Nancy Girl
No, no. Not that one. The one of the Drew persuasion. I’m referring of course to everyone’s second favorite girl sleuth (number two to Trixie Belden, of course). Today we’re playing a little point counterpoint with the release of Nancy’s new movie. In the one corner we’ve Sandhya Nankani who entered the film with skepticism and ending up liking it (it’s the June 15th post). In the other, the New York Times review, that says that Ms. Roberts portrayed the role, "with more pluck than brilliance" and that the film "corrupts the clean, functional, grown-up style of the books with the kind of cute, pseudo-smart self-consciousness that has sadly become the default setting for contemporary juvenile popular culture produced by insecure, immature adults." Mmm. That’s A.O. Scott ah-talking there. What I’ve noticed from both reviews is that there’s no mention of Bess and George. Am I the only one who was hoping against hope that they’d have made the cut? Why include Ned anyway? I want boyish George and plump Bess, dammit!
If you haven’t already done so, those of you who claim to be fans of the book should immediately go and read Leila Roy’s summaries of the first eight Nancy Drew mysteries. Then turn about and read Monica’s posting Not My Nancy Drew, But So What?
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About Betsy Bird
Betsy Bird is currently the Collection Development Manager of the Evanston Public Library system and a former Materials Specialist for New York Public Library. She has served on Newbery, written for Horn Book, and has done other lovely little things that she'd love to tell you about but that she's sure you'd find more interesting to hear of in person. Her opinions are her own and do not reflect those of EPL, SLJ, or any of the other acronyms you might be able to name. Follow her on Twitter: @fuseeight.
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No one reads Trixie Belden amy more. Except me….Why can’t we get more girls interested in these books?
“With more pluck than brilliance” describes her performance perfectly.
And I would’ve much rather Bess and George be in more of it (they were in a very short scene at the beginning) than that idiotic Ned.
Well, the horrid covers they slapped on the new editions of the Belden books didn’t help matter any. She looks, to put it bluntly, like a ditz. Or like a wannabe Nancy Drew. What’s wrong with having a Trixie with super short curls, anyway?
Actually my neighbor’s daughter couldn’t get enough Trixie Beldon. And I’m saving my collection for my daughter (along with my Nancy Drews).