Hardy Boys Supplement books

[Judah-Ben-Hur]

I'm trying to put together a list of Hardy Boys Supplement, or odd books.
So far I have:
Detective Handbook (OT)
Detective Handbook (RT)
Survival Handbook
Coloring Book #1
Coloring Book #2
Activity Book #1
Activity Book #2
Ghost Stories
UB Ghost Stories
Hardy Boys Collector's Edition
Hardy Boys Case-files Collector's Edition
The House on the Point
The Hardy Boys' Guide to Life

Am I missing any here?

[MacGyver]

Ha- for a second I thought you meant The Hardy Boys had put out a book about vitamins and dietary supplements.

Anyway, here are a few other books you could add:

Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys Super Sleuths!
Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys Super Sleuths! 2
Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys Camp Fire Stories

You may also be interested in the "A Hardy Boys Favorite Classic" books. At one point, Grossett & Dunlap tried to market some classic literature books using The Hardy Boys (as well as Nancy Drew, for that matter) as the selling point, by labelling a release of the book with "A Hardy Boys Favorite Classic" as the branding on the top of the book cover. Also, Franklin W. Dixon wrote a preface for each book. The books in question are: Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain.


Here's a question though- are you looking for books strictly based on The Hardy Boys books? Because there are a couple of books you could list that are directly based on The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries TV show that are by extension based on the books, since the show is based on the books to begin with. If those are also in your range of interest, then there are others that could be listed.

[MacGyver]

There is also this.
I have mentioned this before in another thread here.

[Judah-Ben-Hur]

Well I was thinking along the lines of the actual books, or at least had to do with them. I guess technically you could count the Hardy Boy/Nancy Drew TV series volumes but I'm personally not going out of my way to get those unless I cross paths with them.
I forgot about campfire stories!

[MacGyver]

There are actually 3 Activity Books- so you can add Activity Book #3 to the list.
There is also The Hardy Boys Secret-Code Activity Book.

[MacGyver]

By the way, there is also a coloring book based on Disney's version of The Hardy Boys, but this is another item that is more based on a TV version of The Hardy Boys than the actual book series, so I don't know if you'd want to count this one.

[MacGyver]

And I can't forget the classic from 1980: Who-Dunnit Book, featuring The Hardy Boys, of course.

(For the record, this is a title that was scheduled for release in 1980, but was never released- so it's basically a cancelled title that just never came to be.) However, apparently a Hardy Boys fan was able to obtain the manuscript for this and offers a description on Amazon.com's review page:

"Interestingly, this title has appeared on forthcoming publication due date lists for almost a quarter of a century, since it first was due to be published in 1980. It would be nice if it were to actually be published. I managed to obtain a copy of the manuscript at the New York Public Library in their Stratemeyer Syndicate Archives collection. The Who-Dunnit book was to contain six short stories, each of which was to have the Hardy Boys solving a mystery by obtaining clues revealed through various eye witness accounts of a crime that was committed, such as theft, sabotage, etc.

There was also a photo of what the cover art was for the Who-Dunnit book in a Simon & Schuster ad in the 1980 Childrens' Books for Fall issue of Publisher's Weekly magazine.

Only time will tell if this book ever comes out, or if it will remain a "phantom title" on forthcoming book lists of the distant future.... "

[Judah-Ben-Hur]

Interesting, I wonder how many phantom books there are?
I'm aware that around #80 in the Digests there was a phantom book (the one that was suppose to bring Casefiles continuity into the main continuity), but was left out). this was around the time the digests briefly stopped (I read this elsewhere on this forum, which makes a fascinating read when one is ill at home). that makes at least two.

[tomswift2002]

#86 has the "phantom" book, since the one that was released ("Mystery Of The Silver Star") was drastically re-written (to the point where it is apparently a completely different story) and removed various elements that had been established in #'s 84 and 85 (such as the van being loaded with tons of used police equipment, and in Silver having no police equipment).

But the Casefiles continuity was split off of the Original continuity at #85, since #'s 84 & 85 were test books by Simon & Schuster after completing the buyout of the Stratemeyer Syndicate, to see if they could move the series into a more mature market, which is why 84 & 85 read like Casefiles.  86 was suppose to continue this trend, but the sales for Deser Phantom and Skyfire Puzzle were a little better than the previous books, but not enough to warrant revamping the Original continuity into a YA series.  So the Originals were stopped, and the Casefiles were prepped and released.  The Originals were only restarted because of parent's writing in asking for more of the Original books.

[Judah-Ben-Hur]

Ah! Interesting! I bet you that's one we'll never see. Thanks for the story Tom Swift!!!

[MacGyver]

Had not heard all those details before- thanks!

[MacGyver]

Here is a look at some of The Hardy Boys Secret-Code Activity Book.






Looks like Aunt Gertrude makes an appearance in this book, along with Fenton Hardy and Frank and Joe, of course. We even get illustrations of some of them.

[tomswift2002]

Ah! Interesting! I bet you that's one we'll never see. Thanks for the story Tom Swift!!!

I know that years ago James Keeline had tried to get a copy of the story from the then-editor of the Hardy boys, since the manuscript, at that time, was still at S&S.  Unfortunately the editor never had time to look for it, and they can't get it now because they no longer work for S&S.

[Judah-Ben-Hur]

I know that years ago James Keeline had tried to get a copy of the story from the then-editor of the Hardy boys, since the manuscript, at that time, was still at S&S.  Unfortunately the editor never had time to look for it, and they can't get it now because they no longer work for S&S.

Oh MAN!!! that was close!!! It would be amazing to get a peek at how our boys would have turned out. IT may have been better/equal to the casefiles.... or worse.

[MacGyver]

Along with the entire classic first 56 Nancy Drew books (revised text, I'm sure), you can also glimpse some of the activity and coloring books here.