changed the subject, "would you like to see my good-luck coin?"". This is such an awkward turn of conversation. It would make more sense and feel more natural if they had been talking about good-luck trinkets or even old superstitions of the local Native Americans the archaeology students are learning about. 

    The coin has the initials P.F. engraved on them which Nancy immediately decides must stand for Pére François since the coin was found in the area. However, Clem never said it was found in the area until after Nancy makes this remark. In fact talking about items found in the area would have been a better conversation to segue into the coin discussion instead of the funny catfish story. 

    Nancy tells Clem the coin is an important find and Clem says he's giving it to Nancy since the coin "don't mean nothin' to him"...but just a minute ago he said it was his good-luck coin. Nancy offers to pay him for it but he declines the offer because "what would I do with a lot o' money?". Gee Clem, I don't know maybe pay your bills, put food on your table, buy your wife a nice gift.

- The illustration on pg. 43 seems a little odd to me. Nancy is in the background looking at the helicopter in the sky while Julie Anne is in the foreground investigating the hollow oak which makes it look as though Julie Anne is the main character/detective.

- I really like how Art gets a crush on Nancy and wish this had caused more drama in the story.

- I have a feeling Clem's old car is not accurately depicted in the illustration which shows it as a large, clunky 1930's model. The description of it being old with thin tires, able to handle rough off road conditions, and be so light Nancy, Julie Anne, and Clem could turn it upright by themselves after it flips makes me think it's more like a car from the 1910's. 

- After the group returns from their tugboat trip Nancy asks Ned to call Roscoe Thompson, the helicopter pilot while she apparently stands around waiting and doing nothing. Why didn't Nancy make the call herself? That would make more sense since Roscoe already knows Nancy but has never met Ned

- At one point Art puts one of the lead plates into his pocket. I was under the assumption the lead plates were far too big to fit into a pocket. I'm quite confused about their size.

- On page 167 Ned uses a hunting knife to uncover one of the plates but on page 169 Ned has Dave use his hatchet to remove another plate. Why didn't he use Dave's hatchet in the first place? Seems that would be much easier than a hunting knife.

- I find the fact that the mystery of the hollow oak has gone unsolved for several centuries to be quite hard to believe. It wasn't so much a mystery as it was a scavenger hunt. All that had to be done to solve it was travel in the direction the arrows point. If Kadle hadn't been involved and Nancy had her own transportation the "mystery" could have been solved in a day.

- One thing I did appreciate was the added danger that this rewritten book brought in from the original. In the original story guns are involved and someone is shot. In this Kadle's henchman carries a gun and A.C.E. Armstrong said he believed Kadle was going to kill him once he had found the treasure of the Hollow Oak. This is quite a bit more intense and dangerous than the usual Nancy Drew book.

    Overall it's an enjoyable book and it's one I'm going to be keeping in my collection, although mainly because my copy is attached to Clue of the Broken Locket.

The Clue of the Broken Locket (original)

    "When two adopted parents are unsuitable for caring of baby twins, Nancy sets out to search for the rightful birth mother with the help of a broken locket."

- Upon meeting the Blair's Nancy mentions that it's a shame the adopted twins biological mother never claimed them. Kitty Blair responds by saying "when a mother abandons her children, she should lose all right to them!". Nancy immediately starts coming up with excuses for how the mother could have been tricked into being separated from her children. Just cause Nancy doesn't like the Blair's she's willing to defend an unknown woman. You don't have to like the Blair's to agree that abandoning children is wrong.

- This is one of the Nancy Drew books that contains bigotry. As much as I love Mildred Wirt's writing she seems to have been quite bigoted. Any money hungry villain's in the original books were Jewish. In this it's mentioned that the Blair's real surname is Sellenstein, which in itself would not raise any red flags. It was a normal practice for performers to change a long last name to a short, easy to remember one that would fit better on a theater marquee. However couple it with the fact that the Blair's have a get-rich-quick scheme to adopt children and pimp them out to the public mixed with Wirt's history of "hooked nose" characters scheming for money and yep, all signs point to antisemitism.

- Strangely enough an effort is made multiple times to let the reader know that not all theater people are like the Blair's. Its almost as if someone associated with the book was terribly worried about offending theater people. #notalltheaterpeople

- I love that the Blair's home is called Jolly Folly. I adore these type of quirky old-fashioned names for estates.

- Although I don't think the Blair's would be well suited parents I think Nancy quite exaggerates how bad some of their actions are. For example Mr. Blair tosses one of the twins, Jay, up into the air, catching him. Not an uncommon thing for parents to do with their children and most kids seem to enjoy it but for some reason Nancy is absolutely horrified at the sight of it. The child is not screaming or crying because of it (like in the rewritten version) and when Nancy tells Mr. Blair to be careful he mentions that he has experience catching grown men in tumbling and acrobatic acts.

- Nancy is also horrified to see that the Blair's allow Mr. and Mrs. Dunbar to hold Janet. When Nancy tries to protest they do not pay her any mind and I can understand why. Imagine you just brought home your adopted children and are introducing them to your best friend and some strange girl whom you've only just met earlier that day is freaking out about letting someone hold the child. I'm surprised they didn't kick Nancy out.

- There's so much in this story which make it feel very dated which I personally love; Nancy and Bess hang around the Blair's while everyone is drinking alcohol and smoking, Nancy's car has a rumble seat, Rodney was "gassed during the World War", the use of the word "perambulator", etc.

- No one in this book is likable and Nancy is a straight up brat and funnily enough the illustrations reflect that. In the one for page 35 Nancy's sour face make her look like she'd be the villain of the story.

- Once Nancy finally tracks down Ruth Brown she never comes straight out and asks is she is the twins mother even though she is desperate to know. By this point Nancy has already confronted Ruth with the information she learned at the orphanage (that Ruth brought the babies there, worked there, and quit) so why not just ask, you've already creeped her out by knowing so much, what's one more question.

- Nancy doesn't tell Rodney that she's found his long lost twin sister Ruth until she hears back from the reverend who baptized Rodney and Ruth so she can "be sure" they're each others brother and sister....but all that would prove is that the reverend baptized them. Rodney already admits to having a twin sister named Ruth Brown. Seriously, what's wrong with Nancy in this book.

- Ruth remarks that it will be hard to work for Mrs. Blair because she "has a harsh tongue" but this is after Ruth witnesses Mrs. Blair scold Colleen for allowing the babies to become seriously injured. As long as Ruth doesn't throw the babies down the stairs or something she really doesn't have anything to complain about.

- Hannah whines soooo much in this book! I was ready for Nancy to fire her.

- I find it hard to feel sympathy for Nancy when she gets publicly accused of stealing Mrs. Blair's locket. If she hadn't tried being so buddy-buddy with Colleen and covered for her by mending the dress, putting Mrs. Blair's clothes away, and anything else Colleen probably wouldn't have felt such a need to get revenge on Nancy. Instead of seeing Nancy as a false friend who betrayed her she would have just thought of her as another upper-class b*tch who looked down on a servant girl. I'm not saying Colleen is in the right in anyway but Nancy had something coming to her.

- I find it strange that Nancy never once thinks that the twins mother may have passed away especially when it turns out she almost did pass away after being struck by lightning and that's how she lost the babies.

- I thought it was very refreshing that Ruth was not the twins mother and that the mother was not brought into the book until later and related to, what seems like, an unimportant side character.

Overall it's a good book. I enjoyed almost every scene and the locations, such as the Blair home, are great. I do have trouble believing Nancy would be able to waltz on into the Blair's home so freely so many times but that's easy to overlook.

As for which book is better, the original or revised, well its not really possible to compare them since they are completely different books written decades apart. The only similarities are a broken locket and twin babies. Which reminds me, we never find out the real names of Jay and Janet.

Nancy Drew: The Clue of the Broken Locket (revised)

    "Nancy Drew and her friends are plunged into a network of strange events when they visit Misty Lake. The very night they arrive they meet pretty, red-haired Cecily Curtis, who seeks Nancy's help in solving two mysteries: one concerning Cecily's fiancé, Niko Van Dyke, a popular singer who believes that his record company is cheating him out of royalty payments; the other, involving a family treasure hidden before the start of the Civil War- Cecily's only clue being half of a gold locket.

Nancy's investigations lead her to Pudding Stone Lodge, where the sinister Driscoll family lives. Elusive humming noises, a flashing light in the attic of the lodge, the periodic apparition of an excursion launch which had sunk in Misty Lake years ago, and the fleeting appearance of a frightened girl who strongly resembles Cecily give Nancy plenty of opportunity to test her sleuthing skills.

Braving a series of dangerous situations and discouraging developments, the alert young detective perseveres in her attempts to solve both mysteries and reveal the astounding secrets of Pudding Stone Lodge."

    I was excited to re-read this book because I recalled it being one of my favorites however seeing as how my recent re-readings of my favorite Nancy Drew books have turned out I was quite eager to see if this one would still remain a favorite. Like a good amount of the other books I couldn't remember hardly anything from this story. All I remembered was the cottage on the lake, the large stone house, Cecily, Satin, the children, and counterfeit records. I didn't even remember Susan or the ghost ship!

- I think the setting for this book is PERFECT. A cozy little cabin on the edge of haunted, foggy lake with a dark past; it was the perfect setting for a mystery. I also loved the retro touches, which were of course modern at the time, that include the soda fountain, counterfeit vinyl records, and Niko's bands name; The Flying Dutchmen. Its so kitsch, I love it!

   - Like most readers I'm pretty disgusted that the girls don't mind Satin catching and eating a mouse inside the little cabin. I mean Nancy changes her clothes anytime she steps foot outside so you'd think she'd be more sanitary cautious.

- The rock throwing incident is ridiculous. The villains throw a heavy rock at the back of the couch which causes Cecily and Niko to fly off it and hit their heads on the fireplace hearth...you know, totally plausible.

- When Nancy and Cecily sneak into the Driscoll's and find Susan they decide to sit down and have a nice lengthy chitchat with her about everything that's happened instead of, you know, getting to safety. I can't stand when these books do this.

    Upon this re-reading I found the book to be entertaining. Like I said I thought the setting was perfect, half the mystery was good (the counterfeiting), and I thought the boys joining in worked out really well unlike most of their appearances where they show up solely to take the girls to a dance, party, etc. Strangely enough though I had trouble getting through this. Normally I read Nancy Drew books in 3 sessions but this book was at least 10! I just kept putting it down even though it wasn't boring, annoying, or whatever. It just couldn't keep me going for two long without me needing a break.

Nancy Drew: The Bungalow Mystery (revised)

    While on vacation at Twin Lakes Nancy meets and befriends an orphaned named Laura Pendleton. Laura is there to meet her new guardians, Mr. and Mrs. Aborn. The Aborn's seem nice enough but when they begin doing strange things like demanding Laura hand over her inherited jewelry and lock her in her room, Laura decides to run away to River Heights in the hopes that Nancy can help her. Nancy begins to investigate the Aborn's which leads her to a strange bungalow in the woods and a giant mystery.

   - While in the cabin in the woods Nancy uses matches she had taken from the hotel dining table. It specifically says she took them during dinner yet after dinner she changed clothes before going to the Aborn's:

"Eagerly she reached into the pocket of her dress, recalling that at dinner she had taken a pack of matches from the hotel dining table for her souvenir collection. Good! The pack was still there!" Pg.116

"Then she changed to walking shoes, sweater, and skirt." Pg.103

"Awakening at six o'clock, Nancy put on the simple black cotton dress from her suitcase and pumps. After brushing her hair until it snapped with electricity, she was ready for supper." Pg.103

 - Mr. Aborn says he's going to write and sell a story about the mystery. He declares he will donate profits from the story to Nancy's favorite charity, the River Heights Youth Center. How did he know this is Nancy's favorite charity? Although she mentions it in the book she doesn't tell Mr. Aborn that.

- After Jim and Cathy help her move the fallen tree from the road Nancy says "is Mrs. Aborn a blonde-haired woman, rather small and slightly, Cathy?". Why does she direct this question solely to Cathy? Jim knows the Aborn's too.

- I've read this book many times before and I always find it quite creepy. The way Nancy always feels, rightfully so, as though she's being watched in the woods and in the shack add such a disturbing element to it.

 - I found the ending to drag out quite a bit and also found it very irresponsible of Laura to give Nancy such a personal piece of her mothers jewelry at the very end.

Like I said, I've read this many time but I think this might be my final reading.