Classic children's mysteries seek recipient
September 6, 2013 12:32 PM Subscribe
What should I do with a large collection of Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys mysteries?
I work as a school librarian (independent school). The students don't like Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys mysteries. I have never observed the kids reading them or looking at them. I would like to free the shelf space for other items.
I recently received a donation of yet more Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys mysteries. They are all reprints in library binding, so they are not worth much and I don't think that resale could raise any money for the library.
I work as a school librarian (independent school). The students don't like Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys mysteries. I have never observed the kids reading them or looking at them. I would like to free the shelf space for other items.
I recently received a donation of yet more Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys mysteries. They are all reprints in library binding, so they are not worth much and I don't think that resale could raise any money for the library.
ebay is the world's best garage sale. There's got to be a collector somewhere.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 12:43 PM on September 6, 2013
posted by St. Peepsburg at 12:43 PM on September 6, 2013
This woman is the world's premiere Nancy Drew collector
posted by St. Peepsburg at 12:46 PM on September 6, 2013
posted by St. Peepsburg at 12:46 PM on September 6, 2013
I kind of sad to hear that your students aren't interested -- the students at our school LOVE them and my own kids (3rd and 4th grade) seek them out at the public library.
Freecycle is an excellent idea, or maybe a public school? I know our 4th grade teacher is aching for good books... there must be a teacher close to you who'd love to have them.
posted by mamabear at 12:47 PM on September 6, 2013
Freecycle is an excellent idea, or maybe a public school? I know our 4th grade teacher is aching for good books... there must be a teacher close to you who'd love to have them.
posted by mamabear at 12:47 PM on September 6, 2013
Craigslist free section always works great for me. Or you could try putting a couple on top of the shelf open so people will see them better.
posted by Slinga at 12:52 PM on September 6, 2013
posted by Slinga at 12:52 PM on September 6, 2013
I'm sorry to say this, but if these books are from earlier than, say, 1980 or so, they should be destroyed --- and I assure you, it KILLS me to recommending destruction of ANY book!
The problem is that earlier versions of the same book --- say a 1958 Nancy Drew #56 or whatever versus a 1990 Nancy Drew #56: same title, same mystery to be solved --- anyhow, later versions were re-written to remove the casual racism (and much of the sexism) that filled the older versions.
posted by easily confused at 2:28 PM on September 6, 2013
The problem is that earlier versions of the same book --- say a 1958 Nancy Drew #56 or whatever versus a 1990 Nancy Drew #56: same title, same mystery to be solved --- anyhow, later versions were re-written to remove the casual racism (and much of the sexism) that filled the older versions.
posted by easily confused at 2:28 PM on September 6, 2013
"I'm sorry to say this, but if these books are from earlier than, say, 1980 or so, they should be destroyed"
Oh, come on! It's a book, not plutonium! Pre-1980 Nancy Drew books aren't going to hurt anyone. Believe it or not people (children even!) read them all the time without joining the KKK.
Donate the books to Goodwill or the Salvation Army. Something, anything other than mindlessly destroying them.
posted by cropshy at 3:19 PM on September 6, 2013 [2 favorites]
Oh, come on! It's a book, not plutonium! Pre-1980 Nancy Drew books aren't going to hurt anyone. Believe it or not people (children even!) read them all the time without joining the KKK.
Donate the books to Goodwill or the Salvation Army. Something, anything other than mindlessly destroying them.
posted by cropshy at 3:19 PM on September 6, 2013 [2 favorites]
My daughter would love to read them. She is 12 and constantly complains that she has nothing to read. You're not in Portland, are you?
posted by tacodave at 3:23 PM on September 6, 2013
posted by tacodave at 3:23 PM on September 6, 2013
If you have any public school libraries near you, they might take 'em. A lot of school libraries will take stuff that public libraries would just throw in the garbage. When I recently went from a super wealthy school library to a really not wealthy one, I took a bag of "garbage" (books with torn or bent covers, limited water damage, broken but repairable binding) with me and added it to the collection. Kids were thrilled.
So if you live somewhere that has under-resourced schools nearby, it's worth a shot. Nancy Drew is still plenty popular with certain subsets of kids (mostly due to the new ones, which are pretty cute and suck them into the old ones).
posted by goodbyewaffles at 3:40 PM on September 6, 2013
So if you live somewhere that has under-resourced schools nearby, it's worth a shot. Nancy Drew is still plenty popular with certain subsets of kids (mostly due to the new ones, which are pretty cute and suck them into the old ones).
posted by goodbyewaffles at 3:40 PM on September 6, 2013
If you're in NY, I'll take them off your hands.
Otherwise, I agree that freecycle & craigslist are good bets.
posted by firei at 3:48 PM on September 6, 2013
Otherwise, I agree that freecycle & craigslist are good bets.
posted by firei at 3:48 PM on September 6, 2013
The problem is that earlier versions of the same book --- say a 1958 Nancy Drew #56 or whatever versus a 1990 Nancy Drew #56: same title, same mystery to be solved --- anyhow, later versions were re-written to remove the casual racism (and much of the sexism) that filled the older versions.
I like reading the original versions just for that reason, to catch the strange, anachronistic opinions that got slipped into the text—as well as because those were the first versions I read. As long as these books are bug-free, I would buy some of these from you, bad grammar! That would actually help me, because I was collecting them, but I stopped buying used Nancy Drews on Amazon due to fear of bedbugs. Would it be possible to MeMail me a list so I can double-check against the ones I have already? As a data point, I can buy almost any Nancy Drew book on Amazon for $3 to $7, so that might help inform the price range!
posted by limeonaire at 3:49 PM on September 6, 2013
I like reading the original versions just for that reason, to catch the strange, anachronistic opinions that got slipped into the text—as well as because those were the first versions I read. As long as these books are bug-free, I would buy some of these from you, bad grammar! That would actually help me, because I was collecting them, but I stopped buying used Nancy Drews on Amazon due to fear of bedbugs. Would it be possible to MeMail me a list so I can double-check against the ones I have already? As a data point, I can buy almost any Nancy Drew book on Amazon for $3 to $7, so that might help inform the price range!
posted by limeonaire at 3:49 PM on September 6, 2013
Response by poster: Thank you for good suggestions.
Without wading through them all, I am suspicious of outdated cultural isms in the older titles and racism is definitely a no-no and a reason to get rid of them. I will update you when I've gone through the editions more closely.
posted by bad grammar at 4:44 PM on September 6, 2013
Without wading through them all, I am suspicious of outdated cultural isms in the older titles and racism is definitely a no-no and a reason to get rid of them. I will update you when I've gone through the editions more closely.
posted by bad grammar at 4:44 PM on September 6, 2013
It's one thing for an adult to read the older versions, but I'd be leery of handing one to a kid. Say some of these ARE the older ones with the objectionable sterotypes, and a black kid borrows one from a school library: what do you think will be the reaction of the kid's parents when they read a paragraph describing Mammy Johnson shuffling along while speaking slang (sho 'nuf!) and wearing a kerchief, versus the newer version with a dignified Mrs. Johnson speaking correct English and wearing a nice dress? And that doesn't even take into account the fact that the older ones have almost no people of color (ANY color) in the first place.
And it's not like the first books in the series were totally trashed: they were just re-written to replace the racist/sexist language with something unobjectionable.
Plus, I really doubt that either of these series is very valuable: maybe the first editions are worth something, but imagine how many hundreds of thousands of each title in the series was printed.
posted by easily confused at 5:24 PM on September 6, 2013
And it's not like the first books in the series were totally trashed: they were just re-written to replace the racist/sexist language with something unobjectionable.
Plus, I really doubt that either of these series is very valuable: maybe the first editions are worth something, but imagine how many hundreds of thousands of each title in the series was printed.
posted by easily confused at 5:24 PM on September 6, 2013
Shame it's not Trixie Beldon, I'd be all over that...
posted by Jubey at 5:28 PM on September 6, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Jubey at 5:28 PM on September 6, 2013 [1 favorite]
I've actually done some comparative reads of the different versions, and what you need to look for is the 1930s editions vs the 1950s editions. Not that the '50s versions are unproblematic - the sexism is actually worse - but the super-obvious racism is gone.
posted by restless_nomad at 8:08 PM on September 6, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by restless_nomad at 8:08 PM on September 6, 2013 [3 favorites]
I'll take them if you can't find anyone else to. :)
posted by These Birds of a Feather at 4:59 PM on September 7, 2013
posted by These Birds of a Feather at 4:59 PM on September 7, 2013
This thread is closed to new comments.
For something more out of the box, does your school have an art program? It could be interesting to offer a class session on art with books (painting on the spines of a stack of books, altering the text with marker or collage, doing edge paintings, etc).
posted by marginaliana at 12:39 PM on September 6, 2013