Comments on: RIP, Donald J. Sobol, creator of Encyclopedia Brown

By: Amelia_G

Amelia_G — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 10:19:00 +0000

My friend who tried to find read-out-loudable books for kids that weren’t awful about girls and weren’t written by Donald Sobol only found, to my knowledge, Sally Ann Thunder Ann Whirlwind Crockett; and I think my friend quit too early.

By: galois

galois — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 19:47:00 +0000

Read every EB book I could get from the library as a kid. There’s even an EB movie–my grandma got it from Avon I believe. Changed my perception of geeks (they can save the day!) and girls (they can be tough!).

By: MrScience

MrScience — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 18:09:00 +0000

PS: I see people are mentioning similar books that they enjoyed: My recommendation is to read the Danny Dunn series by Raymond Abrashkin and Jay Williams, one of my favorite series.

By: Amelia_G

Amelia_G — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 17:09:00 +0000

Sobol torsioned up my brain for years with the one about reaching around behind you while running to put something in your back pocket with your opposite hand. For years I thought that might not be impossible! Of course, I wasn’t familiar with real flat-out kid running, just minimalist gym class running theater. And maybe he wrote the story during the Jordache jeans era?

By: Jorpho

Jorpho — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 15:47:00 +0000

”Secret Agents Four” was kind of nifty as far as that sort of thing went, too.

By: Jorpho

Jorpho — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 15:46:00 +0000

The most horribly contrived one by far that I can recall involved a young’un hauling around a wheelbarrow of socks full of pennies, and he was worried a bully was going to take them from him, so Brown’s solution was for him to carry the smallest possible amount of money that could not be used to make change, thus causing the bully to abandon his pursuits in frustration..?

Sometimes you learn a lot more from not-so-good writing than you learn from great writing.

By: Hey-Its Mike Anderson

Hey-Its Mike Anderson — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 14:04:00 +0000

Re Wikipedia Brown, this satire was done a few years ago: http://adamcadre.ac/content/brown/

By: Wordguy

Wordguy — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 12:09:00 +0000

I loved the Encyclopedia Brown books, getting them at the library again and again. I also read Sobol’s Two-Minute Mysteries books. Some of the story hooks were repeated between the two series, but they were a great read.

By: noah django

noah django — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 10:49:00 +0000

I just want to go on record as saying that I really enjoyed these books as a kid, but my memory of them is very bad ):

Mr. Sobol, you did a good thing. May you rest in peace.

By: David Hewitt

David Hewitt — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 09:41:00 +0000

From the UK Amazon site: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Boy-Detective-Encyclopedia-Brown-Quality/dp/0142408883/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1342776912&sr=8-2

Product Description
From the AuthorThis book is so exciting and interesting .
1)The book is so short. 2)U have too keep more picks on it. 3)The mystery is so short u have to keep it taller so we can be more excited while reading it. –This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Wot? From the Author?

By: VentureFree

VentureFree — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 08:38:00 +0000

I had a love/hate relationship with some of the books. I absolutely loved the ones that required creative thinking and logic. I absolutely hated the ones that relied entirely on knowing some weird fact that you really had no business knowing.

[spoiler alert]

The one that sticks out in my mind, though it certainly wasn’t the only example, was one where some girl was filing her nails right after she supposedly got out of the shower. Apparently it was obvious to him that she would never do that because the nails would be too soft for filing so soon after the shower. I was a sports playing, pigtail pulling, dirt covered little boy who had never filed a nail in his life. How the f**k was I supposed to know that? (okay, I was actually a nintendo playing, girl avoiding, Cheetos dust covered little boy who had never filed a nail in his life, but you get the idea).

Looking back in later years, though, I began to appreciate those stories a bit more. Not only did they TEACH me some obscure bits of knowledge, but on those rare occasions when I actually knew that weird fact that I really had no business knowing, it made me feel AWESOME. Even the story in my example most likely thrilled some young girls, and probably some young boys, because they knew that weird little fact that others like me probably didn’t.

By: crummett

crummett — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 07:46:00 +0000

There are FOUR books in the series?! My copy of The Mad Scientists Club has been siting on my bookshelf ALONE for 50 years? This will not stand!

By: Petzl

Petzl — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 04:41:00 +0000

If only there were a “Encyclopedia Brown Dispels Specious Tea Party Tropes.” Something you could hand out at rallies that’s on their level that would help them with their critical reasoning skillz.

By: nixiebunny

nixiebunny — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 04:38:00 +0000

Finding a needle in a haystack is like finding a needle in a haystack, unless you go about it methodically.

Or something like that.

By: janusnode

janusnode — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 03:41:00 +0000

It is good to know that others remember this series as fondly as I do.

By: kiptw

kiptw — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 03:19:00 +0000

I really need to order the other three books in the Mad Scientists Club series. Left unpublished at Brinley’s death, they’ve been brought into print by his son, and they’re for sale online. I’ve read the one I have so many times! It’s like a gateway to fandom.

By: kiptw

kiptw — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 03:18:00 +0000

[comment moved up to where I intended it to go]

[also, there were two Mad Scientists' Club books - the second came out in '68; maybe three...]

By: jimbuck

jimbuck — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 03:08:00 +0000

My 11yo is in the middle of the Wikipedia Jones series.

By: lxp19

lxp19 — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 03:04:00 +0000

I also recommend Harriet the Spy for your godson. It’s another book that got me out sleuthing as a kid.

By: corydodt

corydodt — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 03:01:00 +0000

“I was at the North Pole watching the penguins.”

Win!

By: JustAdComics

JustAdComics — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 02:59:00 +0000

Very sad news. I loved those books. I moved on to “The Mad Scientists Club” after reading them – both great series!

By: corydodt

corydodt — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 02:57:00 +0000

Encyclopedia Brown may well be the reason I became a nerd.

I can’t wait for the inevitable mashup art that follows this news.

By: kiptw

kiptw — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 02:51:00 +0000

Aw, damn. Wikipedia Brown is taken? Serves me right for saving it. Also, this is from the Onion, a few years back. Sounds like it was written by a fellow fan of the series.

By: Mister44

Mister44 — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 02:41:00 +0000

I read sooooo many of these books in the 3rd and 4th grades. I loved them. Thank you, Mr. Sobol.

By: Tom B.

Tom B. — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 02:35:00 +0000

“They should’ve called themselves the Tea Bags. They were always getting into hot water.” – Possibly my favorite Donald Sobol line EVER from “Encyclopedia Brown Keeps the Peace”

By: Tom B.

Tom B. — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 02:30:00 +0000

There are moments when I think that my adolescent reading library was made up entirely of Encyclopedia Brown mysteries and Chose Your Own Adventure books.

Sobol never gets the credit he deserves as an author. He created this fantastic form – detective procedurals for the grade school crowd. He was like a Dick Wolf for kids who used this great familiar formula to engage kids with his mysteries. Even the simple act of having to turn to page 84 for the solution made me feel like a more active participant in the story.

I started reading some EB mysteries to my 5-year-old a few months ago and I went online to look for more information on Sobol. I was SHOCKED at how little there is online about the guy. A few scant articles, a so-so wiki page, a Contemporary Authors interview, no video (that I could find), and only one audio interview – http://justmyshow.com/31-donald-sobol

Sobol was just such a literary rock-star to my 9-year-old self that I kind of can’t believe that there aren’t more online tributes, fan sites, or Idaville Mystery Solver Conventions. Hope the man rests in peace.

By: nixiebunny

nixiebunny — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 02:19:00 +0000

These and math word problems made me who I am today. And Frank Zappa.

By: mtdna

mtdna — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 02:10:00 +0000

There’s a rumor around Idaville he was murdered by Bugs Meany!

By: Maria Pranzo

Maria Pranzo — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 01:59:00 +0000

I have a 4 year old godson who recently told me he wants to be a detective when he grows up. Well, I said, pretty soon you and I are going to start reading Encyclopedia Brown and we’ll do some detective work together.

Loved these books when I was young…though more than once I gave in to my impatience, looking at the answers before I solved the mysteries. As I got older, the solving became the important thing, making me the happy mutant I am today.

RIP Mr. Sobol. You will be well missed.

By: Craig Pittman

Craig Pittman — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 01:44:00 +0000

He was the most successful writer nobody ever heard of — and he’s got a new book coming out this fall, too. http://www.tampabay.com/news/obituaries/encyclopedia-brown-author-donald-sobol-dies-in-florida-at-87/1240576