The Bouchercon mystery conference was one of the best ever. (So was last year, Judy!) I gave a presentation on Edward Stratemeyer, father of The Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Tom Swift, The Happy Hollisters, The Rover Boys, The Bobbsey Twins etc. etc. 137 series and over 1,400 books published. No, he didn’t write them all, but he outlined each and every book, edited it and has entertained children for over 100 years.
Due to the fact that Stratemeyer is relatively unknown, I expected a handful of people. Instead we packed the room. Gary Niebuhr put together a wonderful powerpoint presentation and the presentation was a success.
I’ve had several emails regarding the ‘show’ expressing their surprise at how much Stratemeyer contributed to modern juvenile fiction.
I think the main point becomes…many of us really started reading because of the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew. Many of us started writing because of the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew. And we’ve got to hope that the Harry Potter books and Twilight type books continue, because if kids stop reading, there may not be a future for good books or good authors.
Anytime we can pull a child away from a video game, a computer screen, or another electronic device and get them involved in a tale of adventure and intrigue on the printed page, we’ve scored another victory for the future of printed literature.
A toast to Edward Stratemeyer, and thanks to all who attended.