Encyclopedia Brown is one of the classics when it comes to children’s mysteries. The book is a collection of short mysteries, one per chapter, that lay out a set of clues. Once Encyclopedia has the answer, readers can see if they too are brilliant detectives by guessing themselves and then flipping to the back of the book to see if they’re right. It’s a highly engaging format, especially for readers who are bright enough to deduce things, but may lack the attention span for longer books.
The stories do feature some recurring characters and the clues are all laid out for you. In most cases, you can actually deduce the solution, which makes it more fun. I never really got many of them as a child, but as an adult I can usually guess correctly. After all these years, I’m still fond of good old Encyclopedia. Also, Sally, his partner makes her debut in this book. She is still awesome. She’s an excellent athlete, pretty and smart. Plus she can beat up a bully. Go Sally!
NB: The copy I read is the genuine, published in 1963, article. If anyone has made any modernizations or updates to the text since then, I am none the wiser.
I would happily recommend this to students in third and fourth grade particularly. There is no reason it couldn’t be read by younger students who are advanced readers although there would be far greater difficultly for them to solve the cases. The violence and crime is all very old fashioned and generally not scary. This would also be a great pick for gifted students, particularly if you don’t allow them to peek at the answers. It would be fascinating to have readers write their own guesses and explanations of the crimes.
Sex, Nudity, Dating – None.
Profanity – None.
Death, Violence and Gore – Encyclopedia Brown asks his first client if he needs a murder or kidnapping investigated (he doesn’t). There is an alleged hold up involving a gun. A boy is interested in trading for a sword. The civil war is mentioned. Sally has a solid left punch and hits a bully, right in the jaw. He pushes her. She punches him again. This continues for awhile. A bank robber carries a gun. A policeman carries a gun. Shots ring out during a purported robbery. A knife is stabbed into a watermelon. It was supposed to be used to commit a crime.
Drugs, Alcohol and Smoking – None.
Frightening or Intense Things – None.
