The Mysterious Case of Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys

The authors of Growing Up with Dick and Jane do themselves one better in this beautifully packaged and exhaustively researched volume. While Dick and Jane is loads of fun, it is a bit light on text; this book tells you everything you wanted to know about your favorite white-bread detectives. The story of their creation in the mind of Edward Stratemeyer, the way they were fleshed out by his stable of writers, and their transformation in the light of a changing America are all told, with tons of asides on their influences, effects, and environment. Kismaric and Heiferman use the teen detectives as a lens through which to view the invention of adolescence in the 20th century, but they never become dry or pedantic. The lushly illustrated, large-format book is as beautiful to hold and look at as it is engaging to read. --James DiGiovanna