Nancy Drew is 80 years old this week.

Which makes the fact that she’s still driving around in a convertible with blonde (or strawberry blonde, depending on which books you read) hair and wheedling her dad to get involved with cases just weird.

But I love Nancy. She’s one of the women who taught me to stay up all hours of the night reading. And she taught me to break the rules. For example, there’s a lot of looming in Nancy Drew books. That’s a big no-no in today’s writing world.

One of my biggest disappointments in life was discovering that Carolyn Keene was not a woman but a collection of writers, some of whom were men. I suppose that’s what you get when you have a last name like Keene.

But I still reread my books. They were handed down to me from my mom (who still claims she lent them to me).

So here’s to Nancy. May you live another 80 years to inspire little girls in new adventures.