Beyond Nancy Drew

U.S. Girls’ Series Fiction in the Twentieth Century

LuElla D'Amico, Emily Hamilton-Honey

• Publisher: Lexington Books
• Year: 2024
• eBook ISBN: 9781666946680
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Literary Criticism
• Index: Social Sciences

This book examines the narratives of series heroines that preceded and followed Nancy Drew, each in relation to their social, historical, and economic environments. Covering heroines including Miss Pickerell, Madge Sterling, and Polly the Powers Model, among others, this book illustrates that the recovery of stolen inheritances during the Great Depression serves different social ends than, for example, fighting Germans on an international stage. This book expands scholarship that tends to focus on Nancy Drew by drawing attention to the stories of some other "lost" heroines of twentieth century U.S. series fiction. Organized by time period, the chapters give insight into the cultural landscape that perpetuated the popularity of these heroines in their respective eras, how these series reflected the experiences of readers across the decades, and their continued impact well into the twenty-first century.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Contents
• List of Tables
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: Imperfect Adventures: “Relatable” Heroines in Twentieth-Century Girls’ Series Fiction
• Chapter 1: Betty Wales: From Series Book Heroine to Lifestyle Brand
• Chapter 2: Adventure, Mystery, and Fashion: On Fashion and the Modeling Profession in Polly the Powers Model: The Puzzle of the Haunted Camera
• Chapter 3: Finding the Right Formula, or How The Madge Sterling Series Provided Mildred Wirt (Benson) with the Perfect Formula for Writing Children’s Mystery Series
• Chapter 4: Before Nancy Drew: American Girls’ Series of the 1920s
• Chapter 5: “To See If College Could Make Half the Woman of Me That It Made of My Mother”: The Beverly Gray Series as a Mid-Century Return to Progressive Era Girls’ Series Fiction
• Chapter 6: On Being Glad: Pollyanna and Stoic Thought
• Chapter 7: Maida Westabrook: Inez Haynes Gillmore Irwin’s Little Lady Bountiful
• Chapter 8: Miss Pickerell Tackles the Stereotypes: Gender, Science Education, and Mid-Century Science Fiction
• Chapter 9: “More Like Americans”: Sydney Taylor’s Queering of Historical Fiction Girls’ Series
• Chapter 10: “To Prove Their Worth in a Man’s World”: Depicting and Encouraging White Women’s Growing Professional Opportunities in Betty Baxter Anderson’s 1940s Career Novels
• Chapter 11: Inverting the Career Girl Narrative in Vicki Barr
• Chapter 12: Student Dancer: Education, Community, and Love in Regina J. Woody’s Dance-Career Novels
• About the Editors and Contributors