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Hi, I read all the Nancy books when I was a kid and of course loved them. I think my 8 year old son MIGHT like them, but I want to pick the right one to start. Could you give me some recommendations? I know it shouldn;t matter that the heroine is a girl, but he's a boy and seems to gravitate towards books where the major characters are boys. But he loves mysteries, so I thought I'd try. He gets scared kind of easily so I would like to choose some that aren't too creepy. I don't recall any of them being particularly scary, but I read them when I was older and didn't find too many things scary like he does. Thanks! By the way, we have read a few of the Hardy Boys and he liked them but thought they took a long time to get to the exciting parts - I don't remmeber the ND books being like that. I like the quaint language but my son was laughing at all the descriptions of "the stout boy," "he dated her regularly" and "Mr. Hardy gave them a stern look" after the boys revved their motorcycles
I think it's fine. However, the Nancy Drewbooks were rewritten to conform with newer times and suffered. If you wish to have the image of Nancy's "red roadster" you'l need to check ebay for editions published before 1959. As a boy I read many books published in earlier times and enjoyed them immensely.
There are four Nancy Drew movies as well; they're both entertaining and wholesome.
Try Donald Sobol's "Encyclopedia Brown" series, if your son hasn't already discovered them. They are sure-fire with eight-year-old boys, consisting of a very knowledgeable boy "detective" who solves ten short mysteries in each book - readers can match wits, or check out the official solutions in the back of the book. Great fun.
I'm female and I never really cared for Nancy Drew...I thought she was a little too perfect to be believable. I preferred Trixie Belden, who actually had a personality, and I also loved Encyclopedia Brown. The Bobbsey Twins were ok too but might be too dated to hold his interest.
John Grisham has written some books for younger readers, not sure of the target age for his books. Also, James Patterson has written some books for kids.
I read both Hardy and Drew as a boy and liked them both. I did like Drew better, the Hardy boys seemed a little goody two shoes for me. I guess since Nancy was out doing "guy things", that made her seem a little more wild to me. I think she had a boyfriend in the series, so she did have a sexual flair about her.
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