Sobol, Donald J. (1924-2012), an American author of children’s books, became best known for his series of mystery stories that feature a boy detective called Encyclopedia Brown. Leroy Brown is 10 years old. He earned the nickname “Encyclopedia” because he is so bright he seems to have as much knowledge as a set of encyclopedias.
Sobol began the series with Encyclopedia Brown, Boy Detective (1963). In each Encyclopedia Brown book, the boy solves 10 mysteries. The solution to each mystery is printed in the back of the book, but the author encourages readers to solve each case themselves with the aid of reasoning, observation, and psychology. Sobol also wrote a popular syndicated newspaper series of short mysteries from 1959 to 1968. Many of these short mysteries were published in Two-Minute Mysteries (1967), More Two-Minute Mysteries (1971), and Still More Two-Minute Mysteries (1975).
Sobol wrote a number of nonfiction books on historical subjects for young adults. His biographies of leaders of the American Civil War (1861-1865) were collected in Two Flags Flying (1960). He wrote The First Book of the Barbarian Invaders, A.D. 375-511 (1962). His biographies of leaders of the Revolutionary War in America (1775-1783) were published in Lock, Stock, and Barrel (1965). Greta the Strong (1970) is set in King Arthur’s Britain. Sobol also wrote A Civil War Sampler (1961) and An American Revolutionary War Reader (1964).
Sobol was born on Oct. 4, 1924, in New York City. He received a B.A. degree from Oberlin College in 1948 and attended the New School for Social Research from 1949 to 1951. Sobol began his writing career in about 1955. Sobol died on July 11, 2012.
