Welcome to bookchat! Where you can talk about anything; books, plays, essays, and audio books. You don’t have to be reading a book to come in, sit down, and chat with us.
INTRODUCTION
Our childhood was chaotic, moving frequently and at the whim of general officers. New friends, new enemies, new schools, new routines and once, a new continent. My two Sisters and I shared a love of reading. We also shared a Mother with a chemical imbalance that occasionally reared up in the form of paranoia and hallucinations.
And an abusive father who left us as young teens and pre-teens.
But we also shared the adventures of Trixie Belden, Girl Detective. If there was anything that was the exact opposite of our lives, it was the life of this fictional teenage sleuth. A stable home, parents who always agreed with you (given some perfunctory wheedling), one school system, excitement in a good way, and the same friends book after book after book.
Trixie Belden was our Tranquility Base.
Over the years, it also became part of our family lore and language, as anything that was good became “perfectly perfect,” while we laughed at the word “gleeps,” and satisfactory food was described by us as “hearty and delicious.” The oldest of my younger Sisters began collecting the books, and, whenever it was rainy outside, or I was sick inside, it was time for a new volume or a repeat of an old favorite.
To this day, when on a group text with other family members, I accuse my Sisters of still reading Trixie Belden books, even though they know that I sometimes do as well. When they accuse me of the same, I deny it.
NANCY DREW OR TRIXIE BELDEN OR …
… The Hardy Boys, or Tom Swift, or The Three Investigators, or Robin Kane or others. Between the three of us, we read many titles in these series, some of them more than others. I read almost all of The Three Investigators (with a foreword by Alfred Hitchcock that was read in his creepy voice), and I believe that my Sisters did as well.
Looking back, the books were awful when it came to diversity. I can’t think of a single POC in any of the books, except when Trixie went to the dude ranch or the Three Investigators travelled around the Los Angeles area or the desert, nor did they have LGBTQ characters. Most likely, a marketing decision and a perfect example of why Critical Race Theory is important.
We read all of the Trixie Belden books, at least up until the 1980 issues, many times over, and I believe that my Sister has a complete collection. If you ask any of us which was the best series, we would look at you as if a frog had just jumped out of your mouth, and say, “Trixie Belden. Duh.” If you tried to argue the point, we would question your sanity or judgment (in all things) or both.
Do you agree?
CONCLUSION
My two Sisters grew up to be kind, good-hearted, educated, empathetic, strong, intelligent women, and I’m so damn proud of them. Some of that is due, I think, to the time we spent together—though apart—reading about our hero, Trixie Belden, the Girl Detective from the quaint fictional town of Sleepyside-on-Hudson.
READERS & BOOK LOVERS SERIES SCHEDULE
If you’re not already following Readers and Book Lovers, please go to our homepage (link), find the top button in the left margin, and click it to FOLLOW GROUP. Thank You and Welcome, to the most followed group on Daily Kos. Now you’ll get all our R&BLers diaries in your stream.