Museum Mayhem

Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew #39

by Carolyn Keene, Macky Pamintuan (Illustrations)

A Simon & Schuster eBook. Simon & Schuster has a great book for every reader.

Genres: Mystery, Childrens, Chapter Books, Middle Grade

96 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 4, 2014

About the author

Carolyn Keene is a writer pen name that was used by many different people- both men and women- over the years. The company that was the creator of the Nancy Drew series, the Stratemeyer Syndicate, hired a variety of writers. For Nancy Drew, the writers used the pseudonym Carolyn Keene to assure anonymity of the creator.

Edna and Harriet Stratemeyer inherited the company from their father Edward Stratemeyer. Edna contributed 10 plot outlines before passing the reins to her sister Harriet. It was Mildred Benson (aka: Mildred A. Wirt), who breathed such a feisty spirit into Nancy's character. Mildred wrote 23 of the original 30 Nancy Drew Mystery Stories®, including the first three. It was her characterization that helped make Nancy an instant hit. The Stratemeyer Syndicate's devotion to the series over the years under the reins of Harriet Stratemeyer Adams helped to keep the series alive and on store shelves for each succeeding generation of girls and boys. In 1959, Harriet, along with several writers, began a 25-year project to revise the earlier Carolyn Keene novels. The Nancy Drew books were condensed, racial stereotypes were removed, and the language was updated. In a few cases, outdated plots were completely rewritten.

Other writers of Nancy Drew volumes include Harriet herself, she wrote most of the series after Mildred quit writing for the Syndicate and in 1959 began a revision of the first 34 texts. The role of the writer of "Carolyn Keene" passed temporarily to Walter Karig who wrote three novels during the Great Depression. Also contributing to Nancy Drew's prolific existence were Leslie McFarlane, James Duncan Lawrence, Nancy Axelrod, Priscilla Doll, Charles Strong, Alma Sasse, Wilhelmina Rankin, George Waller Jr., and Margaret Scherf.

Reviews

[Jaclyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was actually pretty good! And the reveal was fun!

Seriously though, totally side-eyeing that museum for (1) not having any security cameras?! And (2) not having your artworks insured so now you go after the school for payment? Fine, # 2 may be a bit too complicated for a kids book, but no excuse for # 1!

ALSO side eyeing the teacher for just crying and not like pointing out how the museum clearly fell short on its job if a statue can so easily be knocked off its pedestal?! For that matter, side eye (3) to the museum for not securing that statue in place. The pedestal didn't even tip over, so why wasn't the statue locked in place???

[Eliana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nancy, Bess, and George, and their class, are going for a sleepover at an art museum. When a sculpture gets broken, the students get blamed! Nancy knows that her class didn't do it. Can the Clue Crew find the culprit and prove that her class didn't break the sculpture?

[Chloe (Always Booked) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book better than the last, but the last 3 chapters were pretty unrelated to the rest of the book. The kids are staying overnight in the museum with their class and then one of the statues break. The kids are blamed, but the clue crew knows they didn't do it. Come to find out it was an ostrich from a new exhibit that broke it and the owner would rather blame the kids instead of taking responsibility because she doesn't want to lose her exhibit. She tells Nancy not to tell and Nancy acts like its some big conundrum. Hmm...

[Mary T · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought I'd try out this series since I am a fan of the original Nancy Drew books. It was okay. I prefer the Cam Jansen series.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm pretty jealous of this museum sleepover!

[V. Arrow · Rating 5 out of 5]

A rogue naughty ostrich is exactly what I needed right now.

[Emily Dorn · Rating 2 out of 5]

The girls were too scared to go on-even though it wasn't at all scary. The word mystery seemed to creep them out.