{"id":641,"date":"2016-09-06T09:00:23","date_gmt":"2016-09-06T13:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lucynolanbooks.com\/wordpress\/?p=641"},"modified":"2016-08-25T23:59:06","modified_gmt":"2016-08-26T03:59:06","slug":"its-read-a-book-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/lucynolanbooks.com\/wordpress\/2016\/09\/06\/its-read-a-book-day\/","title":{"rendered":"It’s Read a Book Day!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"WhisperingWhy not celebrate \u201cRead a Book Day\u201d by reading a Nancy Drew Mystery Story? You could even choose one that prominently features books \u2014 such as The Whispering Statue<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Bookstores have played important roles in several Nancy Drew mysteries \u2014 as we discussed on Booklovers Day<\/a>. (Which begs the question, how exactly is Read a Book Day different from Booklovers Day? It\u2019s a real mystery, isn\u2019t it?)<\/p>\n

Anyway, in The Whispering Statue<\/em>, Nancy takes a job at a bookstore. Or, more precisely, in an art store with a book department. And in true Nancy Drew fashion, she didn\u2019t even have to apply for the job. She simply sold a book to a customer while she was browsing the shelves, and thereby got herself hired.<\/p>\n

But I\u2019m getting ahead of myself.<\/p>\n

At the beginning of the book, while Mrs. Merriam is explaining how she believes Mr. Basswood, the art and rare books dealer, is swindling her, the phone rings. While the caller is threatening Nancy, two masked men simultaneously force themselves inside the Drew home \u2014 one at the front door and one at the back. After the chaos is over, Mrs. Merriam calms herself with a cup of hot tea and tells Nancy and her father that she\u2019s very worried about their safety. Perhaps they should give up the case.<\/p>\n

Everyone looked at her and smiled. Mr. Drew said, \u201cWe\u2019re used to this sort of thing.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

However, he does think Nancy should wear a disguise and use an assumed name. But what should that name be?<\/p>\n

The silence was broken by George.<\/p>\n

With a broad grin she asked, \u201cLet\u2019s work on a new name for Nancy. Since it\u2019s a mystery about books, how about Libby, for library \u2014 Booker?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Good one, George! In the end, though, it was Hannah Gruen who proposed a name which appealed to Nancy.<\/p>\n

Smiling, Nancy said, \u201cFrom now on will everyone please address me as Miss Debbie Lynbrook.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Sure, Nancy.<\/p>\n

But back to the job \u201cinterview.\u201d Nancy is browsing the rare books section of The Basswood Art and Bookshop when a customer mistakes her for a clerk.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t decide between this green leather volume and the red-and-gold one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nancy wondered if the woman was buying the volume for the cover or the contents. She asked \u201cDo you like poetry?\u201d<\/p>\n

The stout woman giggled. \u201cOnly if it\u2019s about love.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nancy examined the two books. The red- and gold-covered volume was in Old English dialect. She was sure the woman would not be able to read it. The green volume, she discovered, did have some love poems.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think you\u2019d like this one,\u201d she said, handing it over.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A few moments later, Nancy sells a painting to another customer and talks Mr. Basswood into hiring her. She immediately gets to work.<\/p>\n

As soon as she had dusted the paintings, Nancy went over to the bookshelves. Because of her special interest in the books, she had memorized the titles of all the volumes. In a few moments she realized that Mr. Basswood had taken one on modern painters and sculptors. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ah-ha! A clue! But Nancy has no time to investigate it right then.<\/p>\n

As she stood in the book section mulling over this, suddenly the whole building began to shake. Statuettes, paintings, and books flew through the air.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt must be an earthquake!\u201d Nancy thought, trying to keep her balance.<\/p>\n

The next instant an enormous book was dislodged from an upper shelf and fell directly toward her head!\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Oh no! The chapter can\u2019t end this way! We have to know what happens!<\/p>\n

Nancy saw the heavy volume falling and jumped aside. The big book crashed to the floor inches from her feet. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Whew!<\/p>\n

Turns out, it was not an earthquake. There was an underground gas-main break with a resultant explosion. Because, well, this is a Nancy Drew story and explosions abound.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t want to spoil the rest of the mystery for you. You can read it yourself. But please be careful!<\/p>\n

Nancy narrowly escaped a book injury that day, but she wasn\u2019t so lucky in The Haunted Bridge<\/em>. In that story, she was recovering from a sprained wrist, when she asked Bess about the book she was reading.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s supposed to be a serious book and I can\u2019t make head nor tail of it,\u201d Bess complained. \u201cHere, take a look at the crazy thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

She gave the book a careless toss, expecting that her chum would catch it. Nancy had been looking in another direction, and before she could make a move the heavy volume had struck her injured hand.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh!\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Don\u2019t let this happen to you, folks. Enjoy Read a Book Day. But please, be safe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Why not celebrate \u201cRead a Book Day\u201d by reading a Nancy Drew Mystery Story? You could even choose one that prominently features books \u2014 such as The Whispering Statue. Bookstores have played important roles in several Nancy Drew mysteries \u2014 … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":647,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,17],"tags":[24],"class_list":["post-641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-holidays","category-nancy-drewsday","tag-nancy-drew"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/lucynolanbooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/lucynolanbooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/lucynolanbooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lucynolanbooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lucynolanbooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=641"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/lucynolanbooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":652,"href":"http:\/\/lucynolanbooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641\/revisions\/652"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lucynolanbooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/lucynolanbooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lucynolanbooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lucynolanbooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}