I’ve been enjoying coloring in the black and white illustrations in “old” Nancy Drew books.

These are not original Nancy Drew books from the 1930s and 1940s, but instead are reprints of those books.

For those who don’t know who Nancy Drew is (like those from other countries), she is an amateur sleuth created in the 1930s by Edward Stratemeyer for Stratemeyer Syndicates. He also created several other books for children, including The Hardy Boys.

Nancy was a teenager who solved mysteries along with her friends, Bess and George, and “boyfriend” Ned Nickerson. The original books didn’t push the idea of Ned being Nancy’s boyfriend too hard but it was mentioned.

Nancy’s father, Carson Drew, was a lawyer and her mother had passed away when she was young. I’m not sure if we are ever told how her mother died, but she and her father have a housekeeper named Hannah Gruen who acts as a mother figure.

Incidentally, the first Nancy Drew book was released on April 28, 1930 so Nancy will be 95 years old in a couple of more weeks!

A podcaster (www.truedrewpodcast.com) who talks about Nancy Drew and collects her books and who I follow shared on her Instagram a few months ago that she had decided to color in some Nancy Drew illustrations. Around the same time I saw this, I had recently picked up a few of the reprints of the old books and decided it would be fun to do the same, so I started it and haven’t stopped.

I have two original Nancy Drew books that I will not be coloring in simply because they are collectors.

I don’t plan to ever sell them (I don’t think they are worth anything anyhow) but I still like the idea of having them in their original condition.

I use colored pencils to color in the illustrations and I don’t always take my time, but it’s a relaxing activity that I do when my mind is racing too much.

The world and life can be heavy at times so coloring or drawing can be a nice distraction.

The illustrations in the original Nancy Drew books were drawn by Russell H. Tandy.

Tandy was a friend of Stratemeyer, according to information online.

Much like the many authors of the books, who all wrote under the name Carolyn Keene, the illustrators also changed throughout the years.

Some of those illustrators include Bill Gillies, Rudy Nappi, Ruth Sanderson, and Paul Frame.

Over the years the illustrations were updated so I am not sure if the ones I am coloring are Russell H. Tandy or not. The reprinted books I have, which were reprinted in 1993, do not list the names of the illustrators.

Here are some of the illustrations I have colored in so far: