The Girl Sleuth: A Feminist Guide

In THE GIRL SLEUTH: A FEMINIST GUIDE, Bobbie Ann Mason surveys the field of series books in girls’ fiction with a humorous and critical eye. She sees Louisa May Alcott’s Jo as the prototype of the independent heroine and charts her transformation into the girl sleuth. Mason explores all her various guises—Honey Bunch, the Bobbsey Twins, Judy Bolton, Beverly Gray, Cherry Ames, Vicki Barr and, of course, that redoubtable heroine, Nancy Drew herself.

Mason reveals Nancy Drew as a paradoxical figure: on the one hand, a thrilling model of independence and courage; on the other, a cool and dainty “lady,” eternally feminine and firmly devoted to the preservation of middle-class values.

Mason analyzes the appeal of the girl sleuths, discusses the differences between them and examines their influence on young readers. THE GIRL SLEUTH includes a complete bibliography of girls’ series books, together with notes on such obscure heroines as Mary Roberts Reinhardt’s BABS: A SUB-DEB, written in 1917.