I love the Hardy Boys, but...

I’ve always been an avid reader. As a kid I was a big fan of the Hardy Boys mysteries, reading nearly every book in the series. Frank and Joe solved crimes, rode motorcycles, flew planes, even had their own boat.

As I grew into my teens I still read the Hardy Boys, although by then it was more to laugh at the outdated language in the books than it was to lose myself in the predictable plot lines.

The brothers and their “chums” frequently tailed “swarthy” characters, who typically glanced about “furtively” before disappearing down dark alleyways.

Mostly it was fun, campy writing from another time.

I have an almost-complete collection of the books. When my oldest granddaughter was young I introduced her to the series and she read quite a few. She seemed to enjoy them.

Now I have more grandchildren -- including some avid readers – who I thought would enjoy the books too, but for the time being I’m keeping the Hardy Boys to myself.

Among my grandkids are three handsome boys with dark skin, swarthy in the lexicon of Franklin W. Dixon, who wrote the series.

As a white kid growing up in segregated southern Indiana it never bothered me that the villains in the books were so often “swarthy.” It simply made it easier to tell the bad guys from the good if they didn’t look like me.

However, as a white man with grandchildren of color it does bother me. How do I explain it to them?

Telling them that’s just the way things used to be seems a very lame excuse, especially when too many things still remain just that way.

So for now we’ll keep the Hardy Boys and their chums on the shelf. I’m sure there are much better books available for kids of all colors.

I sure hope so.

Parker Heinlein is at [email protected]