There was no other collection of books bigger than The Hardy Boys when I was growing up. Brothers Frank, 18, and Joe, 17, would take on unsolved mysteries their detective father, Fenton, was working on. Other characters included their mother, Laura, and Aunt Trudy. The original series of 58 books and "The Hardy Boys Detective Handbook" written by ghostwriters from 1927 to 1979 had a cult like following at the Ateneo. We talked about Bayport, New York, as if if was a short ride from Katipunan. A Hardy Boys book was a common birthday gift for friends and cousins.
I, on the other hand, was never big into reading fictional books. I loved biographies of US Presidents and European kings and generals. Plus, I always questioned how Frank and Joe could solve all those
mysteries if they were still in school! Of the 58 books, I read two - The Tower Treasure, which was the first one, and the Mystery of the Flying Express, which I found intriguing because of my fascination with the zodiac. The studious kids read these books religiously while most of the athletic boys had sword fights in the rock garden or battled it out on the basketball court or the football field. But a funny thing happened during our last year of grade school in 1978. The grade school hired a young and sexy librarian named Miss Elizabeth Rodriguez. Miss Rodriguez, with those droopy eyes and fresh smelling scent would transform all the seventh graders into Hardy Boys readers. We all found excuses to go to the library to get a glimpse of our muse. Leo Macapanpan, probably the most admired athlete and the poster child of the astig (tough) Atenean, was all of a sudden in line with the smart kids borrowing Hardy Boys books from the library. It was rumored that Leo even kissed Miss Rodriguez - the ultimate fantasy for us grade schoolers. To keep his astig reputation in tact, Leo should stay mum about this Loyola mystery.
The two Hardy Boys books that I read
Miss Rodriguez inspired Ateneans to read!
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