Scans of old Scholastic book covers

Michael Leddy of Orange Crate Art came across this Flickr gallery of old Scholastic book covers. I loved these books when I was growing up, and recognized many of them in the gallery. Shown here are four of my favorites: 100 Pounds of Popcorn, Encyclopedia Brown Strikes Again, Beyond Belief, and Spooky Magic (the art is terrific on this one!).

Nostalgia for the Scholastic Book Club

• [cryptique]

  I had that Encyclopedia Brown book, and several others from the series, plus Sobol’s book “Two-Minute Mysteries,” which was aimed at slightly older kids.

  Haven’t seen that cover in ages.

• [Cool Products]

  I really miss reading the “Encyclopedia Brown” series. Whenever people ask me what I wanted to be when I was a little kid, I always tell them Encyclopedia Brown, and they never know what I am talking about. Good dude, backed hard.

• [sonipitts]

  @25 SpigotHead

  Thanks! Man, I loved those books. I could be misremembering, but I believe they solved a “haunted” house that was a hoax created by CO2 fog, sub-sonics and other tricks. That one really got me hooked on debunking and science. Ah, our early influences. (Of course, Star Trek made me want to dye my skin green and get my ears pointed, so there’s that. Good thing I was too poor to follow through.)

• [Fooksie]

  I loved Scholastic Books! If only someone had a site where we could read them.
  The only Encyclopedia Brown story I remember was the one where the kid with a cast on his arm was accused of stealing something and sticking it in his pocket.
  Anyone remember the book about the scientist and his kids who were exploring the Earth’s inner crust?
  The cover had some creature swimming to the surface.

• [Daemon]

  Hey, encyclopedia brown! i vaguely remember that series!

• [danlatorre]

  My favorite as a kid was Encyclopedia Brown, thinking about the puzzles he solved got me hooked into reading that series and made me stop worrying that English wasn’t my first language. After awhile I was reading more and at a higher level than kids my age who only knew English. In the early 80s good fiction books were still the core “technology” for literacy.

  Teachers can find many of these classic books, and books like them, via Scholastic’s Teacher Book Wizard. http://is.gd/7upI

• [Crawford Tillinghast]

  Mad Scientists’ Club for the MF-ing WIN!!!

• [Noelegy]

  So many memories! I have a signed hardback copy of “The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet.”

• [yannish]

  I remember the Encyclopedia Brown and popcorn books vividly! What about “The Three Investigators” with Jupiter Jones? They were also a great read, along the lines of a geekier Hardy Boys.

• [laffmakr]

  OMG! I’ve been trying to remember the “Beyond Belief” title for a couple of months now!

  It contained AC Clarke’s “The Sentinal,” the short story 2001 was based on as well as a great story about a boy who didn’t want to use the teleportation doors in their house and some others.

  I think it was my very first Science Fiction book an sadly, I’ve lost my copy, but I appreciate the cover reminder.

• [Patrick Nielsen Hayden]

  Beyond Belief was a great little collection. I keep a copy in my office at Tor, along with a couple of other books that were primal science fiction for me when I was about eight.

• [joe holmes]

  I recognize many of those covers, too — I had the Spooky Magic book and even built the magic trick shown on the front cover. Kept those fake legs around for years, sticking out from under my bed…

• [Ponchyan]

  I loved Encyclopedia Brown!

• [erissian]

  Wow. I bet mine are still sitting on my parents’ bookshelf somewhere.

• [Takuan]

  memories…

• [fooliosis]

  My parents were kind enough to let me use the garage as a Detectives office, and even hung a “No case is too small” sign from the garage door. We didn’t get any cases, though. We did however get potato chips.

• [vespabelle]

  These are so nice looking compared to the scholastic titles that my daughter brings home (or at least attempts to order!)

• [Mycroft]

  Man, I forgot how much I loved Encyclopedia Brown.

• [romulusnr]

  God, I had every E.B. book I could get, plus Donald Sobol’s three books of Ten Minute Mysteries, along with the T.A.C.K. which was sort of the less-brainy clubhouse version of E.B.

  And I had 100 Pounds of Popcorn.

  And a slew of Choose Your Own Adventure.

• [Stefan Jones]

  I have a copy of Beyond Belief!

• [vetnoir]

  I still have all my old EB books. This year my nephew will be getting them for Christmas…

• [Crawford Tillinghast]

  #29 – Nope, that was the Three Investigators, mentioned in several comments above. Encyclopedia Brown was the one with his HQ in the garage and the tough girl sidekick.

• [Cochituate]

  I found out years after reading it that my first SF book was a Scholastic Book Service book. I was born in ’52, and my mom was the oldest of 14, many of whom were still living at home in Nova Scotia. Many of my clothes went to the uncles who were younger then I was, and some of my books did as well. Years later, I found a Robert Silverberg book, published by SBS, that had been sent Down East. I still have that copy of Revolt on Alpha C (Uncle Garnet said that I could have it back), and it’s in a box down in the basement. My favorite moment of rereading this years later was finding that the major character in it was Harl Ellison, and that it was SilverBob’s first novel.

  I have a 12 year old now, and what really bugs me about the catalogs she brings home is that so few of the things in them are books, but that’s the topic of a diatribe at a later time.

• [CarnyTrash]

  Spooky Magic!! I forgot all about that one. My brother and I would put on magic shows with those tricks. Now I have to find a copy for my son…

• [WhamoBlang]

  Oh man!!!
  I so loved the Sppoky Magic book when I was in elementary school. I remember thinking I was getting some kind of “special” knowledge…

• [Guesstimate Jones]

  One of my favorites was “The Mad Scientist’s Club”…great stories about a group of kids, who had a secret-cave hideout, hidden behind a waterfall.
  They built a submarine, did some DIY cloud-seeding, and perpetrated UFO and lake-monster hoaxes…great stuff.

• [Jardine]

  This is awesome. I have both of those Danny Dunn books and The Gizmo From Outer Space. And the Encyclopedia Brown Strikes Again cover looks very familiar. My copies didn’t stand up to the abuse of time quite as well though.

• [jimkirk]

  Another owner of Spooky Magic, 100 Pounds of Popcorn, Henry Huggins, Homer Price, Mr. Popper’s Penguins, The Mushroom Planet series, Fun with Science.

  Revolt on Alpha C. Also Lester del Ray “The Run Away Robot”. “The Thinking Machine”. “Project: Genius”

  Last year I was introduced to the Mad Scientist’s Club. I’ll have to look for Encyclopedia Brown.

  Great stuff. I used to live for the day the Scholastic Books I’d ordered arrived at school.

• [Stefan Jones]

  #16: Recently republished:

  http://www.madscientistsclub.com/

  The author also wrote what was for many years the definitive book of amateur rocketry.

• [Anonymous]

  @29 — The book you are thinking about (a kid who invented a lubricant) is Bob Fulton’s Amazing Soda Pop Stretcher by Jerome Beatty. I, too, had been trying to remember the name for some time and came across your post in one of my attempts to track it down on Google. Having finally tracked it down, I thought I would post here in case any future searchers are also looking for the title.

• [sonipitts]

  Since we’re talking about old childhood books, can anyone tell me the name of the series where the kids had a secret hideout hidden under and made from a bunch of junk in a junkyard (owned, I believe, by the father of one of the group). I think they solved mysteries. Thanks!

• [Anonymous]

  I cannot believe how many of those covers that I recognized–I read SO many Scholastic books as a kid. Thanks for the post!

• [Anonymous]

  I had two of those. Yes, I went through my Encyclopedia Brown phase.

• [SpigotHead]

  Sonipitts –

  The series you’re looking for was mentioned by Yannish. It was originally called “Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators”, later just “The Three Investigators”

• [colinb]

  I LOVED Spooky Magic! I did a magic show for my family including “The Floating Body” and nearly gave my (7-year-old) cousin a heart attack. It was such a great trick that he stormed the “stage” and exposed the illusion. There were other great trick in there — making an egg stand on end (salt under the tablecloth) and “ghost writing” (painting with lemon juice on paper, letting it dry, then holding it over a candle until the writing appeared.

  Thanks!

  Colin B

• [Stu Mark]

  Encyclopedia Brown was a fantastic way to spend time when I was a kid – really helped cement my inner geek – and it gave me validation when elsewhere being a smart kid brought wedgies.

• [Hunterlane]

  Does anyone have any idea the name of a book probably published in mid 70′s that had a whole bunch of scary short stories? I think the first one was some girl hitchhiking, guy picks her up, she disappears out of car, guy goes to address, “Impossible – my daughter’s been dead for 30 years.” There was an eye or something on the cover and it was small. I’ve been looking and looking….

  • [technogeek]

    Not sure of the name, but it was available through the Scholastic Book Club. I have a copy; I’ll try to find it. I seem to remember that the title was something like “beyond belief”.

• [BdgBill]

  I read a lot of these. I remember that most of them were falling apart and seemed ancient when I went to school in the 70′s.

  I read a bunch of “young detective” books about a group of kids that had won the use of a chauffered limousine in some contest. The limo often came in handy in their crime solving efforts. Is this the “Encyclopedia Brown” series?

  Another one I often remember was about a kid who had invented a lubricant that completely eliminated friction. This substance alowed his bicycle to travel at high speed. Can’t remember the name of this one either.