Got a little sidetracked by other projects, but I finished Code Name Verity last night. Sat blubbering on my couch for a bit, but dang. What a story.

On the kids' books front, I've been re-reading Nancy Drew books, and at least as far as I've gotten (part-way through the third), they are totally non-offensive! Which was kind of a relief, to be honest. As long as you don't mind that she's apparently out of high school with no plans for college, I think these are totally safe to recommend to modern kids.

Jesse, they were edited in the 60s or 70s? So if you find early editions, there's a fair bit of casual racism in them.

[link]

Now THAT does not surprise me! So, the go-ahead only applies to the edited version where all the servants are (apparently) white and half the villains are noticeable by their pale blue eyes.

Oh gods yes. I inherited a bunch of the original edtion NDs. with the blue cloth covers and orange silhouette of Nancy on the binding. I devoured them as a child, and at some point my mom threw them all away. I mourned, and as an adult, I started putting my collection back together. Until I actually *read* one, and was both jolted and appalled by the casual racism, classism, and callous disregard of the Other in every paragraph. I sold them (I'd invested a bit in the ones I'd found), but I felt bad about it. I really wanted to shred them so nobody would read that tripe.

I was more appalled by The Bobbsey Twins in the Land of Cotton. It is horrible. Nancy Drew I remember being very anti German.

Clearly I read the 1960's re-writes of The Bobbsey Twins.

In 1960, the Stratemeyer syndicate began to rewrite most of the older volumes, many of which became almost unrecognizable in the process. This was done concurrently with the release of a new edition of the series, with picture covers, no dust jackets, and a lavender spine and back cover (replacing the various green bindings that had been used before). Many of the cover paintings were originally dust-jacket paintings that had been added in the 1950s (before which a single common dust-jacket painting had been used throughout any given edition), but most were new with the "purple" edition. In all, 20 were completely rewritten, all but two with modernized titles, while 16 were never released in this edition, evidently having been deemed to be dated beyond repair.

Most of the rewrites were motivated by changing technology (automobiles replacing horses and buggies) or changing social standards, particularly in how Sam and Dinah, the African-American cook and handyman, were portrayed.

I remember the purple covers! I was into the Hardy Boys and the Dana Girls, but those shelves at the library with those matching spines made me very happy.

Oh, and Cowboy Sam was the highlight of my earliest reading. I felt very grownup when I graduated to the detective series.

I wonder about Trixie Belden.

I have a bunch of Trixie Beldens, and I'm a little afraid to look.