{"product_id":"the-girl-sleuth-paperback","title":"The Girl Sleuth - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eBobbie Ann Mason\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Girl Sleuth\u003c\/i\u003e is a book for anyone who fondly recalls her late-night adventures inside a bedspread cave with a flashlight, a handful of snitched cookies, and a savvy heroine who has just two chapters left in which to decode the message, find the jewels, unmask the impostor, and then catch the next express to the big city. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn this long-out-of-print work, which was first published in 1975, Bobbie Ann Mason examines the girl detective in her various guises through a combination of childhood reminiscences and insights as a fiction writer and observer of American popular culture. Mason ranges in her coverage from the Bobbsey Twins to the glamorous career-girl detectives Vicki Barr, Cherry Ames, and Beverly Gray to her own adolescent favorites--Judy Bolton, Nancy Drew, and Trixie Belden, a farm girl like herself. Mason's personal recollections of a rural youth spent longing for mysteries to solve represent a quintessential American girlhood experience. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eMason reveals Nancy Drew (\"as cool as Mata Hari and as sweet as Betty Crocker\") to be a paradoxical figure: on the one hand a model of independence and courage; on the other, a lady, eternally feminine and firmly devoted to the preservation of middle-class values. The girl sleuths \"thrilled us and contented us at the same time,\" the author writes. Holding up Nancy Drew as a model of \"the conventional and the revolutionary in one compact package,\" Mason shows how the series heroines encouraged young readers to \"dream big\" and stay open to life's possibilities, dished up antidotes to spoon-fed notions of traditional femininity, and amiably subverted the literary snobbery of child experts, librarians, and book reviewers. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eEveryone who grew up reading mystery books will enjoy Bobbie Ann Mason's witty, sometimes nostalgic, observations on popular culture, childhood, and the pleasures of reading and writing.\u003ch3\u003eBack Jacket\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn this long out-of-print work, Bobbie Ann Mason reminisces about her childhood reading of the girl detective series books. With a nostalgic but critical eye, she draws on observations of popular culture and on memories of growing up in the fifties to describe the pleasures and effects of reading mysteries. Mason's recollections of a rural youth spent longing for mysteries to solve represent a quintessential American girlhood experience. Holding up Nancy Drew as a model of \"the conventional and the revolutionary in one compact package\", Mason shows how the series heroines encouraged young readers to \"dream big\" and stay open to life's possibilities, dished up antidotes to spoon-fed notions of traditional femininity, and amiably subverted the literary snobbery of child experts, librarians, and book reviewers.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eBOBBIE ANN MASON is the author of \u003ci\u003eFeather Crowns\u003c\/i\u003e (winner of the 1994 Southern Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction), \u003ci\u003eShiloh and Other Stories\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eLove Life: Stories\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eIn Country\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eSpence + Lila\u003c\/i\u003e. She resides in Kentucky.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 160\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.52 x 8.53 x 5.54 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e May 01, 1995\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42722466529343,"sku":"9780820317397","price":50.46,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0105\/8226\/1823\/files\/01bb26093ac66f888a21d02f0503597d.webp?v=1765095857","url":"https:\/\/dhlswag.com\/products\/the-girl-sleuth-paperback","provider":"BBB","version":"1.0","type":"link"}