# Really Bad Encyclopedia Brown Solutions (or Other Kid Lit. Items That Ticked You Off) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 19, 2005, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-bad-encyclopedia-brown-solutions-or-other-kid-lit-items-that-ticked-you-off/322400 "2005-09-19T18:26:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2005, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-bad-encyclopedia-brown-solutions-or-other-kid-lit-items-that-ticked-you-off/322400/61 "2005-09-20T15:37:26Z")
> [@HazelNutCoffee](#): > > Of course, hypocrite that I am, I always waited in vain for an episode where she and Brown would finally reveal their true feelings and have steamy se… err, go to the next school dance together. “Encyclopedia Brown and The Case of The Hidden Baloney.” ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2005, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-bad-encyclopedia-brown-solutions-or-other-kid-lit-items-that-ticked-you-off/322400/62 "2005-09-20T15:43:29Z")
Which was a sequel to, _Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of Malt Liquor._ Of course, there was a less popular third installment, _Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of Gonorrhea._ ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2005, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-bad-encyclopedia-brown-solutions-or-other-kid-lit-items-that-ticked-you-off/322400/63 "2005-09-20T17:14:22Z")
> [@DWMarch](#): > > It wasn’t particularly infuriating but I remember reading two old school Hardy Boys books at the same time and finding out that they had _identical_ plots and only slightly different characters and setting. Damn if that wasn’t confusing. It’s a good thing you didn’t try to read a third one. 😉 Homer: And, these Hardy Boys books are great, too! This one’s about smugglers! Bart: They’re all about smugglers. Homer: No, not this one! “The Smugglers of Pirate Cove”. It’s about pirates. ---
**Author:** ![Jayrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Jayrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayrot)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2005, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-bad-encyclopedia-brown-solutions-or-other-kid-lit-items-that-ticked-you-off/322400/64 "2005-09-20T17:42:22Z")
What a great thread! I only wish there were some kind of Encyclopdia Brown episode guide that I could look through and re-live all my frustrations. As a kid, I was on a mission to read every single EB book there was (…at my local library). But now that I’m racking my brain, I can barely think of a single one. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2005, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-bad-encyclopedia-brown-solutions-or-other-kid-lit-items-that-ticked-you-off/322400/65 "2005-09-20T18:09:31Z")
Does anyone remember Jupiter Jones? I know I read them as a kid but damn if I can remember anything about them. “The Case of the Stuttering Parrot” is the only title I remember. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2005, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-bad-encyclopedia-brown-solutions-or-other-kid-lit-items-that-ticked-you-off/322400/66 "2005-09-20T18:17:07Z")
Does anybody remember a series about the misadventures of two boys who are given a magical chemistry set by a mysterious old lady? I remember reading it as a kid in the 60’s. They would do things like mix up a potion to make them better at baseball, which it would do, but there were always unexpected results as well. One of the things I remember is that the chemistry set had belonged to the old lady’s son and many of the vials were empty -or nearly so- and they therefore couldn’t mix up a second batch of anything. Yes, I know that that “1960’s” and “magical chemistry set” when used together begs for a drug joke. I’m sure somebody will be along with one directly. ---
**Author:** ![divemaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/divemaster/32/78_2.png) [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2005, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-bad-encyclopedia-brown-solutions-or-other-kid-lit-items-that-ticked-you-off/322400/67 "2005-09-20T18:19:28Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > Does anyone remember Jupiter Jones? I know I read them as a kid but damn if I can remember anything about them. “The Case of the Stuttering Parrot” is the only title I remember. Alfred Hitchcock presents _The Three Investigators_. I loved these books! Much better than the Hardy Boys. Let’s see, there was Jupiter Jones (the brainy, portly one), Pete Crenshaw (the athletic one) and Bob somebody (the studious one). \*The Stuttering Parrot \* one was one of the really good stories I thought. I do remember one that was a rip-off, however. Turned out the mystery hinged on the fact(!) that one character had out-of-body experiences or something like that to explain how he could be seen in more than one place at a given time. Not sure if I have this detail correct, but there was \*definitely \*acceptance of some paranormal phenomenon rather than a well-deduced and realistic solution. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2005, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-bad-encyclopedia-brown-solutions-or-other-kid-lit-items-that-ticked-you-off/322400/68 "2005-09-20T18:19:31Z")
> [@Jayrot](#): > > I only wish there were some kind of Encyclopdia Brown episode guide that I could look through and re-live all my frustrations. As a kid, I was on a mission to read every single EB book there was (…at my local library). But now that I’m racking my brain, I can barely think of a single one. [Wikipedia lists the books](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encyclopedia_Brown) but I don’t think there’s a list of each mystery anywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2005, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-bad-encyclopedia-brown-solutions-or-other-kid-lit-items-that-ticked-you-off/322400/69 "2005-09-20T18:23:45Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > Does anyone remember Jupiter Jones? I know I read them as a kid but damn if I can remember anything about them. “The Case of the Stuttering Parrot” is the only title I remember. Wow … I’d totally forgotten Jupiter Jones until I read your post. I remember reading some caper with a stolen ruby, and a nasty guy from (I think) India with a sword-cane … good stuff! Should I be embarrassed to admit I also read Danny Dunn? ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2005, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-bad-encyclopedia-brown-solutions-or-other-kid-lit-items-that-ticked-you-off/322400/70 "2005-09-20T18:24:36Z")
I just googled the three investigators and got [this site.](http://www.threeinvestigators.net/) It’s a good one. ---
**Author:** ![audreyayn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@audreyayn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/audreyayn)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2005, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-bad-encyclopedia-brown-solutions-or-other-kid-lit-items-that-ticked-you-off/322400/71 "2005-09-20T18:35:22Z")
> [@panamajack](#): > > Some that I recall were ‘a redhead fashion model wouldn’t dare wear that outfit’, or 'an English professor would _never_ say “scan” where he meant “skim” '. She had a closet full of pink, right? I don’t remember where I got it from, but years later I remember that redheads aren’t supposed to wear pink. > [@Wolfian](#): > > I also remember a story in which two crooks, a guy and a girl, cross-dress in order to steal money from a diner (I can’t remember the exact details). EB’s little girl friend solves the case by noting that the guy dressed as a girl is sitting facing away from the door. Ladies are supposed to sit facing the door as a matter of common couresty. Fair enough, and I learned a lesson, but how did she know that crooks knew that. Heck, she even said that the reason EB didn’t know the answer because guys today don’t know their manners. This is the one I came into the thread to mention. It drove me crazy because it implied I don’t know my manners because I’ve never heard of this. Not to mention, the lady (as a man) was sitting facing the door to act as a lookout, not out of habit or anything that implied she’d heard of this either. I have a book of Lateral Thinking Puzzles that are full of mysteries that can’t be solved by the clues therein. Apparently, no one told these writers that the point of quick mysteries is to make the reader feel smart. It’s only in longer mysteries that you want to keep them in the dark. For some reason, this thread has brought back to mind some story where kids made their own little rollercoaster off the roof of their house. Now that’s going to bug me. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2005, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-bad-encyclopedia-brown-solutions-or-other-kid-lit-items-that-ticked-you-off/322400/72 "2005-09-20T18:43:59Z")
> [@Rodgers01](#): > > Incidentally, why are ladies supposed to sit facing the door?? In case a Man Comes Through the Door with a Gun. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2005, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-bad-encyclopedia-brown-solutions-or-other-kid-lit-items-that-ticked-you-off/322400/73 "2005-09-20T18:49:22Z")
> [@Jayrot](#): > > Every now and then EB would help his dad (police chief) solve some crime simply by reading through the clues written in his notebook. Thus illustrating Sobol’s debt to the Baroness Orczy and her [Man in the Corner](http://www.mysteryguide.com/bkOrczyCorner.html), the first of the great “armchair detectives.” Not to mention Frank Gruber’s [Oliver Quade the Human Encyclopedia](http://www.geocities.com/jjnevins/pulpsq.html), who had the name first. ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2005, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-bad-encyclopedia-brown-solutions-or-other-kid-lit-items-that-ticked-you-off/322400/74 "2005-09-20T18:49:40Z")
> [@audreyayn](#): > > For some reason, this thread has brought back to mind some story where kids made their own little rollercoaster off the roof of their house. Now that’s going to bug me. Sounds like the Great Brain story “The Chute-the-Chute.” Nasty—ends with a kid breaking his leg. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2005, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-bad-encyclopedia-brown-solutions-or-other-kid-lit-items-that-ticked-you-off/322400/75 "2005-09-20T19:05:19Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > Does anybody remember a series about the misadventures of two boys who are given a magical chemistry set by a mysterious old lady? I remember reading it as a kid in the 60’s. They would do things like mix up a potion to make them better at baseball, which it would do, but there were always unexpected results as well. One of the things I remember is that the chemistry set had belonged to the old lady’s son and many of the vials were empty -or nearly so- and they therefore couldn’t mix up a second batch of anything. Yes, I know that that “1960’s” and “magical chemistry set” when used together begs for a drug joke. I’m sure somebody will be along with one directly. Of course I remember them. Scott Corbett’s series of “Trick” books, which started off with “The Lemonade Trick.” Old lady Mrs. Graymalkin gives Kerby and Fenton her son Felix’s old chemistry set. The chemistry set produces magical-type results. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2005, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-bad-encyclopedia-brown-solutions-or-other-kid-lit-items-that-ticked-you-off/322400/76 "2005-09-20T19:09:37Z")
Those ‘Trick’ books were great, I think I read them all. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2005, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-bad-encyclopedia-brown-solutions-or-other-kid-lit-items-that-ticked-you-off/322400/77 "2005-09-20T19:23:59Z")
> [@Bytor](#): > > …I to this day remember several solutions. One involved him knowing some “war hero” was a fraud because he allowed the flag to fly at night in the rain… The one I remember like that is where EB and his pals visit a famous old historic fort in town, and hear the story of how it was taken over by the bad guys long ago (Indians? British troops? Inebriated Cossacks? I don’t remember) during a rainstorm. EB deduces that the relief party riding to the fort should have known something was amiss because the fort’s flag was still flying in the rain. WTF? Should they expect the troops inside to haul down the flag every time it rained? ---
**Author:** ![gaucho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c67d28/32.png) [@gaucho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaucho)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2005, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-bad-encyclopedia-brown-solutions-or-other-kid-lit-items-that-ticked-you-off/322400/78 "2005-09-20T19:44:52Z")
I can’t believe how well you guys remember these stories! Most of them I’ve blissfully forgotten, but there’s one that sticks in my craw all these years later: the solution somehow hinged on the fact that a kid slated to perform in a talent show as a magician was wearing a _t-shirt_, because magicians need _long sleeves_ to do their tricks. Even as a kid, that one made me say WTF? And don’t hate on the Great Brain. I loved those books. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2005, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-bad-encyclopedia-brown-solutions-or-other-kid-lit-items-that-ticked-you-off/322400/79 "2005-09-20T19:59:29Z")
Ooo…nearly forgot – don’t miss the [Encyclopedia Brown series](http://www.modernhumorist.com/mh/by/eb/) over at Modern Humorist. > [@Modern Humorist](#): > > Svetlana Khorkina is known as the “Russian Diva.” Russian is the adjectival form of the country formerly known as the Soviet Union. Diva is another name for insufferable bitch. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2005, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-bad-encyclopedia-brown-solutions-or-other-kid-lit-items-that-ticked-you-off/322400/80 "2005-09-20T21:20:39Z")
> [@Wolfian](#): > > I remember one solution stated that it was impossible to put something (a pocket knife I think) into one’s right back pocket with one’s left hand. Bull I says. Its’ impossible to do it crossing over your right arm (I believe the framed kid had his arm in a cast), but its’ child’s play to do it behind one’s back. > > I also remember a story in which two crooks, a guy and a girl, cross-dress in order to steal money from a diner (I can’t remember the exact details). EB’s little girl friend solves the case by noting that the guy dressed as a girl is sitting facing away from the door. Ladies are supposed to sit facing the door as a matter of common couresty. Fair enough, and I learned a lesson, but how did she know that crooks knew that. Heck, she even said that the reason EB didn’t know the answer because guys today don’t know their manners. Oh, yes, that’s the sort of EB “clue” I recognize. Encyclopedia Brown made me feel dumb, 'cos I didn’t know that “female cellists never wear short skirts,” etc. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-bad-encyclopedia-brown-solutions-or-other-kid-lit-items-that-ticked-you-off/322400.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-bad-encyclopedia-brown-solutions-or-other-kid-lit-items-that-ticked-you-off/322400.md?page=5)