Encyclopaedia Brown, by Donald J. Sobol

If you have a 5-8 year old independent reader who loves a mystery or detective-style book, here is a great series that doesn’t get talked about much.

So many books for young independent readers lean heavily on bums, toilets, poo, farts and underwear for their main material. Parents will be familiar with the high-class literary masterpiece ‘Captain Underpants’ with characters such as Professor Pippy Pee-Pee Pooppypants (a.k.a. Tippy Tinkletrousers), Wedgy Woman, The Turbo Toilet 2000 and Dr. Diaper. As a parent trying to promote reading I felt quite conflicted about borrowing these books. I had the internal debate: “At least they’re reading” vs “Is this why I taught my kid to read? So they could read about toilets?”.

‘Encyclopedia Brown‘ is a great series that might help you break through the flow of toilet-themed books to really interest your young reader.

As a young child I found Encyclopedia Brown in the school library. I remember it being one of the first series (the other being ‘The Baby-sitters’ Club’) that I memorised the author’s name so I could look for un-read books every time we went to library class. I don’t remember ever having a copy at home until I picked one up at a garage sale as a nostalgic teenager. I held onto that copy for years until I had a child old enough for me to read it too.

I started reading it to my 5 yr old as he was learning to read himself. I remember a few times I would read the chapter/case to him and he would tell me the ‘solve’ before we read it from the back of the book. When I asked how he knew the answer he told me he had read it the night before. (That is a proud moment for a mum, realising that  your child wants to read so much they will sneak a torch into their bed so they can read when they are meant to be asleep.)

I jumped online to try find more of the series for him and discovered that there are new, updated releases available. But me, a now nostalgic adult, wanted originals. I managed to find someone selling a set of 10 or so books for $ah-hem – thank you eBay.

Encyclopedia Brown is a 10 yr old boy detective.  You might compare him to other male protagonists like Zac Power or Jack Stalwart. The original stories were written in the 1960’s, so they are really different to the more recent books a young reader might be interested in. There are no mobile phones, no computers,  no gadgets or gizmos. In fact Encyclopedia takes the bus, rides his bike to the scene of the ‘crime’ and has camp outs with his friends.

They have been a favourite for over a year for my now Mr 7. If you have an inquisitive, curious, code breaking, mystery solving, spy-wannabe at your house, do yourself a favour and give these a try.