Here is something that home schoolers and those just interested in a bit of nostalgia might enjoy. One of my sons stumbled across a site that has e-books of the original Hardy Boys books that have gone into the public domain in Canada (plus lots of other books). These are the original versions which started to be published in the 1920s and through the '30s, '40s, and into the 1950s before the publisher went back and edited and changed the stories, coming out with the blue spine copies that most of us are probably familiar with. I've read quite a few of these original stories: some are very similar to the blue spine versions; but others are very different stories. For instance, the original of The Disappearing Floor is a wholly different story, as is The Secret Of The Caves and The Missing Chums. Others have similar elements, but have been greatly changed such as Hunting For Hidden Gold and The Mystery of Cabin Island.
I believe the rewriting of the books in the 1950s wasn't just to update some of the technology and settings, but to also make the books align better with the prevailing attitudes of what books for children should be like, similar to the changes we saw as a result of the adoption of the Comic Codes Authority. While the Hardy Boys in the original books sometimes carried revolvers (and even used them on occasion, although never to kill a person) the updated versions have removed any such references. The original Hardy Boys were also a bit more rambunctious, had little respect for the Bayport police force, and were not above practical jokes and funny jibes.
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