Customer Reviews

Encyclopedia Brown Keeps the Peace (Encyclopedia Brown (Paperback))

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This was a classic series of books when I was a kid, and I read a great many of them. I can still remember a lot of the details. Now I am getting them for my son. In my opinion, I think that 9-12 is a little old for this material. I recall in 7th grade (11-12 year olds) a boy in my English class was heckled for presenting a report on an Encyclopedia Brown book in front of class, as most of us had read them some years earlier. I would guess that average kids should read them from ages 7 to 9, with gifted children of 6 being old enough to enjoy them.

I read all, yes all, of the 'Encyclopedia Brown' books as a child. My mother picked up the whole set at a garage sale, and it wasn't long before I had read and reread each of them several times. These books challenge young readers intellectually while presenting every-day situations. Encyclopedia Brown not only solves mysteries, he deals with his parents, the town bully, and amazed adults as well. I recommend this series to everyone; if you're older, you may not want to present a book report on an 'Encyclopedia Brown' book, but you'll enjoy it all the same. =)

The Encyclopedia Brown books remind me of The Tuesday Club Murders by Agatha Christie except aimed at elementary school aged readers. Encyclopedia Brown Keeps the Peace has ten short capers (each about seven pages long). Each chapter ends with a challenge to the reader to solve the case. These mysteries are more a case of reading comprehension than actual sleuthing. The solutions to the case are often times too simplistic.

For example, one of the capers ends with a character being disqualified because he did some darkroom trickery on his photograph and therefore couldn't win the photography prize. Most photography contests have a category for composite work but the story never fully states whether or not this contest does as well. The story would have been better if it had included something about the character being in the nonfiction category where composite work or double exposures couldn't be used.

Another caper that got under my skin was the fault of the book being dated more than anything. The clue centers around Palestine and the solution given in the back of the book basically says that it can't be Palestine because it's not a real country. Palestine's unfortunate status is not the point of the clue. The fact that the other places named were cities was clue enough. Where is Palestine a city and not a country (or former country or whatever it is depending on the political situation du jour)?

As a 46 year old, I remember to this day devouring the Encyclopedia Brown series at the local library. Many times, I checked out the book, read it cover to cover, and returned it the same day.

And now my 4th grade daughter is hooked on the series. She is just like me... she can't get enough. She loves trying to solve the mysteries. We highly recommend Encyclopedia Brown.

This mystery takes place in downtown Idaville.Encyclopedia brown is the main chazracter who solves the mystery's for kids and adults.Cericeo is a minor charactor who tries to find out how seamen really behave, he has a play were he is a sailor.A problem accurs when he goes into a restaraunt with the sailors and pays for his meal and there is only a 2 cents tip so he leaves under the crowd and starts running down the street.The cook calls out to him that he'll fix him good so the boy is scared .The mystery is solved when Encyclopedia is the one to sort out the problem.