From The Hollywood Reporter: " 'Encyclopedia Brown' Creator Donald Sobol Dies"
Even before I discovered comic books, the "Encyclopedia Brown" series fed my love of reading. Before I discovered Ed McBain and the 87th Precinct police procedurals, I found the "Encyclopedia Brown" mysteries.
Each book had 10 short short stories, all old-fashioned "fair play" mysteries where the story is a puzzle for the reader to figure out, with all the clues right before your eyes. And Encyclopedia Brown was a cool character, a good kid, who studied and memorized an impossible array of facts, but had deductive reasoning skills to beat Sherlock Holmes -- and without the arrogance and cocaine addiction. And I learned to appreciate how each book in the series stood alone, because Sobol reintroduced several standard elements in each one.
To wit: The first story in each book had an overview of Idaville, the small town where the series is set, followed by mention of Encyclopedia's father, the police chief, who was stumped by some crime. He would describe it to the family over the dinner table, and Encyclopedia would ask one question and then declare he had the solution.
The second story would follow Encyclopedia to his "office," the garage, where he hung out a shingle offering his detective services for "25¢ per day, plus expenses," and some kid would hire him, usually because he or she had been scammed out of something they thought valuable by Bugs Meany, "the leader of a gang of tough older boys called the Tigers." Encyclopedia would expose the scam, and then we were off to the third story, in which Bugs would dream of revenge but wouldn't go through with it because of Sally Kimball, "the prettiest girl in fifth grade," who served as Encyclopedia's bodyguard and was fully capable of punching Bugs out.
Those stories taught me a lot. They taught me, as I say often to my son, that details matter. They taught me that knowledge is power. They taught me that a kid can earn respect from adults if they know what they're talking about. And I've seen it mentioned that Encyclopedia's relationship with Sally was a model for kids; he respected her and she protected him, and sometimes she got the answer before he did because he didn't know everything.
Many thanks, Mr. Sobol. Rest in peace.
Replies
Posted about this on my classroom blog today.
He is greatly admired in my classroom!
I read Encyclopedia Brown before I read Sherlock Holmes!
I also enjoyed his Two-Minute Mysteries.
I was a fan on Encyclopedia Brown for sure, and those books inspired my personal favorite Einstein Anderson.