Third-Grade Reporter is the 35th book in the Nancy Drew Notebooks series. It was first published in April 2000. The cover tagline says “Who’s trying to make headlines at school?”
Back of the Book Summary:
Reporter Alice Stone is visiting her old school, Carl Sandberg Elementary. She’ll sit next to Nancy and become a third grader again. Then she’ll write an article for her newspaper. But right away mysterious things start happening to Alice. First someone messes with her macaroni and cheese.
Snooty Brenda Carlton is pushing Nancy to solve the case. She gave Alice the idea to write the story. Now the school’s good name is at stake. If Nancy can’t come up with a solution, it will be bad news for Carl Sandberg Elementary.
Inside Teaser:
“Well, did you find the troublemaker, yet?” Brenda asked in a hurried voice.
“Not yet,” Nancy said. “But I think I’m getting close.”
“Not good enough,” Brenda snapped. “A photographer from Today’s Times is coming to school tomorrow. Nothing can go wrong!”
“I said I was close,” Nancy said. “And I’m working as hard as I can.”
“Well, work harder,” Brenda said. “Because if Alice writes a crummy article about our school, it will be your fault!”
Review:
Nancy, Bess, and George investigate the mishaps surrounding their special visitor at school. The third-grade reporter is Alice Stone, who used to attend Carl Sandberg Elementary School. Brenda Carlton frequently places pressure on Nancy to solve the case since it was Brenda’s idea to have the reporter write the article on their school If the reporter writes an article mentioning awful things, this will look bad on Brenda.
Silly pranks, sabotage, and thefts occur, and Nancy does some fun investigative work, including with film photographs and the negatives to find a clue.
Some child-like teasing occurs, including some name-calling with words such as snooty, snobby, and brats.
Nancy Drew Canon Observations:
Nancy is described as having reddish-blond hair with bangs. She keeps a blue notebook for her sleuthing, using her pencil with a dolphin eraser. In this story, she and her friends have already had riding lessons back in River Heights of which aids their experience in riding horses on this ranch. The story mentions Hannah Gruen, the Drew housekeeper, who has cared for the Drews since Nancy’s mom died when she was three.
George and Bess are cousins.
Brenda Carlton is a key character in this story. She gives Alice Stone, a reporter at her Dad’s newspaper, the idea to write the story about the school. Brenda is described as snooty, and pressures Nancy to solve the case, primarily because it would make her look bad since it was her idea.
Extra Notes:
A Minstrel published by Pocket Books, a division of Simon & Schuster.
Cover art by Joanie Schwarz. Inside pages are illustrated by Jan Naimo Jones.
Length: 75 pages in the main story (more with the title page, series lists, and ads).
