There are books from my youth that fed my passion for reading, many of which stand out clearly in my memory after reading them voraciously -- and repeatedly -- some 50 years ago. One series that kept me visiting and revisiting my school library as a kid was Encyclopedia Brown, a minute-mystery type series that kept me fascinated. I remember rereading many of the books even after I knew how the cases were resolved.

A year or so ago, I bought the first book in the series for my kids, age 10 -- the same age as the eponymous detective -- in hopes that they would find the same joy in solving those small-town mysteries in Idaville and putting the vile Bugs Meany in his place. Alas, times have changed, and Encyclopedia Brown is no match -- to my kids, at least -- for the likes of Harry Potter, Katniss Everdeen, Greg Heffley, Percy Jackson, and the various heroes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Curious, and a bit nostalgic, I recently picked up my son's discarded copy and read through Encyclopedia Brown's first book of adventures. Among them, I found stories that I remembered quite well -- the stolen jewels, the fake sword allegedly presented to the Confederate General Stonewall Jackson during the Civil War, the cooing toddler on a hot car hood, the duplicitous spinning egg -- as well as a few I didn't recall.

Each chapter follows a formula, usually involving a case that Leroy "Encyclopedia" Brown's father, the local chief of police, can't solve or else a problem posed to Brown through his amateur detective agency set up in his parents' garage. He is smart and wholesome, often aided in his investigations by Sally Kimball, a girl who nearly matches him in brains and who exceeds him in brawn, and he quickly and consistently spots the mistake each criminal (or mischievous imp, as the case may be) makes in the narrative. Each chapter ends with the solution unresolved, giving readers a chance to figure it out before turning to the end to see Encyclopedia's explanation.

Donald J. Sobol wrote dozens of Encyclopedia Brown books, as well as a few, more adult-oriented Two-Minute Mysteries collections, some of which I also read as a child. I thoroughly enjoyed this brief stroll down memory lane and, while my kids weren't enamored of the book as I was, I hope children today are still finding inspiration (while honing their deductive skills) with Sobol's books.