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Nancy Drew on Campus was a series of twenty-five books published between 1995 and 1998 as a young-adult spin-off from the long-running Nancy Drew series. The series was published by Simon & Schuster's young adult imprint Simon Pulse.

Purpose[]

Launched as a fourth on-going series featuring the teen detective, Nancy Drew on Campus sought to fill a gap in the market untouched by the main ongoing (since 1930; 1979) Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series (aimed at all ages), the more modern teenage-oriented The Nancy Drew Files series (launched in 1986), and the younger (sub-third grade) Nancy Drew Notebooks series.

Nancy Drew on Campus attempted to target the older teenage, romance-reading audience, by sending Nancy (with friends Bess Marvin and George Fayne) to Wilder University. Viewed by many fans as effectively jettisoning the core tenets which set Nancy Drew apart (the mystery), the books instead focused more on the trials and tribulations of growing up away from home and dealing with college life, and boys.

The series lasted less than three years, releasing twenty-five volumes before its abrupt cancellation.

Reader interaction[]

The first book in the series, New Loves, New Lives contained an invite for readers to call a 1-800 number and "vote on whether Nancy should stay with or break up with Ned. This formed the plot of the second book, and it appears that "those who called in axed Ned," further distancing the series from the familiar Nancy Drew universe.

List of books in the series[]

Titles in the Nancy Drew on Campus series were released in paperback format by Simon & Schuster's "Young Adult" imprint Simon Pulse between September 1995 and January 1998. ISBN numbers for #26-30 have been found, but they were never published.

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