Give this to the nearest 6-10 year-old (or adult who wants to be 6-10 years old again). This kid here is way too hip to be the Leroy "Encyclopedia" Brown I grew up with! But like so many kids' books that have been continually reprinted through the ages, to older covers were a lot better than what I'm seeing up there. The books were still pretty fun, though, even if my all-too-honest mom made it clear I was never going to get to actually live them out in real life. When your mom laughs at you, you know right then and there it ain't gonna work. I went so far as to paint my own detective agency sign and everything. I was determined to seek out neighborhood wrongdoings, solve some petty crimes, and maybe even win a few friends in the process. And in my mind, it actually seemed kind of possible. When you're the nerdy kid on your block, and you discover a character who is the smartest kid in school, kind of popular despite that fact, can not only stand up to but often humiliate the local bully, and gets to hang out with the prettiest girl in the school? Yeah, you're gonna wish life imitated art in that case. I could say that I loved the Encyclopedia Brown series as a kid, but that wouldn't be entirely accurate.
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