Sobol can’t be dead - this obituary says he was kicked to death by a pregnant mule.
Right there with all of you–I devoured those books. Congratulations, Mr. Sobol, on a life well lived.
This is so totally stolen for Facebook!
I enjoyed his books greatly when I was younger. RIP Mr. Sobol. 
Slaps a quarter down on the gas can
Sorry to see him go.
I loved the series as a kid.
He was even better than EB. And, his friend Shoie (sp?).
Marvellous, just like his inventions.
I thought, tho, that his “Secret Code” was kind of weak. I have read “The Marvellous inventions…” and “Secret Code…” Are the others in the series any good? I know that they are quite pricey for children’s SBS offerings.
But, to the main-I looked forward to the Scholastic Book Service drives first of all for EB. He was a staple of my youth.
I loved those stories!!! I remember Daphne Muldoon, Dinky Poore, Henry Mulligan, Freddy Muldoon, Zeke Boniface and Richard the Deep Breather …but not Alvin Fernald.
Alvin Fernald was a series similar to Encyclopedia Brown; Daphne was his little sister (“The Pest”) who always managed to insinuate herself into his adventures. He also had a best friend named Shoie; Alvin was a boy inventor and the brains of the outfit, Shoie was the athletic muscle.
The two books I particularly remember are where they were learning about cryptography, and when they went to Europe. There was also one where some old woman was being held prisoner by her son, I think, though I may be conflating that with the first one.
There was another book I particularly liked called Project: Genius, and one called Andy Buckram’s Tin Men. The kids in these books always seemed to be leading much more interesting lives than I ever would… 
I’m also saddened to read this. But:
actually, a few mules have become pregnant and given birth. There are no known fertile male mules, but a few females have produced offspring when bred to a horse or jack. These mollies don’t produce offspring when bred to male mules.
I was aware of that. I mentioned it because “mules can’t get pregnant” is the plot point of a couple of Sobol’s stories.
Is that you, Bugs Meany DVM?
Now we’ll never see the planned series about his little brother, Wikipedia Brown.
I loved those books. I was just thinking of them the other day when I had to reach with my left hand into my right jeans pocket, something that Encyclopedia Brown said couldn’t be done!
He’s never the same each time I look at him. Talk about impressionable…!
Ooh, so close! I must have had that Onion article in the recesses of my buried memory or something.
In addition to a pile of Encyclopedia Brown books, I also had an anthology of his called (IIRC) ‘Still More Two-Minute Mysteries’ - basically, the deductive bits without the kid-lit shell. Still have that, in fact…
I never read the Encyclopedia Brown series, but did read the Two-Minute Mysteries, starring Inspector Haldejan.
handsomeharry:
I’ve read Swap Shop, Mayor for a Day, and TV Anchorman, and they’re all good fun.
McGurk mysteries are the best, though.
Back to the real subject of this thread, though - in addition to the Encyclopedia Brown mysteries, I recall reading “Encyclopedia Brown’s Book of Facts” (or some similarly-titled book) and the second volume in the “Facts” series. These books fascinated me with random trivia, a fascination which would eventually lead me to…the Straight Dope, by Cecil Adams.
RIP, Mr. Sobol.
Heh. I didn’t remember that…still don’t remember any stories where that’s the plot point, but I’m pretty sure that I didn’t read all the stories, and I’m also sure that I don’t remember all of the ones I read.
I did mostly enjoy the ones I read, though.