Admittedly my childhood was a long time ago, and also admittedly, children’s literature has changed—somewhat—since then. There are more girl heroes—I don’t just mean protagonists but actual heroes—on the printed page. But Nancy Drew did something that was particularly relevant to young female readers.She broke the glass ceiling.
The other popular series for girls in those days was the Cherry Ames books. Cherry Ames was a nurse. Now, believe me, I’m not putting the knock on nurses or nursing! Not at all. But nursing was a traditional, acceptable career for girls. If Cherry Ames had been a DOCTOR, instead, THAT would have been a ground-breaker.
Nancy Drew, on the other hand, was—although an amateur—a detective…a field generally reserved for men, to a great degree even now but especially so then. Her father was Carson Drew, an investigator, and young Nancy seemed determined to follow in his footsteps.
Granted, there have been a few females in literature over the years who have solved mysteries, but the Jessica Fletchers and their ilk in the so-called “cozies” were all amateurs, not professional detectives. Being a professional detective was a man’s job.
But one had the feeling on reading Nancy Drew that Nancy was determined to not only solve crimes as a young girl but also make that her profession as an adult. As such, she was a great role model for young girls—and an object lesson for boys, although I doubt Nancy had many male readers. (It has always been the case that girls were much more willing to read books with male protagonists than were boys willing to read books with female protagonists.)
Today there are more books with female protagonists who might be considered “heroes” in the literal sense, but where are the female career role models? We may be on the cusp of electing our first Madame President, but where is the juvenile literature featuring female lawyers (or law students, or aspiring young lawyers)? Where are the female engineers? Where are the girls whose mothers are corporate CEOs? They are few and far between. Where, for that matter, is the girl growing up in the White House because her mother is president?
Let’s hear it for Nancy Drew!