# The Hardy Boys - Ever read them as an adult? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [August 4, 2026, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hardy-boys-ever-read-them-as-an-adult/1032129 "2026-08-04T00:49:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![vbob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vbob/32/4439_2.png) [@vbob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vbob)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2026, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hardy-boys-ever-read-them-as-an-adult/1032129/41 "2026-08-04T19:01:49Z")
> [@XOldiesJock](#): > > Really, they were about all we had as juvenile literature. I remember reading a few Hardy Boys from the library as a boy in the 1960s, but I also read the Nancy Drew books, and anything else I could get my hands on. A retired neighbor couple had a complete run of moldy mouse-chewn Tom Swift original series in their barn, and I remember those fondly. Best of all were the seafaring novels by Howard Pease about Tod Moran, from cabin boy to first mate - they are very nearly impo$$ible to find now, and frankly VERY politically incorrect characters and situations - but his growth from boy to man has inspired me every since. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2026, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hardy-boys-ever-read-them-as-an-adult/1032129/42 "2026-08-04T19:08:44Z")
I don’t remember any of them specifically, but I was a big fan of Leonard and His Time Machine series as a kid. > **[Leonard and His Time Machine Series by Gene Darby](https://www.goodreads.com/series/227207-leonard-and-his-time-machine)** > > Leonard Visits the Ocean Floor (Leonard and His Time Machine), Leonard Equals Einstein (Leonard and His Time Machine), Leonard Visits Dinosaur Land (Leo... Brian ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2026, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hardy-boys-ever-read-them-as-an-adult/1032129/43 "2026-08-04T19:15:28Z")
I recall that but it was palindromes. The nervous kid who normally was an A+ student intentionally flunked a test by answering each essay with a single palindrome which led to the clue that Otto (?) was the culprit. I could easily be conflating a couple of things and it’s a 50 year old memory. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2026, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hardy-boys-ever-read-them-as-an-adult/1032129/44 "2026-08-04T19:21:03Z")
Does anyone else remember Chip Hilton? ---
**Author:** ![GreysonCarlisle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2026, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hardy-boys-ever-read-them-as-an-adult/1032129/45 "2026-08-04T19:22:43Z")
Yeah, I read a couple of them about 20 years ago. They were pretty meh. Like others have indicated, I was also a big Three Investigators fan. Read some of those a while back, and much of the old fascination for the clubhouse and Jupiter’s gadgets still holds, though I have to say that the dialogue is kinda corny. Before them, I liked the Spotlight Club. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2026, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hardy-boys-ever-read-them-as-an-adult/1032129/46 "2026-08-04T19:24:31Z")
> [@robby](#): > > Not sure if I read the lobster one or not, but I guarantee it had do with the fact that cooked lobsters turn red. This change in color is obvious to anyone who has seen a live lobster and a cooked one. That’s exactly what it was. When I read it, I didnlt realize cooked lobsters were a different color from uncooked. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2026, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hardy-boys-ever-read-them-as-an-adult/1032129/47 "2026-08-04T19:34:07Z")
> [@N9IWP](#): > > Leonard and His Time Machine Never heard of those. I read the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, and the Dana Girls (another Stratemeyer series, written by the same pseudonym as Nancy Drew), but my real favourite was Trixie Belden. And along with those, my sister had subscriptions to [Landmark books](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landmark_Books_(series)) and [All About books](https://www.biblioguides.com/pub/series/all-about-books) beginning when I was seven or eight, and schools got catalogues/order blanks from Scholastic every year, so there was never a shortage of new reading material. ---
**Author:** ![2\_More\_Bits](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/2_more_bits/32/4148_2.png) [@2\_More\_Bits](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2_More_Bits)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2026, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hardy-boys-ever-read-them-as-an-adult/1032129/48 "2026-08-04T19:40:50Z")
Sorry. Issues ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2026, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hardy-boys-ever-read-them-as-an-adult/1032129/49 "2026-08-04T19:55:27Z")
Never read any Hardy Boys. But in high school read a couple of S.E. Hinton books. We were all impressed because they were written by a teenager. Re-read The Outsiders when I was in my mid-forties. What a piece of shit. It was obviously written by a stupid kid. Funny how a couple of decades changes ones perspective. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2026, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hardy-boys-ever-read-them-as-an-adult/1032129/50 "2026-08-04T19:58:21Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > But in high school read a couple of S.E. Hinton books. We were all impressed because they were written by a teenager. And a female one, at that. ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2026, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hardy-boys-ever-read-them-as-an-adult/1032129/51 "2026-08-04T20:54:11Z")
Another Three Investigators person. I’ve wanted to read one again to see what it was like. But, not enough to buy a copy and I don’t want to do it in a way that breaks copyright rules. Adding… Not sure if this is “legal”… If not, please delete this. > **[Library](https://thecreativearchive.weebly.com/library.html)** > > Our Library has an ever-growing collection of e-books in different formats. The most prominent among them are the Hardy Boys Series, Nancy Drew Series, The Three Investigators. Many more are to be... ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2026, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hardy-boys-ever-read-them-as-an-adult/1032129/52 "2026-08-04T21:05:26Z")
Lots of people have parodied the Stratemeyer books but none have eviscerated them like Mabel Maney, who wrote a series of very, very gay parodies (ribald but not explicit). The fourth and last is _A Ghost in the Closet_, which features lovers Nancy Clue and Cherry Aimless (Cherry Ames - actually not Stratemeyer) pairing up with the Hardly Boys. Not that way. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2026, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hardy-boys-ever-read-them-as-an-adult/1032129/53 "2026-08-04T21:17:20Z")
> [@SCAdian](#): > > I read the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, and the Dana Girls (another Stratemeyer series, written by the same pseudonym as Nancy Drew), but my real favourite was Trixie Belden. I liked Trixie Belden, and at a younger age [the Bobbsey Twins](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobbsey_Twins), another Stratemeyer series. As an adult, though, I’m looking for the really ethnographically **weird** stuff in juvenile literature from the early 20th century and previous. [Clarence Young’s The Motor Boys](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_Boys) and [Lester Chadwick’s Baseball Joe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baseball_Joe) (both Stratemeyer properties written primarily by Howard Garis under those pseudonyms), Horatio Alger, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2026, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hardy-boys-ever-read-them-as-an-adult/1032129/54 "2026-08-04T23:39:20Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > A few months ago I bought “The Original Adventures of Frank and Joe Hardy Megapack” on my Kindle, which reprints the original versions of the first 8 Hardy books. Thanks for mentioning that. I just bought it for $0.99. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2026, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hardy-boys-ever-read-them-as-an-adult/1032129/55 "2026-08-05T01:14:28Z")
I read all the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew books when I was a kid, but they were never favorites. Like several of the other posters, I really liked the Three Investigators and Trixie Belden. I also liked Danny Dunn, a series about three science-minded kids and their professor mentor. They got into a lot of advanced science stuff (at least by the standards of the day), like a tiny dragonfly-shaped drone with surveillance capabilities. I still have a lot of my Three Investigators and Trixie Belden books. I also have the Two Minute Mysteries. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2026, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hardy-boys-ever-read-them-as-an-adult/1032129/56 "2026-08-05T01:52:22Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > I also liked Danny Dunn, a series about three science-minded kids and their professor mentor. They got into a lot of advanced science stuff (at least by the standards of the day), like a tiny dragonfly-shaped drone with surveillance capabilities. I was a huge Danny Dunn fan. It was one of the first series I read, starting in third grade. I read them at least through fifth grade. I liked the series so much that I bought some old used editions for my son when he was the right age. I also found many of them available online. And a nitpick: Danny and Irene were the science-minded kids. Joe tagged along and was more artsy – and a poet. I liked the fact that Irene was just as smart and capable as Danny, if not more so…and less headstrong. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2026, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hardy-boys-ever-read-them-as-an-adult/1032129/57 "2026-08-05T02:06:25Z")
> [@robby](#): > > And a nitpick: Danny and Irene were the science-minded kids. Joe tagged along and was more artsy – and a poet. I liked the fact that Irene was just as smart and capable as Danny, if not more so…and less headstrong. Yes, you’re right, of course, and I knew somebody would call me on that! 🙂 (I was typing on my phone so I wanted to keep the post short). I, too, liked the fact that Irene was as smart as Danny (maybe even a little smarter!). It was one of the best representations of girls I remember from kids’ series books back in those days. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2026, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hardy-boys-ever-read-them-as-an-adult/1032129/58 "2026-08-05T02:29:01Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > I never read Hardy Boys but I loved Encyclopedia Brown. I read both when I was a kid. Haven’t done a reread, at least not since my teens. I think I stopped reading those when I discovered Doc Savage. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2026, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hardy-boys-ever-read-them-as-an-adult/1032129/59 "2026-08-05T02:37:12Z")
> [@SCAdian](#): > > And a female one, at that. Who probably didn’t have any friends and had no idea what was actually going on. Are any teens reading her rubbish in 2027? ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2026, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hardy-boys-ever-read-them-as-an-adult/1032129/60 "2026-08-05T03:31:08Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > Are any teens reading her rubbish in 2027? Um, you know it’s not 2027 yet so we can’t answer that definitively, right? Assuming you were intending to ask about current rather than future levels of popularity, Hinton’s 1967 novel _The Outsiders_ made [the BBC’s 2019 list of “100 Most Inspiring Novels”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC%27s_100_Most_Inspiring_Novels), and [there’s a Tony-winning Broadway musical adaptation from the last three years, with a film version planned](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Outsiders_(novel)). _“In 2017, [Viking Press](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viking_Press "Viking Press") stated the book sells over 500,000 copies a year.”_ I can’t say how much of the current reading audience for the work are teenagers, but given that it’s an assigned text in many English classes, I’d guess quite a few. If by “her rubbish” you intended to include Hinton’s later published children’s and youth novels as well, then I’d guess that [the large number of awards she’s received for them](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S._E._Hinton#Awards_and_honors) indicates that they’re pretty widely read. > [@pkbites](#): > > Who probably didn’t have any friends and had no idea what was actually going on. [Hmmm.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S._E._Hinton#1960s:_The_Outsiders) _“The book was inspired by two rival gangs at her school, [Will Rogers High School](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Rogers_High_School "Will Rogers High School"),[[12]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S._E._Hinton#cite_note-smith-14) the [Greasers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greaser_(subculture) "Greaser (subculture)") and the Socs,[[3]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S._E._Hinton#cite_note-italie-3) and her desire to empathize with the Greasers by writing from their point of view.”_ I mean, do you have any basis for your particular hot takes here other than maybe you personally just didn’t like the book? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hardy-boys-ever-read-them-as-an-adult/1032129.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hardy-boys-ever-read-them-as-an-adult/1032129.md?page=4)