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In the fall of 2011 I was contacted by the Oberlin Alumni Magazine. Oberlin had been my #3 choice of college when I was a high school senior and I wondered in the vaguest sense if they were going to try a new pitch on me. Nothing doing, they simply wanted to get a quote regarding the man who might be their most famous children’s literature graduate (not that Barry Deutsch is anything to scoff at) Donald J. Sobol. Naturally I was honored to be asked, and thrilled to discover he was a real guy and not some Carolyn Keene/Erin Hunter conglomerate of writers. You can read a fair account of his history in that same article Donald Sobol and the Case of the Elusive Mystery Writer. And here, from Penguin, is a lovely obituary for the man who passed away last Wednesday.  Note the role New York Public Library had (albeit inadvertently) in the creation of Encyclopedia.  I am very honored that the family has asked that donations be made to NYPL as well.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

DONALD J. SOBOL

Creator of Encyclopedia Brown

1924-2012

Celebrated children’s book author Donald Sobol passed away Wednesday, July 11^th. He was 87 years old.

Donald J. Sobol was the author of the popular Encyclopedia Brown children’s book series, featuring amateur sleuth Leroy “Encyclopedia” Brown. Sobol wrote the first book in 1963. The series went on to become a staple in classrooms and children’s libraries across the country.  It has been translated into 12 languages and has sold millions of copies worldwide. 2013 will mark the 50^th anniversary of the Encyclopedia Brown series. Sobol’s latest Encyclopedia Brown adventure, Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Soccer Scheme, will be published in October of this year.

Don Weisberg, President, Penguin Young Readers Group, said, “Thanks to Donald, generations of children have learned to read and solve mysteries alongside Encyclopedia Brown, one of the most iconic characters in children’s literature.”

Steven Meltzer, Associate Publisher, Dutton Children’s Books commented, “I will truly miss Don Sobol. He was a generous writer who shared with boys and girls a lasting legacy of childhood. In the years I have worked with Don I have met people from all walks of life who have fond memories of his Encyclopedia Brown books and now share them with their own children and grandchildren. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his wife, Rose and their family.”

Donald J. Sobol was born in New York City in 1924. He served in the Army Corps of Engineers during WWII. After the war he began his career as a copywriter at the New York Sun, where he eventually worked his way up to reporter. Sobol began writing mysteries in 1957. The idea for Encyclopedia Brown came to him when he was researching an article at the New York Public Library and a game book was handed to him in error by a desk clerk. The book had puzzles on one side of the page and solutions on the other. He thought why not write a mystery series with the same sort of premise. The Encyclopedia Brown books would eventually earn him an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America in 1976. Sobol authored more than 80 books.  He is survived by his wife, Rose; a sister, Helen; three children Diane, Eric and John, and four grandchildren, Gregory, Bryan, Lauren and Nicholas.

The family has asked that donations in his memory be made to The New

Encyclopedia Brown author Donald J. Sobol has passed away. He was 87 years old.

This GalleyCat editor will never forget the hours and hours he spent devouring this Edgar Award-winning mystery series. In addition to these books, Sobol also wrote the Two Minute Mystery series from 1959 until 1968. He launched Encyclopedia Brown in 1963, and the books are still available today from Penguin.  Here is more from his biography:

Each book in the series contains ten mysteries presented in readable sentences and enhanced with witty puns and other verbal jokes. Solutions to each case are printed in the back of the book, but readers are encouraged to solve the cases themselve, reading carefully, and using a variety of methods, including deductive reasoning, psychology, and careful observation of physical evidence. Ten-year-old Leroy Brown is called “Encyclopedia” because he is so smart that he seems to know everything you would find in a set of encyclopedias. Sobol once said, “Readers constantly ask me if Encyclopedia is a real boy. The answer is no … He is, perhaps, the boy I wanted to be — doing the things I wanted to read about but could not find in any book when I was ten.”

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