Attending a small town public elementary school afforded me the use of a small town elementary school library. Heroically under-funded and managed by a white-haired curator, the school library provided two sets of volumes that made a deep impression on my life.
The first was a collection of biographies written in the charmingly blunt language of Nine Year Old Boy. From this set I became acquainted with all the greats of antiquity: Henry Ford, Andrew Jackson, Thomas Edison, John Phillip Sousa, The Wright Brothers, and even Walt Disney. These brief but penetrating biographies helped me to appreciate the value of genius, though sadly they did nothing to aid my ascension to their ranks.
The second assembly of volumes, bound in that indestructible cardboard exclusive to grade-school library books, was a modest set of Encyclopedia Brown adventures.
Blessed with an encyclopedic mind sharper than that of any adult’s, Leroy “Encyclopedia” Brown was the son of the town police chief, who was renown nationally for his keen effectiveness against the criminal underworld. However, the Chief held a dark secret: he was a fraud! A sham! The source of his investigative powers was his pre-teen son, Encyclopedia, who often solved the Chief’s most difficult mysteries at the dinner table by deducing the identity of the villain before dessert was served.
When he wasn’t cracking his father’s cases, Encyclopedia Brown set up shop in the family garage, where he solved neighborhood problems for a “quarter a day, plus expenses.” With the help of a female enforcer (and sometime girlfriend) named Sally, Encyclopedia often found himself at odds with the local punk, a dense town-tough named Bugs Meany.
Bugs Meany was generally a foil easily bested, thanks to Encyclopedia’s big brain and Sally’s fast fists. What presented more of a problem was a parade of adult con artists and smarmy juvenile delinquents that plagued the community, despite the police chief’s sterling reputation as a master crime fighter. It was from these particular cases that I learned to glean clues from minute detail and peculiar inconsistencies. I discovered that with a discerning eye, I could be my own Encyclopedia Brown.
And that was the beauty of Encyclopedia Brown. Though the clues were never completely obvious, they could be found fairly and honestly within the breezy plotline. By virtue of merely reading Encyclopedia Brown, you became as sharp and intuitive as its precocious protagonist.
Encyclopedia Brown’s creator, Don Sobol, passed away early this July at the impressive age of 87. Thanks to Encyclopedia’s somewhat less reliable cousin, Wikipedia Brown, I am able to tell you that Don wrote more than 65 books in his lifetime, the very best of which featured America’s most famous boy detective. Thanks for the mystery, Don.
