Ever since I was a kid, I was almost always drawn into the world of mystery solving. Why? The reason itself is a mystery. Perhaps I was (and still am) a bookworm who will digest any material with letters on it. Or perhaps back then, when I grew up, children’s storytellers were abundant unlike today. Whatever it was, these childhood memories were the reasons for my thirst of adventure and mystery, albeit I’ve never had one. I even wanted to become a detective. Life is full of mystery, eh?
Here are some of what I read back then, a lot from Enid Blyton, and I can say that all of them are good reads even for today’s children.
The first three came from British children’s writer, Enid Blyton. She was and, I think, still is very popular up until today, at least in Indonesia. I’m still looking for her books on second book stores, especially the older version since I like the cover illustration better. Oh, and do you notice that in all three series, she always featured a dog in the team. Must be one dog lover, she was.
The first one is Lima Sekawan or The Famous Five. The novels feature the adventures of a group of young children — Julian, Dick, Anne and George (actually it’s Georgina but she hates it and prefer to be called George instead) — and their dog Timmy. All the ingredients for a good children’s book are there, family, friendship, adventure, mystery. I still have some of the books but wish to have a complete series one day and will certainly pass it to my daughter.
The second is Pasukan Mau Tahu or The Five Find-outers.
The third is Sapta Siaga or The Secret Seven.
The fourth is STOP. The title comes from the name of the characters: Sporty, Thomas, Oskar, Petra, and Petra’s dog Bello. The series was created by Stefan Wolf and the original title was TKKG which stands for Tarzan/Tim, Kari, Klößchen, Gaby, and Oskar.
The fifth is Alfred Hitchcock & Trio Detektif or The Three Investigators. I love the introduction by Alfred Hitchcock on each book which was actually written by each book’s author. Apparently the creator Robert Arthur, Jr. believed that using a famous figure would attract attention. The publisher paid Alfred Hitchcock to use his name until 1980, after he died, when he was replaced by Hector Sebastian. Never mind though, because I was attracted more by the adventure of Jupiter Jones, Pete Crenshaw, and Bob Andrews. I think there were times when I thought it’s very cool to live in a junkyard, driving around in a truck to pick up some junks to sell later. Oh, don’t forget their uber cool headquarter which is hidden in an old trailer. They have secret doorways and seems to have all the cool stuff in there. I’ve always wanted to be as smart as Jupe, as strong as Pete, as diligent as Bob, have a business card with three question marks on it, and win a 30-days Rolls Royce ride. Awesome. Anyone still remember the ghost-to-ghost hookup?
The sixth is Hawkeye Collins & Amy Adams, Can You Solve The Mystery? series. This series is different because it invites readers to take part in solving the mystery using the sharp observation and the excellent sketch by Hawkeye Collins (How come he can sketch *that* good as a kid? Ah, never mind). The answers are provided on the last part of each book written backward, so we must use a mirror to read it.
The seventh is The Hardy Boys.
The eighth is Nancy Drew.
Now, slightly out of topic, I think it’s only natural that when I was in high school I moved to a more mature mystery novels by Agatha Christie. I love to follow the story of Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, but eventually I think I have to admire the genius Sherlock Holmes. Apart from his eccentricity, bohemian habit and lifestyle, I think he is one of the greatest (albeit fictional) detective of all time. I should have read Arsene Lupin vs. Herlock Sholmes (note the name parody due to Conan Doyle’s objection). If you’re into manga, you may also want to follow Meitantei Conan and Kindaichi Shōnen no Jikenbo. And if you love mystery or problem solving like I do, you must have watched the entire episodes of CSI.
Back to the children’s books, my favourites are The Famous Five and The Three Investigators. There are so much that I can learn from them. I think that today’s children will also benefit more from reading more books rather than watching TV.
Now, some pieces of advice from me (and for me): keep the curiousity alive, keep looking for adventure (no matter how small it might be) in life, read more books, always keep what’s most precious to you (family, friendship), train a pair of sharp eyes for a sharp observation, develop a positive hobby, go out and have fun, and teach your children to do the same rather than watching a talking yellow sea sponge and a girl who talks to her backpack.
