How much do you REALLY know about Nancy Drew and her history? Read the following statements and determine if they are fact or fiction.

1. FACT OR FICTION?
One original name being considered for the Nancy Drew series was Diana Dare.

Fact. Other names considered were Helen Hale and Stella Strong.

2. FACT OR FICTION?
The Secret of the Old Clock was originally going to be titled Stella Strong at Mystery Towers

Fiction. The Secret of the Old Clock was always going to be titled that. Stella Strong at Mystery Towers was most likely the working name for the book that eventually became titled The Hidden Staircase.

3. FACT OR FICTION?
Nancy Drew first met the Hardy Boys in the December 1980 issue of Family Circle Magazine.

Fiction. Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys first met during the Hardy Boys / Nancy Drew television series aired in 77-79 in a two-part episode titled The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew Meet Dracula

4. FACT OR FICTION?
Mildred Wirt was the ghostwriter for the first 30 Nancy Drew books.

Fiction. Mildred Wirt wrote only 23 of the first 30 titles of the series. Her works include books 1-7, 11-25, and 30.

5. FACT OR FICTION?
The Secret of Shadow Ranch is the first appearance of George Fayne and Bess Marvin.

Fact. Prior to The Secret of Shadow Ranch, Helen Corning assisted Nancy Drew in her mystery-solving.

6. FACT OR FICTION?
Grosset & Dunlap has published only the first 56 Nancy Drew books in the yellow-spine format.

Fiction. Prior to 2005, this was true; however, in 2005, Grosset & Dunlap published books 57 – 64 in the yellow spine, picture cover format, having acquired the rights to reprint the first Nancy Drew paperbacks previously published by Simon & Schuster.

7. FACT OR FICTION?
There have been six actresses to play Nancy Drew on the television and movie screen.

Fact. Bonita Granville, Pamela Sue Martin, Janet Louise Johnson, Traci Ryan, Maggie Lawson, and most recently, Emma Roberts.

8. FACT OR FICTION?
Nancy’s hair color was changed to “titian” because her hair was miscolored on the cover to one of her books.

Fact. Nancy’s hair color became titian because of a misprint on the cover of book 35, The Haunted Showboat.

9. FACT OR FICTION?
Nancy Drew’s first appearance in a comic book was February 2005.

Fiction. Nancy Drew first appeared in a comic way back in Eclipse Comics’ Ms. Tree #4, dated October 1983, when artist Frank Miller did a Nancy Drew pin-up as part of his ongoing line of “Famous Detective” pin-ups.

10. FACT OR FICTION?
While Russell Tandy did illustrations for the dust jackets of the original Nancy Drew books, he did not do any illustrations for the covers of the picture cover books.

Fiction. While most of Russell Tandy’s covers were not used for the picture covers, three books did retain his cover art when the books were re-formatted to yellow-spine picture covers – those books were 23, 24, 25, and 26. They were later redone with artwork from Rudy Nappi.

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