The Message in the Hollow Oak is the twelfth volume in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series. This is one of eight titles that had a plot change in the revision process by the Stratemeyer Syndicate.
Plot summary[]
1935[]
Nancy Drew finds out that she has won a rather unusual prize in a contest: a piece of land in Canada. With Bess and George in tow, Nancy decides to go up to Canada to look at the property she has won.
As she is traveling by train to Canada, she meets author Ann Chapelle, who is also traveling to Canada. When the train suddenly crashes, Miss Chapelle is gravely injured and taken to a nearby hospital. Miss Chapelle tells Nancy the reason she was going to Canada, and asks a favor of her: to give a message to Miss Chapelle's grandfather, and to a lost love whom she hasn't seen since she ran away from home some years ago.
Along with this request, Nancy also discovers some interesting information about her land. There are rumors that there is gold hidden in the land, and Nancy finds herself pitted against two men determined to find it first.
Revised 1972 book cover art.
1972[]
Courtesy of Aunt Eloise, Nancy is challenged by a group of New York City detectives to find the lost fortune of a missionary and early explorer; the fortune is hidden inside a hollow oak tree. To solve the case, Nancy, Bess, and George join a burial site in Eastern Illinois.
Reception[]
Criticism is mainly directed toward the revision, and more specifically, the scenario that Nancy goes to the burial site. Many have found Nancy's vast access and activity at the site unrealistic, due to the fact that she is not a college student, let alone having any type of knowledge on the topic before arriving.
Trivia[]
- The original text was the first time in the series that Nancy traveled outside of the country. In the revision, she does not travel outside of the country (the first time in the revised books she travels outside of the country is in Mystery of the Brass-Bound Trunk).