GERMANY

ENSSLIN und LAIBLIN - Reutlingen - published circa 1966-1976 In the children's literary journal The Lion and the Unicorn (vol. 18, No.1, June 1994), Kari Skjønsberg explains that Nancy undergoes some substantial changes in these first German translations: Nancy not only changes her name but her nationality as well. She is transformed into a German law student named Susanne Langen, who visits her uncle, Peter, in River Heights in the company of her housekeeper, Hanna, "who could not bring it upon herself to let her darling go to America all alone." By chance, Susanne's German boyfriend, Hans Barend, happens to be in River Heights at the same time. Those are some pretty significant changes! Guess the German publishers wanted the little German girls to identify with a strong female character of their own, rather than looking up to an American heroine (horrors!). In checking out the text, I saw a couple of other minor "translations" in characters' names, such as "Frau Hanna Grün" and "Kommissar McGinnis."
Digest size glossy hardback - 7 1/2" H x 4 7/8" W; spine is white with red boat logo at top, Carolyn Keene and title in black aligned bottom to top (tilt your head to the left to read it - opposite from traditional American orientation), and ENSSLIN in red at bottom with three dots. One black and white internal illustration on title page.
	Der Dieb im gelben Mantel (Nancy's Mysterious Letter). Artwork unattributed, copyright © 1974 by Ensslin & Laiblin Verlag GmbH & Co. KG Reutlingen.

German Title	U.S. Title	Year
Das Geheimnis del alter Uhr	Old Clock	1966
Die verborgene Treppe	Hidden Staircase	1976
Der Dieb im gelben Mantel	Mysterious Letter	1974
Das Mädchen mit den roten Haaren	Broken Locket	1967, 1973
Das Geheimnis der Glocke	Tolling Bell	1974
Das Geheimnis des feurigen Drachen	Fire Dragon	1972
Die tanzende Puppe	Dancing Puppet	1971
Abenteuer im Douglas-Schloß	Whistling Bagpipes	1966
Das Geheimnis des Spinnen-Saphirs	Spider Sapphire	1973
Das Geisterboot	Invisible Intruder	1970
Die geknüpfte Botschaft	Mysterious Mannequin	1973, 1976
Das Auge des Zyklopen	Glowing Eye	1975

REUTLING und LAIBLIN

This was probably a spinoff of the earlier Enssling und Laiblin publishing firm; they released some of the same titles as the earlier partnership.

German Title	U.S. Title	Year
Der Dieb im gelben Mantel	Mysterious Letter	1976
Das Geheimnis der Scharlachroten Ballettschuhe	Scarlet Slipper	1978
Das Geheimnis des feurigen Drachen	Fire Dragon	1976

The Schneider books do not seem to be related at all to the earlier releases. Nancy regains her original name in some of the stories, but in a peculiar set of events, this publisher has elected to produce stories from the U.S. Nancy Drew series under two different heroines' name - as if Nancy somehow undergoes a split in personality.

There are some stories under her "true" identity as Nancy Drew, then at least a couple of titles where she assumes her "Jenny Jones" persona (however, there is no evidence that this is the same character as the talk show hostess of this name). Maybe Nan is just going undercover for a while? The Jenny books are definitely by Carolyn Keene and the books I own spell out the original U.S. title, so this is not a mistake. At least there aren't any Susanne Langen books from this publisher to complicate things even further. However, George goes by the name of Sarah in the Schneider books.

NANCY DREW PAPERBACKS	JENNY JONES PAPERBACKS	NANCY DREW HARDBACK
Ein Fall für Nancy Drew: Die Maske mit dem Katzenkopf (The Clue in the Crossword Cipher). Artwork by Herbert Horn, copyright © 1983 by Franz Schneider Verlag GmbH & Co. KGB, München-Wien.	Ein Fall für Jenny Jones: Krähenfuß läßt grüßen (The Secret of the Wooden Lady. Photo by Leandro Mazzoni, copyright © 1984 by Franz Schneider Verlag GmbH & Co. KGB, München-Wien.	Ein Fall für Nancy Drew: Geheimnis um die Shadow Ranch (The Secret of Shadow Ranch). Artwork by Gertraud Funke, copyright © 1994 by Franz Schneider Verlag GmbH, München.
Mass Market size paperback - 7 1/2" H x 5" W; white spine with "S" logo, Keene • Nancy Drew and abbeviated title in black letters aligned bottom to top (tilt your head to the left to read it - opposite from traditional American orientation). The Jenny Jones book has a photograph on the cover.		Digest size glossy hardback - 7 1/2" H x 5" W; spine in black and red pattern, Keene: Nancy Drew and title in white letters aligned bottom to top (tilt your head to the left to read it - opposite from traditional American orientation).

Titles in the NANCY DREW series

German Title	U.S. Title	Year
Das unheimliche Geisterpferd	Shadow Ranch	1980
Der Schrei aus dem Turm	Twisted Candles	1980
Die Maske mit dem Katzenkopf	Crossword Cipher	1983
Die Insel der Bestien	Crocodile Island	1981
Vorsicht Erbschleicher!	Bungalow Mystery	1979
Geheimnis um die Shadow Ranch	Shadow Ranch (hardback)	1994

Titles in the JENNY JONES series

German Title	U.S. Title	Year
Die Schwarze Witwe trauert nicht	Old Attic	1984
Krähenfuß läßt grüben	Wooden Lady	1984

BERGISCH GLADBACH: BASTEI-LÜBBE - published 1989 Die jüngste Detektivin - The young girl detective These are translations of titles from the Nancy Drew Files series and were issued in paperback. Each story is called a "fall," which translates to "case." They retain the American artwork with a different treatment for the layout. The back of the book hypes: Ein Mädchen als Privatdetektiv? Erst achtzehn Jahre alt, dazu clever, hübsch under erfolgreich? Das gibt's doch nicht, oder? Doch. Nancy Drew ist solch ein Mädchen. Sie hat schon manchem Verbrecher die Hölle heiß gemacht, weil sie eine geradezu unglaubliche Spürnase hat. Kein Wunder, daß Nancy von einem aufregenden Fall in den anderen stolpert... Loosely translated, this says: A girl as a private detective? And just 18 years old, in addition clever, charming and successful. Yes. Nancy Drew is such a girl. She has solved many terrifying crimes already, because she has incredible intuition. No wonder that Nancy stumbles onto another exciting case.

Mass market paperback - 7" H x 4 1/2" W; spine is red with title and NANCY DREW aligned bottom to top (tilt your head to the left to read it - opposite from traditional American orientation), Bastei Lubbe castle logo at base.

Du sollst sterben, Nancy Drew! (White Water Terror). Artwork by Enric, copyright © 1986 Simon & Schuster Inc.

German Title	Translation	U.S. Title	Fall #
Mord steht nicht im Stundenplan	Death is not on the agenda	Secrets Can Kill	1
Konzert für eine Leiche	Concert for a corpse	Deadly Interest	2
Ferienspaß - Mord inbegriffen	Holiday fun - including death	Murder on Ice	3
Lächle deinen Mörder an	Smile at your death	Smile and Say Murder	4
Alptraum in Florida	Nightmare in Florida	Hit and Run Holiday	5
Du sollst sterben, Nancy Drew!	You shall die, Nancy Drew!	White Water Terror	6
Tödliches Doppel	Deadly double	Deadly Doubles	7
Lauf um dein Leben, Nancy Drew!	Run around your life, Nancy Drew!	Two Points to Murder	8
Der Mann in Schwarz	The Man in Black	False Moves	9
Dem Mörder auf der Spur	The Muderer on the Track	Buried Secrets	10
Ein bisschen Gift, ein bisschen Blei	A little poison, a little lead	Heart of Danger	11
Lösegeld für einen Erben	Ransom for an heir	Fatal Ransom	12

DENISE - published 1991-1992 Cora Forlag GmbH These are translations of titles from the River Heights series and were issued in a magazine style book. They were part of a larger series of romance stories.
Mass market magazine - 7 1/8" H x 5 1/8" W; plain spine with "Band" #, title, "Denise" and "Cora" logo aligned bottom to top (tilt your head to the left to read it - opposite from traditional American orientation)	Immer Ärger mit der Liebe (The Trouble with Love). Photo by Jan de Wit, copyright © 1990 Cora Verlag GmbH, Hamburg.

PANINI BOOKS Stuttgart -  2007 Girl-Detective Only the first two titles from the Girl Detective series were published.  The covers are fairly simplistic graphics - it feels like the publisher was not fully committed to the series and therefore it didn't have much of a chance for success. There is a logo of a magnifying glass with "ND" (like the one on the cover of the book) at the beginning of each chapter.  At the back of the book there is an offer to sign up for a Nancy Drew newsletter sponsored by this publisher.  I wrote to them at the time of the offer but never got any response, or newsletters for that matter.

Digest size paperback - 7 1/8" H x 4 3/4" W

Spurlos verschwunden (Without a Trace). Artwork unattributed, copyright © 2007 by Panini Verlags GmbH, Stuttgart.

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