I have some breaking news concerning my
Tuesdays' Favorite for this week. If you have not seen my Tuesday
Favorite video
I talked about the exciting books in The Nancy Drew series, which were written by Carol Keene.
Well actually they weren't. That's right Carol Keene was a synonym for a series of Ghost Writers who worked for a Edward Stratemeyer, a man who came up with the idea for Nancy Drew, but had so many ideas brewing he did not have time to write the series.
So he created a synonym for a series of ghost writers to create the Nancy Drew series under, that being Carol Keene.
The first of these ghost writers was a lady by the name of Mildred Writ Benson. Benson was a tom boy herself, she played sports and was also the first woman to graduate from the University of Iowa.
Benson wrote the first 3 books in the Nancy Drew series, and would write 30 more of the series.
She went on and wrote her own series of books, which included pirate and aviation themes. To see a complete list of books written under her own name, click here.
From 1944 until 2002 Mildred A Benson was a journalist as well as a pilot, archaeologist and adventurer.
The woman who began the Nancy Drew legacy, which continues to this day and now has over 500 books in the series was some one who lived the life she wrote.
A true adventurer ahead of her day.
So when you read that next Nancy Drew story, remember that a very enterprising woman was one of the first to write the adventures, then went on to live the life in reality.
Here's to Mildred Writ Benson and to Edward Stratemeyer
two
people who created one of the most enduring characters around and who
opened more doors for young women than
many
other writers of the day.
To find out more about Mildred Writ Benson, click on this link and it will take you to a page dedicated to her and give you access to resources on her life and writings.
That is really awesome information! How cool she lived the life she wrote about.
ReplyDelete