In all your life, in all the places you've lived, has any touch of interior design or decoration ever looked better than that long powder blue line of Hardy Boy book spines, with the little Frank & Joe cameo, did on your bookshelf when you were a kid?  I thought not.

The Hardy Boys were created, along with Nancy Drew and the Bobbsey Twins and myriad others, by
Edward L. Stratemeyer (1862-1930).  He would then outline stories and farm them out to writers hired through his Stratemeyer Syndicate--which sounds like the literary equivalent of the Triangle Shirt Waist factory.  The resulting stable of series must surely be the most read children's books of all time, even in this era of Goosebumps and Harry Potter.

Frank and younger brother Joe are the sons of the renowned detective Fenton Hardy, who always seems to be away on an important case.  Between attending class and winning football games for Bayport High, the boys manage to investigate their own fair share of suspicious doings.    This fairly typical entry finds the brothers involved in a case which includes a local Indian tribe (yes they were still Indians then) and some dubious characters who keep trying to break into their Dad's safe.

Blessedly free of strong language, serious violence, sexual subtexts or weighty social issues, the books are suitable for all ages.  I fondly recall plowing through pretty near the whole series, with brief timeouts for Encyclopedia Brown.  I can't imagine a kid not liking them.

(Reviewed:02-Jul-00)

Grade: (B) Orrin C. Judd

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