How Nancy Drew saved my life
We finally got some snow the other day. A decent foot. After spending about four hours on Saturday shoveling, we got to go cross country skiing on Sunday. We went to our favorite rail trail where no one had spent any time removing snow from the parking lot. Since you are not allowed to park on the street, we did what any reasonable person would do. We drove into the parking lot. Other people had clearly been there before us, there being tire tracks. But apparently they all have much heftier vehicles than I do. We got stuck in the snow. And no amount of spinning the tires or spinning the tires while rocking the vehicle helped. There was no one around to help us so we had to figure out what to do ourselves.
Then, I remembered my favorite sleuth getting out of a similar muddy situation. Nancy once got stuck in the mud. Being in a constant state of preparation for any disaster she was far better equipped always carrying burlap sacks in her trunk. Too bad we don’t have any burlap sacks, I thought. They provide just enough traction to get the tires up and out of the slick crater they’ve embedded themselves in. I looked down. I have floor mats. “Hey, let’s use the floor mats!” I shouted. “It worked for Nancy Drew.” I got one of those sideways, this is no time to talk about literature looks. But, I was firm. The car mats came out, secured under each front tire, and presto! Freedom.
What a wonderful feeling that is. I don’t ever want to hear anyone tell me that Nancy Drew is not a well-written series. Or that they don’t want their kids to read formula fiction, which is a fancy way of saying that the books are all the same, they just change the bad guy and the item to be solved. I don’t want to hear any of it. I could still be stuck out there fending off wild animals or something if I hadn’t read every single Nancy Drew between the ages of 10 and 12. I also might not know the words “predicament” or “titian.” Highly useful vocabulary.
I think I might just go home, open up my box of Nancy Drews and pull out The Moonstone Castle Mystery or The Mystery at Lilac Inn. They’re all so different it will be hard to decide.
The URI to TrackBack this entry is: http://rmlpaxton.edublogs.org/2007/03/21/how-nancy-drew-saved-my-life/trackback/
As the one casting the aformentioned “this is no time for literature” looks, I feel I’m qualified to comment on the above described situation. THE FLOOR MATS WORKED!! Who knew? I was shocked and suprised, but in the end, thankful that Mrs. Lewis had this knowledge!
I loved Nancy Drew and I have to say, I STILL want a sleek blue convertible like hers! After Nancy, I found Trixie Belden, and liked her books even better! To anyone who thinks kids shouldn’t read “formula fiction,” I say that’s nuts. The more you read, the greater your appetite to read becomes. I read most of the Nancy Drews and Trixie Beldens as a kid, and by the time I was a young adult I was devouring pretty much everything — historical fiction, crime fiction, literature, humor, animal stories, Shakespeare, biographies… you name it. Kids should be encouraged to read anything that interests them. It’s all good.