I have mentioned before how I have loved to read since I have been very young. I always had a book pretty much everywhere I went. I remember visiting with my parents when I was younger and sitting in the middle of a room with adults conversing about things I didn’t understand. Didn’t bother me a bit, for I just would lose myself in a book. Books were a constant friend of mine and they continue to be to this day. Just don’t have quite as much time as I had a child to read them!
I could never be a contestant on the Jeopardy show. I am nowhere close to being an expert on different kinds of trivia. My brain has way too many other things to remember! But now when it comes to books that is one category that I feel I can sometimes be pretty good about knowing different facts. I know the authors of well known books, well … at least I thought I did!
Tonight I learned that “Carolyn Keene” really doesn’t exist, the author of the Nancy Drew series that I read when I was young. Here I thought it was cool that the author was named “Carolyn”, but nope, the real person with the idea for the Nancy Drew mysteries wasn’t even a woman! It was Edward Stratemeyer.
I claim to know a lot about books, but yet I didn’t know this! I am ..smacking my head… for the 2nd time today.
Apparently he was the man behind a lot of other books as well. He was also behind the series that I loved as a child, “The Bobbsey Twins”. That was another series where I remembered the author’s name all these years, “Laura Lee Hope”, but once again there really is no one with that name!
Yes, I know ghost writers have been around for a long time, but I just didn’t know it about these specific series. Plus this wasn’t just an author that used a different name. Both of these series were written by several different authors. Edward started them off, but then hired lots of different writers to continue with the series. He would write a 3 page outline about what he would like the book to be about and then he would hand it over. He would pay the writer between $50-$250 for each book, and he would collect all the royalties.
Perhaps this isn’t news to anyone, for I am used to being in the dark abut things, but I would like to think I enlightened someone. 🙂
Is there some new trivia fact that you have learned that you didn’t know before, feel free to share below!
You definitely enlightened me! Like you, I read the Bobbsey Twins series, and all the Nancy Drew books, and had no idea they weren’t written by an author by the name of Carolyn Keene! I feel just a little bit cheated, somehow. Seems you and I followed the same literary path, but I bet your parents didn’t read “Catcher in the Rye” to you when you were 10! 😉 Thanks for the enlightenment … I think. 🙄
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Yay! I did enlighten someone! 🙂
Sorry, yes, it does make one feel a little cheated! Oh well, know that you are not alone in the feeling. 🙂
And no my parents didn’t read to me the “Catcher in the Rye” when I was 10, I was reading “Watership Down” instead.” 🙂
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Aha! I knew we were soul sisters! The only reason my parents were reading “Catcher in the Rye” to me was I was recovering from eye surgery, couldn’t read, and my dad happened to be reading Catcher, so he killed two birds with one stone … entertained/educated me, and read his book! 😀
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Yes we are! And that was pretty smart of your Dad! 😉 I do still need to read that book!
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So many books, so little time! Sigh. 📚
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So true!
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I did know that Carolyn Keene was related to Betty Crocker, Aunt Jemima, and Uncle Ben. All fictional characters with huge appeal!
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😃
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Uncle Ben!?!?!!!!
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Sorry that it appears Nancy gave you a shock! I hope you recover. 🙂
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I’d be worried if I thought there was a grain of truth to that. Sorry
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LOL! Oh gosh!
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Boy, Edward Stratemeyer sure fooled a lot of people. And made a ton of money also. I’ll never read another Bobbsey Twins novel again. Come to think of it, I never read one in the first place.
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Yes. I would say he made out very well!
Haha about never reading a Bobbsey Twins book again smartie!
You don’t know what you missed! They played a lot of jokes on each other. Yup, they may have influenced me! Haha! They solved mysteries too. The curious part of me always loved mysteries. Especially when you can find out the answer by the time you reach the end of the book!
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Did the Bobbsey Twins ever solve the mystery of “The Case of the Missing Book Author”?
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🙄😃
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I did not know this!!
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And I know that you are an avid reader too! How did we miss this??
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I know!!
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I may not know much but I did know this. At least the Nancy Drew part. I feel like I probably knew about the Bobbsey Twins too? I read more Nancy Drew than Bobbsey twins but both series were part of my extensive reading collection. 🙂 It’s wild to think about how much money Edward made.
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So you were one of the already enlightened ones. 🙂
I read the complete series of The Bobbsey Twins but forget if I made it completely through Nancy Drew.
You are so right, with as popular as those series were and the fact that there were other books too, I think he was rolling in the money!
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I’m not sure if I qualify as enlightened since I’m not sure if I knew about the Bobbsey Twins and had completely forgotten about Nancy Drew? lol
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Haha! Oh give yourself the credit! 🙂
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This may make me sound bad but I never quite understood the whole ghost writer thing. Writing a book is a lot of work! I am not someone who loves the spotlight. I hated giving oral reports at school, BUT I am also not someone who is going to write something and then have someone else stand up and read it and take the credit for it. Know what I mean.
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Yeah, I do understand. Maybe it’s just a job to them? I’m not sure! 🙂
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That could be. That would explain it a little more. If they aren’t real emotionally connected with their writings.
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Wow, fascinating! Thanks for sharing some interesting book facts.
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You are very welcome! Would you like to have been one of those writers? I just think it would be strange for a book to be out but noone knowing I wrote it!
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Nom de plumes are flummoxing to me. It makes me wonder why they’re trying to hide their identity.
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True
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I didn’t know any of this! Thanks for educating me : )
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You are very welcome! Glad I wasn’t the only one to have somehow missed knowing this. 🙂
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