Books - Stephanie says:

“Encyclopedia Brown” was referenced on ­Jeopardy- the other day and I was a kid again for a moment. I loved those books. I loved that they had a continuing plot line even though each book had several different mysteries in them. I loved that Encyclopedia had a girlfriend who was tougher than he was and would actually stand up to the town bully. I loved that the answers to each mystery were on pages in the back. It was from “Encyclopedia” that I learned that nuns don’t wear lipstick, that pigs get sunburned, that it’s hard to see an accurate reflection in a spoon and that you can’t play the cello with a tight skirt on.

Actually, I’ve been stumbling across references to books I read as a child all over the place lately. I looked up Alfred Hitchcock the other day and ran into a reference to “The Three Investigators”. “Ah yes,” I thought. “I remember Jupiter Jones and his crew.” Actually, I ­was- part of his crew as we would play “The Three Investigators” at recess in fourth grade. I think I was always someone named “Bob” because of my glasses.

In ­fifth- grade, we moved on to “Trixie Belden” and her friends. I can’t find anyone around here who actually ­remembers- Trixie Belden, but she was very big in Sweetwater, Tennessee that year. Our teachers actually read us a chapter a day for our morning story time. She was so cool and her best friend was named “Honey”. What’s not to love about that?

And then, of course, there is Louisa May Alcott. Margaret Mitchell’s ­Gone With the Wind- is the greatest book ever written, but ­Little Women- comes in a close second. Fiesty Jo, socially conscious Meg, tender hearted Beth and their younger sister Amy were once as real to me as people I actually knew. I am so going to have to pull it back out once I finish the Inspector Lynley mysteries. Some books are just timeless.