Presently Joe exclaimed, "Swell!"

The Hardy Boys.  I never read them when I was a kid, though I had lots of their books.  The covers looked so cool and the titles of the mysteries were very intriguing.  I just couldn't get into them.  This week though, I needed an audio book and thought since I had given Nancy Drew a try, why not try The Tower Treasure, number one in the Hardy Boys.

The Hardy Boys are an American institution.  Created by a book packager, the Stratemeyer Syndicate in 1927 they are still around today.  Comic books, tv shows, games, they have it all.   It is pretty interesting to read the ethnic and gender stereotypes in the book, even though the book was rewritten in 1958, they still exist.  The son of a building contractor, and loud and boisterous, jolly friend of Joe and Frank is Italian.  The serious and studious boy is Jewish.  The women don't do anything but look very pretty and make delicious picnic baskets for the men.  It is pretty annoying but insightful into the way things used to be and how life is getting better in some ways, since you don't have those kinds of stereotyping in most books today.

The mystery itself was ok.  I won't read another one, but I am glad that I experienced it.