T here was more to Idaville than met the eye.
To passing motorists, Idaville looked like an ordinary seaside town. It had lovely beaches, a Little League, and two delicatessens. It had churches, a synagogue, and four banks.
To police chiefs all over the country, however, Idaville was far from ordinary. No one got away with breaking a law in Idaville.
How did Idaville do it? What was the secret behind the town’s spotless police record?
Only two grown-ups, Mr. and Mrs. Brown, knew the answer. Idaville’s war on crime was masterminded by their only child, ten-year-oldEncyclopedia, America’s Sherlock Holmes in sneakers.
Mr. Brown was the Idaville police chief. He was a fine officer, brave and smart. But sometimes he came up against a crime that even he could not solve. When that happened, he knew what to do. He drove home. At the dinner table he went over the facts of the case while Encyclopedia listened carefully.
Nothing else was necessary. Encyclopedia usually figured out the guilty person before dessert. If he needed a few minutes extra, his mother was disappointed.
Chief Brown hated keeping his son’s sleuthing under cover. He would have liked the president to declare Encyclopedia a national treasure.
But if he told the truth, who would believe him?
Who would believe that the mastermind behind Idaville’s crackdown on crime didn’t look in the mirror after washing to see if his face was clean. He looked in his towel.
As for Encyclopedia, he never told anyone about the help he gave his father. He didn’t want to seem different from other fifth-graders.
He was stuck with his nickname, however.
Only his parents and teachers called him by his real name, Leroy. Everyone else called him Encyclopedia.
An encyclopedia is a book or set of books filled with facts from A to Z. So was Encyclopedia’s head. He had read more books than anyone in Idaville, and he never forgot what he read. His pals insisted that he was better than a library. They learned all kinds of things about books from him—such as footnotes don’t come from squeaky shoes.
At the dinner table Friday evening, Chief Brown poked at his meat loaf. Encyclopedia and his mother knew what that meant. A case had him puzzled.
Chief Brown put down his fork. “There was trouble at the Yacht Club this morning,” he said at last. “Someone smashed the rudder of
Defiance.”
“Isn’t
Defiance
one of the sailboats in the Commodore’s Cup finals?” Mrs. Brown inquired.
“Defiance
is racing
Childhood II,”
replied Chief Brown. “Whichever boat wins two out of three races will be awarded the Commodore’s Cup for the year. Yesterday
Defiance
won the opening race.”
Encyclopedia had read about the Commodore’sCup finals in the
Idaville News. Defiance
was owned and sailed by Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Day.
Childhood II
was owned and sailed by John Cushing and his brother, Tom.
Childhood II
was faster in light seas.
Defiance
was faster in rough seas. With Mr. Day at the helm,
Defiance
had sliced through angry waves yesterday to win by more than two minutes.
“Why don’t you give Leroy the facts about the smashed rudder, dear,” Mrs. Brown suggested. “He’ll figure out who did it.”
Chief Brown smiled and withdrew a small notebook from his breast pocket. “Here’s what I have,” he said.
At seven o’clock that morning, the night watchman at the Yacht Club went off duty. As he was leaving, a cleaning woman arrived. A few minutes later the woman glanced out the window and saw a blond man carrying a hammer. He was walking out on pier 2 toward the slip where
Defiance
was tied up. A light rain was falling.
The cleaning woman didn’t bother about the man. Not more than ten minutes passed when she happened to glance out the same window. The pier was deserted. The man was gone.
Chief Brown said, “So far as I can tell, no one else was on the pier until eight o’clock. Then five or six men and women arrived to take out their boats. That’s when
To passing motorists, Idaville looked like an ordinary seaside town. It had lovely beaches, a Little League, and two delicatessens. It had churches, a synagogue, and four banks.
To police chiefs all over the country, however, Idaville was far from ordinary. No one got away with breaking a law in Idaville.
How did Idaville do it? What was the secret behind the town’s spotless police record?
Only two grown-ups, Mr. and Mrs. Brown, knew the answer. Idaville’s war on crime was masterminded by their only child, ten-year-oldEncyclopedia, America’s Sherlock Holmes in sneakers.
Mr. Brown was the Idaville police chief. He was a fine officer, brave and smart. But sometimes he came up against a crime that even he could not solve. When that happened, he knew what to do. He drove home. At the dinner table he went over the facts of the case while Encyclopedia listened carefully.
Nothing else was necessary. Encyclopedia usually figured out the guilty person before dessert. If he needed a few minutes extra, his mother was disappointed.
Chief Brown hated keeping his son’s sleuthing under cover. He would have liked the president to declare Encyclopedia a national treasure.
But if he told the truth, who would believe him?
Who would believe that the mastermind behind Idaville’s crackdown on crime didn’t look in the mirror after washing to see if his face was clean. He looked in his towel.
As for Encyclopedia, he never told anyone about the help he gave his father. He didn’t want to seem different from other fifth-graders.
He was stuck with his nickname, however.
Only his parents and teachers called him by his real name, Leroy. Everyone else called him Encyclopedia.
An encyclopedia is a book or set of books filled with facts from A to Z. So was Encyclopedia’s head. He had read more books than anyone in Idaville, and he never forgot what he read. His pals insisted that he was better than a library. They learned all kinds of things about books from him—such as footnotes don’t come from squeaky shoes.
At the dinner table Friday evening, Chief Brown poked at his meat loaf. Encyclopedia and his mother knew what that meant. A case had him puzzled.
Chief Brown put down his fork. “There was trouble at the Yacht Club this morning,” he said at last. “Someone smashed the rudder of
Defiance.”
“Isn’t
Defiance
one of the sailboats in the Commodore’s Cup finals?” Mrs. Brown inquired.
“Defiance
is racing
Childhood II,”
replied Chief Brown. “Whichever boat wins two out of three races will be awarded the Commodore’s Cup for the year. Yesterday
Defiance
won the opening race.”
Encyclopedia had read about the Commodore’sCup finals in the
Idaville News. Defiance
was owned and sailed by Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Day.
Childhood II
was owned and sailed by John Cushing and his brother, Tom.
Childhood II
was faster in light seas.
Defiance
was faster in rough seas. With Mr. Day at the helm,
Defiance
had sliced through angry waves yesterday to win by more than two minutes.
“Why don’t you give Leroy the facts about the smashed rudder, dear,” Mrs. Brown suggested. “He’ll figure out who did it.”
Chief Brown smiled and withdrew a small notebook from his breast pocket. “Here’s what I have,” he said.
At seven o’clock that morning, the night watchman at the Yacht Club went off duty. As he was leaving, a cleaning woman arrived. A few minutes later the woman glanced out the window and saw a blond man carrying a hammer. He was walking out on pier 2 toward the slip where
Defiance
was tied up. A light rain was falling.
The cleaning woman didn’t bother about the man. Not more than ten minutes passed when she happened to glance out the same window. The pier was deserted. The man was gone.
Chief Brown said, “So far as I can tell, no one else was on the pier until eight o’clock. Then five or six men and women arrived to take out their boats. That’s when
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