From: Barbara Scotto <barbara_scotto>
Date: Sun, 04 May 2003 17:27:19 -0400

Robyn wrote:
 "I would imagine that in the 1950s most YA books would be fairly tame, like Nancy Drew (first published in 1930) and the Hardy Boys? any input from those who remember?:

        I grew up in the 1950s, and my local library (Enoch Pratt in Baltimore the days of Margaret Edwards) had a YA section. I remember being quite frustrated because you couldn't take out books from that section until you were twelve. The library didn't have the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew, which were popular with ten, eleven and twelve year olds. What they did have were teenage romance novels - Seventh Summer by Maureen Daly, numerous novels by Betty Cavanna and others of that genre. All of the girls I knew read those voraciously. I have no idea what the boys were reading. By the time we were in high school, most of us were reading adult books though I remember I still spent a great deal of time in the YA section of the library. I went to school in downtown Baltimore, and my bus stop was right in front of the main library so it was very convenient.

Barbara

Barbara Scotto Michael Driscoll School Brookline, MA
Received on Sun 04 May 2003 04:27:19 PM CDT