RARA-AVIS: Gateway Drugs..uh, Books

From: Kevin Burton Smith ( kvnsmith@thrillingdetective.com)
Date: 08 Jun 2008


Karin wrote:

> Bobbseys to Bruens by way of Christie and Keene: Memoirs of a Woman
> Noir-Lover
>
> I'll bet a lot of us could imagine writing that article/dissertation/
> book.

And I wrote:

> "If someone wants to write it, I'm willing to publish it on my site.
> I've always considered the Bobbseys, the Boys, Nancy Drew and the
> Three
> Investigators (and now Chet Gecko) as gateway drugs."

And then Mark wrote:

> Although I did read a few Hardy Boys books (but most prized their
> investigation manual), it was Encyclopedia Brown and Emil and the
> Detectives that started me. Then my father gave me the Complete
> Sherlock Holmes in two volumes. Read some Christies, but finally found
> my home when I read The Long Goodbye.

The offer still stands. If anyone around here wants to do an overview of crime and mystery books for kids and how they lead them here, I'd love to run it. Or if someone wants to champion one of their early childhood favourites that I've missed (or expand upon those I've listed), that would be good too. Just contact me privately.

I'm sure for most of us who have read all our lives, the first crime or detective novel we read wasn't I, THE JURY or THE BIG SLEEP or some stone cold hard-boiled classic... and to tell the truth, I'd be dubious about any claims that they were.

Kevin Burton Smith The Thrilling Detective Web Site Celebrating 10 Years of P.I. Thrills

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