Did anyone else grow up reading both Nancy Drew as well as Trixie Belden? If so, which did you like better?
For those who don't know, Trixie Belden was another girl detective series, beginning in the late 40s and ending in the mid 80s. There were 39 titles. Trixie started out age 13, turned 14 after several books, and stayed 14 for the rest of the series. She and her brothers and friends have a club (the Bob Whites) that often end up getting embroiled in mysteries.
I loved both series but I preferred Trixie, even though it was more difficult to find those books. The main reason was that Trixie felt so much more realistic. Nancy was only 18 but seemed to behave more like she was in her 20s. She also seemed annoyingly perfect - she was beautiful (I'm sorry, I mean, "attractive"), thin, rich, smart, and talented in seemingly every single skill. She never got in trouble - if anyone doubted her word, she would just say "my dad is Carson Drew" and everyone would immediately start fawning on her apologizing for ever doubting her. She was always traveling off to exotic locales at the blink of an eye - she'd just say to her dad "oh, hey, I'm gonna leave for Paris tomorrow because someone I barely know is getting weird anonymous letters" and he'd just be like "okay, see ya".
Trixie, on the other hand, was not perfect. She was always getting into trouble for doing or saying the wrong thing, often due to her quick temper. The police did not fawn over her and were always getting mad at the Bob Whites for sticking their noses into everything. Trixie was very much a tomboy who spent little time on her appearance, but would also sometimes suffer some insecurity about her looks compared to the other two girls in the club, who were both obviously very pretty. (Trixie was described as being "sturdy" with short curly "sandy" hair and freckles.) Trixie had to do chores and help take care of her obnoxious little brother. She was too young to drive and lived out in the boonies, so she couldn't go anywhere without getting a ride or biking - no hopping in a convertible and speeding away. Her family was pretty solidly middle-class, so there was no going into fancy department stores for shopping. The two families of other club members were wealthy, but the club had a rule that they had to actually earn all of their money for club stuff (like trips, sports equipment, etc).
Because the Trixie books were also more group-based, there was also more of a realistic cama
... keep reading on reddit ➡It seems like this sub is kinda geared toward modern YA but I was curious if anyone here grew up reading Trixie Belden instead of (or along side!) Nancy Drew?
My dad grew up reading Trixie and it was one of the first things we ever did together was reading the first three. We then spent YEARS hunting down every copy and she takes up a solid shelf of my three foot long bookcase.
Anyone else? Trixie and Jim are basically Goals for me!
Hi all! This is purely to discuss, not argue. Just wanted to know if anyone else had an opinion on the two girl-detectives as feminist icons: Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden.
(I need to disclaim I’ve never read Trixie Belden books, and it’s been MANY years since I’ve read Nancy Drew)
My best friend and I had a conversation about the two. And I found it interesting that Nancy garnered much more popularity than Trixie, whose books were published around/during the same time (1948-1986, re-issued in 2003). And Nancy is considered a feminist icon (for some valid reasons, IMO). But my friend says Trixie is more feminist than Nancy.
Nancy is described as this, like, perfect girl (via Wikipedia, the only site I have access to at work, so pls don’t hate me): Nancy is often described as a super girl. In the words of Bobbie Ann Mason, she is "as immaculate and self-possessed as a Miss America on tour. She is as cool as Mata Hari and as sweet as Betty Crocker."[17] Nancy is well-off, attractive, and amazingly talented:
At sixteen she 'had studied psychology in school, and was familiar with the power of suggestion and association.' Nancy was a fine painter, spoke French, and had frequently run motor boats. She was a skilled driver who at sixteen 'flashed into the garage with a skill born of long practice.' The prodigy was a sure shot, an excellent swimmer, skillful oarsman, expert seamstress, gourmet cook, and a fine bridge player. Nancy brilliantly played tennis and golf, and rode like a cowboy. Nancy danced like Ginger Rogers and could administer first aid like the Mayo brothers.[18]
But Trixie isn’t described as “attractive” or “pretty”, and her description on Wiki is pretty short in comparison to Nancy Drew. Trixie wears pants on the covers of the books while Nancy wears dresses. Trixie complains about chores, like an average teenager—seemingly more relatable—but Nancy is almost a perfect child (probably because her mom died so she had to grow up quick?).
Nancy always (please correct me if I’m wrong, I haven’t read the books in a long time) gets her guy. Trixie does not.
My thought is just that Nancy’s popularity is probably a reflection of the time she was published.
But I’d love to hear your guys’ thoughts! (Again, not looking to argue. I think both girls are feminist icons in their own right)
Edit: i wrote this in a rush at work, during a break, so my points are pretty weak and superficial, so please let me know if you guys think of anything else
... keep reading on reddit ➡
I read this in the mid to late 90s, I would have been 9-11 years old.
I want to say it’s set in the 60s, 70s or 80s. I want to say it was a mystery book where a girl and her brothers are trying to solve a mystery.
The most detailed plot point I can remember is that, this girl is home alone, and this man, who she knows, asks her to take a drive? I can’t remember how it was phrased. Like he found something to help her solve a mystery?
She agrees to go with him but she leaves a note for her mom or maybe her brothers?
She’s in the car with this guy and then somehow she sees her note crumpled up. Maybe in the glovebox? Maybe in his jacket pocket or something? Under his shoe?
She realizes he’s the “bad guy” and she’s been kidnapped.
I don’t remember how she gets out of it.
It’s not a Nancy Drew book.
As a kid, my family was pretty poor. Books were a luxury that we couldn't afford, save for a set of encyclopedias from the 1950s, and a smattering of Trixie Belden books. (She's better than Nancy Drew. Don't @ me.)
As such I missed out on the classic books kids, preteens, and teens read. I was in my 20s before I read Catcher in the Rye, and it was yesterday before I found out about Watership Down.
Not that I'll ever get to them all due to the current size of my TBR pile, but what are YOUR ultimate must read classic books. Let's break em down by
Kids 5 - 10
Preteen - 11 - 13
Teen 13 - 19
What have you got?
When I was a pre-teen (early 70's)my aunt bought me a few books from K-Mart. One of them was about a girl, like Nancy Drew. She lived in Maine, I think, and could fly a small plane. I think the book was called "The Case of the Missing Twin" Anyway, after delivering a box of clothes to an coastal island that had been hit by a storm, in the box was a little blue dress with yellow flowers on. And the person who got the box of clothes said that the dress belong to one of her twin daughters who had disappeared when she was a toddler. So the mystery was one of finding who donated the dress and reuniting the mother with her other daughter. I don't remember how it ended. But I think there was a series of book. I would be most grateful if anyone could help me track it down. I don't think it was a Trixie Belden series.
The series was about two girls that were friends. In the first book they were on a school trip and solved a cryptic poem clue that helped them find a colonial era doll behind stone steps. Another book involved a stolen car hidden by a barn with swapped license plates. I loved the Trixie Belden books and this was similar to those books.
Hi! This is a novel (aimed for preteens) that I would have read between 1998-2005. The main character has red hair, her mother works in a salon. While the mother is cutting hair, the daughter reads a book that has been left at the salon by a customer. The book is a guide to manners and etiquette but also contains other information. The girl reading begins to lead her life based on the information within the etiquette book. They discuss a harvest moon at one point and I cannot remember if it is symbolic/part of the novel or an explicit part of the etiquette book. I feel like the name Trix or Trixie is important but I also read a lot of Trixie Belden books so might be confused! The cover of the book was light blue.
My sister and I for the lives of us can not remember what this book series was that we used to listen to books on tape in the early 2000s. We have very few facts but it’s was a series about two young girls who would solve crime/mysteries (or get themselves involved in crime like things). The only two books we remember were one about a creepy doll (possibly in an attic) and another about getting kidnapped in the dessert.
If anyone guesses this my mind will be blown! It is not Nancy Drew or Cam Jansen.
I don't want to step on anybody's toes here, but the amount of non-dad jokes here in this subreddit really annoys me. First of all, dad jokes CAN be NSFW, it clearly says so in the sub rules. Secondly, it doesn't automatically make it a dad joke if it's from a conversation between you and your child. Most importantly, the jokes that your CHILDREN tell YOU are not dad jokes. The point of a dad joke is that it's so cheesy only a dad who's trying to be funny would make such a joke. That's it. They are stupid plays on words, lame puns and so on. There has to be a clever pun or wordplay for it to be considered a dad joke.
Again, to all the fellow dads, I apologise if I'm sounding too harsh. But I just needed to get it off my chest.
Do your worst!
Realistically most options would be Stratemeyer Syndicate titles, but there are lots of classic kid/teen detectives that could be fun to see in the Drewniverse.
From Stratemeyer, Kay Tracey and The Dana Girls could be interesting. Kay was similar to Nancy except her situation was more restrictive and she had less freedom, which in the hands of good writers could be really interesting. And the Dana Girls deal a lot with school related mysteries. And for some reason I've always loved stories about weird/mysterious happenings in a school setting. No idea why lol
Outside of the Syndicate, I always loved Trixie Belden - my grandmother actually owned almost all of them so I was more familiar with that than Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys as a kid. And also, The Three Investigators. They often dealt with seemingly supernatural mysteries, and on two or three occasions the supernatural turned out to be real, which was cool.
I'm surprised it hasn't decade.
For context I'm a Refuse Driver (Garbage man) & today I was on food waste. After I'd tipped I was checking the wagon for any defects when I spotted a lone pea balanced on the lifts.
I said "hey look, an escaPEA"
No one near me but it didn't half make me laugh for a good hour or so!
Edit: I can't believe how much this has blown up. Thank you everyone I've had a blast reading through the replies 😂
It really does, I swear!
Because she wanted to see the task manager.
Heard they've been doing some shady business.
They’re on standbi
Pilot on me!!
Nothing, he was gladiator.
Dad jokes are supposed to be jokes you can tell a kid and they will understand it and find it funny.
This sub is mostly just NSFW puns now.
If it needs a NSFW tag it's not a dad joke. There should just be a NSFW puns subreddit for that.
Edit* I'm not replying any longer and turning off notifications but to all those that say "no one cares", there sure are a lot of you arguing about it. Maybe I'm wrong but you people don't need to be rude about it. If you really don't care, don't comment.
What did 0 say to 8 ?
" Nice Belt "
So What did 3 say to 8 ?
" Hey, you two stop making out "
When I got home, they were still there.
Or would that be too forward thinking?
I won't be doing that today!
[Removed]
Where ever you left it 🤷♀️🤭
This morning, my 4 year old daughter.
Daughter: I'm hungry
Me: nerves building, smile widening
Me: Hi hungry, I'm dad.
She had no idea what was going on but I finally did it.
Thank you all for listening.
There hasn't been a post all year!
It was about a weak back.
You take away their little brooms
I loved reading Nancy drew growing up and I love mystery books, any mystery suggestions that give similar vibes with a female protagonist?
