Mildred Wirt Benson aka Carolyn Keene

							Mildred Wirt Benson
 aka Carolyn Keene

                 By Bekah
Prologue
        Carolyn Keene, author of the Nancy Drew books, was many
 different authors, all the authors used the pseudonym Carolyn
 Keene. I chose to do my PowerPoint on Mildred Wirt Benson, the
 author of the first 23 Nancy Drew books.
Table of Contents
 Fast Facts
 As a Child
 School
 Beginning of her Career
 Writing Career
Fast Facts
 She was born on July 10, 1905 in Ladora, Iowa.
 She died in May 2002 at the age of 96 in Toledo, Ohio.
 Her mother is Lillian Augustine and her father is J. L.
  Augustine.
 Her first husband was Asa Wirt but he died. Then she
  remarried to George Benson.
 She has one daughter named Peggy Wirt who was born
  November 1936.
As a Child
       When Mildred was 14 she published her first book,
 The Courtesy. It appeared in the magazine St. Nickolas and
 received a silver badge.
            School
      Mildred graduated From Ledora High School in 1922. In 1922
she started college at the University of Iowa. Some of her
extracurricular activities were soccer, swimming and student
journalism. Mildred was the first woman and student to get a
masters degree in journalism from the University of Iowa. She
wrote short stories to help pay for college.
Beginning of her Career
       Mildred worked for The Clinton Herald as a reporter
 and an editor. Then, Mildred submitted a manuscript to
 Stratemeyer Syndicate's Ruth Fielding series and was
 chosen to write for them. They asked her to write the
 Nancy Drew series under the name Carolyn Keene. In 1930
 she began writing books under her own name.
Writing Career
      Mildred wrote over 130 books using pen names and
 her own name. She also wrote lots of short stories and
 thousands of newspaper columns and stories. Mildred
 wrote the first Nancy Drew book, The Secret of the Old
 Clock, when she was 24 years old.
How many books has Mildred written?

 Over a thousand
 A lot!!!
 12
 Over 130
What year was her daughter,
Peggy, born?
 1936
 1905
 1922
 1930
How many Nancy Drew books
did she write?
3
 123
 All of them
 23
Where was she born?
 Toleda, Ohio
 Gig Harbor, Washington
 Ladora, Iowa
 New York, New York
What badge did she win for the story The
Courtesy?
 Gold
 Silver
 She didn’t win a badge
 1st place
   Where I got my information &
             pictures
 http://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/mwb/timeline.html
 http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0444696/
 http://www.nndb.com/people/475/000082229/
 http://childrensbooks.about.com/cs/authorsillustrato
  /a/nancydrew.htm
 http://www.lifeinlegacy.com/2002/WIR20020531.html
 www.antiqbook.com/boox/gib/10899.shtml