Encyclopedia Brown

File:Encyclopedia Brown - Boy Detective.jpg

Cover of the first edition of Encyclopedia Brown: Boy Detective from Lodestar Books.

Leroy "Encyclopedia" Brown is a fictional boy detective, the main character in a long series of children's books written by Donald J. Sobol since 1963. Only his parents and teachers call him by his given name of Leroy; the rest of the neighborhood children refer to him as Encyclopedia due to his learning and cleverness.

Plot

Books featuring Brown are subdivided into a number of (possibly interlinked) short stories, each of which presents a mystery. The mystery is always intended to be solved by the reader, thanks to the placement of a logical or factual inconsistency somewhere within the text. Brown invariably solves the case by exposing this inconsistency, but this part of the story is placed at the beginning of the book; the bulk of the story ends just at the moment when readers are invited to solve the case themselves, or flip to the section in the back with the answers.

Most books follow a formula where the first chapter involves Brown solving a case at the dinner table for his father, the local police chief in the fictional town of Idaville, Florida. The second chapter begins in the Brown garage on Rover Avenue, where Encyclopedia has set up his own detective agency to help neighborhood children solve cases for "25 cents per day, plus expenses." This second case usually involves the town bully, Bugs Meany, who after being foiled, attempts revenge in the third case and chapter. Encyclopedia's other main nemesis is Wilford Wiggins, a teenage con artist who is always concocting elaborate schemes to trick the children of Idaville out of their money. Encyclopedia takes cases involving Wilford for no charge.

Playing Watson to Brown's Holmes is Sally Kimball, his friend and occasional bodyguard. Despite her tomboyish nature (she is reputed to be the only child in the area, male or female, whom Bugs Meany fears), Sally is rather well-educated in and observant of etiquette, and sometimes solves cases where a lack of etiquette is the tip-off.

The enduring popularity of the Encyclopedia Brown books stems, at least partially, from the author's refusal to talk down to his young audience. Many adult readers also find the mysteries challenging. In 1975, the Mystery Writers of America honored Sobol and his Encyclopedia Brown series with a Special Edgar Award.

The books were originally published by Lodestar Books (a branch of E.P. Dutton). Since then, the company has folded over and Bantam Skylark owns the publishing rights since the 1980s. Current editions of the books feature new illustrations in place of the originals by Leonard Shortall, updated to contemporary cultural styles.

Encyclopedia Brown inspired many other solve-it-yourself mystery stories for younger readers, such as "Einstein" Anderson, and Hawkeye Collins & Amy Adams.

Some of the stories were adapted into a TV series on HBO in 1989.

Book listing

The Encyclopedia Brown books, in order of publication and as numbered by original release cover art, are:  1. Encyclopedia Brown, Boy Detective (1963, ISBN 0-525-67200-1, 1982 reissue ISBN 0-553-15724-8)
 2. Encyclopedia Brown Strikes Again (the Case of the Secret Pitch) (1965, ISBN 0-590-01650-4, second title reissue ISBN 0-525-67202-8)
 3. Encyclopedia Brown Finds the Clues (1966, ISBN 0-525-67204-4)
 4. Encyclopedia Brown Gets His Man (1967, ISBN 0-525-67206-0)
 5. Encyclopedia Brown Solves Them All (1968, ISBN 0-525-67212-5)
 6. Encyclopedia Brown Keeps The Peace (1969, ISBN 0-525-67208-7)
 7. Encyclopedia Brown Saves the Day (1970, ISBN 0-525-67210-9)
 8. Encyclopedia Brown Tracks Them Down (1971, ISBN 0-553-15721-3)
 9. Encyclopedia Brown Shows the Way (1972, ISBN 0-553-15142-X)
10. Encyclopedia Brown Takes the Case (1973, ISBN 0-553-15723-X)
11. Encyclopedia Brown Lends a Hand (1974, ISBN 0-553-48133-9, reissued as Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Exploding Plumbing and Other Mysteries, ISBN 0-590-44093-4)
12. Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Dead Eagles (1975)
13. Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Midnight Visitor (1977, ISBN0-553-15586-5)
14. Encyclopedia Brown Carries On (1980, ISBN 0-027-86190-2)
15. Encyclopedia Brown Sets the Pace (1981, ISBN 0-027-86200-3)
15½. Encyclopedia Brown Takes the Cake (1982) (Co-written with Glenn Andrews)
16. Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Mysterious Handprints (1985, ISBN 0-553-15739-6)
17. Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Treasure Hunt (1988, ISBN 0-553-15650-0)
18. Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Disgusting Sneakers (1990)
19. Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Two Spies (1995)
20. Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of Pablo's Nose (1996)
21. Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Sleeping Dog (1998)
22. Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Slippery Salamander (2000)
23. Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Jumping Frogs (2005)
24. Encyclopedia Brown Cracks the Case (2007, ISBN 978-0-525-47924-6)

Related works

• Encyclopedia Brown's Book of Strange But True Crimes (1992, ISBN 0590441485)
• Encyclopedia Brown's Book of Wacky Animals (1985, ISBN 0553153463)
• Encyclopedia Brown's Book of Wacky Cars (1987, ISBN 0688062229)
• Encyclopedia Brown's Book of Wacky Crimes
• Encyclopedia Brown's Book of Wacky Outdoors
• Encyclopedia Brown's Book of Wacky Spies
• Encyclopedia Brown's Book of Wacky Sports
• Encyclopedia Brown's Record Book of Weird and Wonderful Facts
• Encyclopedia Brown's Second Record Book of Weird and Wonderful Facts
• Encyclopedia Brown's Third Record Book of Weird and Wonderful Facts

References/Parodies

There have been several satirical versions of Encyclopedia Brown including one by the satirical newspaper The Onion. [1] Adam Cadre wrote a parody of Encyclopedia Brown which satirizes Wikipedia. [2]

• Bill Amend made reference to the Encyclopedia Brown series in the title of a 2001 compilation of FoxTrot comics- "Encyclopedias Brown and White" ([3] Amazon.com]

• Tom Tomorrow's comic on Salon.com, "This Modern World," also occasionally features a parody called Conservative Jobes.

• In the movie 1408, Mike Enslin (John Cusack) says, "Let's 'Encyclopedia Brown' this bitch," when trying to come up with a rational explanation for the strange, but minor occurrences during his first few minutes in a dreaded hotel room.

• Zebra Crossing, a theatre company in New York, has created a series of plays featuring the character of Wikipedia Brown. Written by Drayton Hiers and Chloë Bass, and loosely inspired by the young detectives genre (including The Hardy Boys, Scooby Doo, and Hawkeye Collins, as well as Encyclopedia Brown), the series features a pair of detectives in their twenties, solving topical and socially related crimes in The City. The first play, "Wikipedia Brown and The Case of The Mysterious Development" was workshopped in Bushwick, Brooklyn in fall 2007.
  

• In the second season of the television show Veronica Mars, the main character suggests that a client hire Encyclopedia Brown to solve the case.

Other Media

Encyclopedia Brown appears in the Robot Chicken episode "Losin' the Wobble" voiced by Seth Green.

External links

• Encyclopedia Brown at Thrilling Detective
• Encyclopedia Brown at KidsReads.com
• Encyclopedia Brown at IMDb