[.ca] Nancy Drew #2: The Hidden Staircase (ISBN 0739350587)

The Hidden Staircase:
For you kids out there that don't know, the Nancy Drew series has been around since 1929. It was originally written by Mildred A. Wirt Benson, under the pseudonym 'Carolyn Keene'. The originals looked exactly like this- well, except they didn't have the gold sticker-thing. But the terrible thing is that the originals were re-written, under the same name, but not by the same person, in the fifties. The books lost the spirit and fire that they had originally had, and, unless you were a frequenter (a LUCKY frequenter) of antique malls, you wouldn't be able to find the original text. Until now. These books are the originals, and I personally like them much more than the other, later editions. The stories are longer, the pictures are wonderful (they are) and the story itself is much better. If you have a choice between a newer version and this one- there's no choice. Get this one.

What can be More Hidden than a Staircase?:
How would you feel, if you were scared in your own house everyday at noon? Even if you have locked all the entrances to your house and someone kept coming to your house. You would wonder if there was a secret entrance to your house, right? Now that I told you, you would go sprawling all over your house looking for one. Well Nancy Drew is asked to solve a mystery for her best friend Helen. But at the same time a problem has occurred. Her father's business man had come to warn her that her father is in danger and he will be threatened soon. Nancy is obviously worried. That evening when her father comes home, Nancy immediately asks her father if he knows he is in danger. Her father simply starts laughing, and tells her it was all a joke. She thinks this was definitely a mystery to solve. Obviously, you have figured out that Nancy is the main character. There are other people who play an important role in this book and let me tell you who they are: Helen and Willie Wharton .You would wonder what there personality is so use this: Nancy Drew is a detective, always ready to help you out in difficult cases. Willie Wharton is a trickster; you should never rely or trust him. Last, but not least Helen. Helen is always jolly and willing to help Nancy in solving cases. Nancy was expecting Helen's aunts to come and talk to her about their situation. Sadly, she had to tell them that something else had come up and she had to solve that first. Unfortunately, Nancy was right. When her father asked her to go to his office with him; some one had left a car engine on. When Nancy and her father were approaching his office; the car started to roll downhill towards them. Luckily Nancy saw a lake near by and quickly took hold of her father and jumped in it before the car hit them. Now Nancy had some proof that her father was in danger. She was starting to get suspicious that the business man who came to warn her was behind all of this. Who could it be? Nancy continued to save her father and then when she thought everything was all right. She left to the other mystery she was asked to solve. When Nancy arrives there, she finds out that Helen's aunts are being haunted. Even though she has locked all the entrances mysterious things come into her house. What would he want from the mansion? The aunts are haunted at noon. Sometimes they see their lunch gone sometimes their most valuable jewellery. Whatever it is Nancy is going to try to help them all the way through. The next day the person who had warned her before of her father's danger had now come to tell her that her father was kidnapped by 2 strangers in a taxi. Unfortunately Nancy had to leave the mansion and had to find her father. She had already lost her mother and couldn't afford to lose her father. Scary thoughts started running through her mind. What if they tie him up and kill him? Meanwhile the aunts got haunted by loud stereo music that the suspect was playing. After a while it turned out to be that Nancy freed her father and caught a glimpse of the suspect and the only thing left to find was the secret entrance. Some of the themes in this book are to never give up no matter how much you think you can't, you can! When Nancy couldn't find where the suspect was, coming from she decided to give up. But Helen had hope that she could do anything. With that, she kept going and finally found the suspect. Since she had the confidence that she could do it, she finally found the secret entrance as well. When you have hope and faith in something, no matter how hard the task is, you will be able to fulfil it. The second theme is to have strong friendship. When you have strong friendship then your friends can support you, and give you guidance. Look on page87 Nancy had confidence, and courage because of Helen's support. My opinion on the ending of the book was that every night when I read each chapter, it left me in suspense. When I finally finished the book, I thought to myself, wow what a cliff hanging story. The character who I thought was innocent turned out to be the one who scares Helen's aunts. If I were to change something about this book, it would be telling Helen to wait because she thought that helping her father was a bit more important to her right now. And just as she finished that case, she would promise to come to her aunt's case. Whenever I read the middle of the book, I felt sorry for Helen's aunt's (especially the older one) because whether you are old or young it's not great being terrified everyday by someone you don't know. For an old aunt, it is not good to be terrified in your own house. I also felt terrified of what would happen next. And what would the suspect do to the 2 aunt's. What would you do if your mother had died, your father in danger, and your best friend told you that someone was terrifying her aunt's? You would probably freak out because you would feel under a lot of pressure. Imagine how Nancy felt. She would feel that she was the only one who had to make everything back to normal and everything in time so everyone is happy. She knew she had to do it, so she slowly worked through it and got everything done. I would give this book 5 stars out of 5 because I think this is an awesome book. I guess a detective's work is never over!

A delight to read:
The original Nancy is back! A sixteen year old, spunky heroine made popular in the 20's and 30's, she was sadly watered down in the 60's when the stories became severely edited. I discovered both versions eleven years ago when I was just eight years old, and the original 20's/30's versions have been my personal favourites ever since. In this book Nancy positively sparkles, trying to come to the aid of her kidnapped father as well as helping two elderly ladies solve a mystery in their own home. The relationship between father and daughter is extremely touching, and an element sadly neglected in all later versions of the series. A true delight to read and a treasure to rediscover again and again; although speech is at times somewhat old-fashioned, the story and its heroine are charmingly timeless, proving once more that a true classic never goes out of style.

The Hidden Staircase by Carolyn Keene:
This story is about an 18 year old detective named Nancy Drew.Her aunt Rosemary owned a mansion.There had been some strange things happening that were frightening the people living there.It was up to Nancy to figure out who was frightening them and why. Nancy did every thing she could, such as looking for footprints.But she, at first, was unsuccessful.Nancy wanderd how a person could come in the mansion without leaving any signs.This stunned Nancy but did not stop her from solving the mystery.Eventually she found a hidden staircase leading to a nother mansion owned by someone else.Nancy's aunt knew nothing of this secret staircase.To find out how Nancy finds the hidden staircase and who was frightening them, you must read this book.I found that the story was at times to predictable because of the title of the book.I kept wondering when the hidden staircase would be found. I liked it however that Nancy had a friend to help figure out the mystery.Over all I enjoyed this book and would reccomend it to anyone.

One of the better Nancy Drew mysteries...:
I read the 1930 version of this book. Although all the original Nancy Drew books are fairly well-written, this is one of the more interesting and exciting books of the series.