Mystery
Have I told you about the Three Investigators? Well, I think I have mentioned them here and there, but I don't believe I've spent an entire post on them. I know you all are super excited to read about another one of my obsessions! But seriously, the Three Investigators are awesome. Let me introduce you to them.
Wait, wait, wait! You have to see their business card first.
What are the question marks for? You ask (everyone asks). Mysteries unsolved and riddles unanswered. Nothing is too tough for the Three Investigators. It was always a little cheesy to me when they would explain question marks in the books, but I kind of love it knows makes me laugh. Now, on to the boys. (All the descriptions are from here and are mostly descriptions the creator gave of the boys himself.)
First Investigator: Jupiter Jones. His friends call him Jupe.
"Head of the firm and known for his remarkable powers of observation and deduction, he is stocky, muscular, and a bit roly-poly. He has a round face which often looks stupid but which hides a sharp intelligence. Jupiter has an excellent mind, and he is rather proud of it. He has many good features, but undue modesty is not one of them."
Second Investigator, Peter Crenshaw. Or Pete. No one calls him Peter.
"Tall and muscular, sturdy and courageous, he excels at athletics. Inclined to nervousness before anything happens, but a tower of strength in any kind of trouble. He is Jupiter's right-hand man when it comes to trailing suspects and other dangerous activities. Pete's father is a special-effects man who works at one of the movie studios in Hollywood."
Records and Research, Bob Andrews.
"Slight of build, small but wiry. Studious in nature, he is something of a scholarly type with an adventurous spirit. He has great nerve and the courage of a lion. Adept at research, he works part-time at the local library which enables him to hunt up information needed for their investigations. Bob's father is a feature writer for a big newspaper in Los Angeles."
So, now that you have been introduced to the boys, lets move onto why this series is so awesomely amazing.
First, I usually describe these books as like the Hardy Boys but better. And one of the main reason for this, I think, is that T3I has a real author, Robert Arthur. He wrote the first 11 books but had to turn the books over to a new writer due to bad health. Of the new authors (there were several) I don't really have a favorite, but the earlier books are definitely the best. But I like that the names on the books belong to actual people unlike the Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew.
Second, the illustrations in the books. Just some wonderful artwork. I adored it when I was a kid, and I still love it now.
It's so fun, and I wanted to be able to draw like this when I was a child. The last one is my all time favorite. It is the end paper for some of the hardback versions of the earlier editions of the books.
Third, Alfred Hitchcock introduces the first 30 books! As written by the authors. Haha. Hitchcock actually had nothing to do with the writing or story of any of the books, but they had his permission to use his name (which he got money for of course). It's great though because he introduces the boys at the beginning of each book, and then at the end they go and tell him about the case (this is also where any loose ends are tried up). Also, they write it so he doesn't actually like the boys at first. He finds them annoying, snot nosed kids. Hahaha. It cracks me up. Unfortunately, when he died they didn't (or couldn't) use him anymore and replaced him with a fictional mystery writer. Who was fine, but he was no Hitchcock.
Fourth, the actually mysteries themselves. I would never figure them out as a kid, and even as an adult re-reading them I sometimes get stumped especially with the earlier books. But the jewels are Robert Arthur's. They are creative, clever, suspenseful, and funny. Lots of interesting characters. And of course, the boys are written best when written by him. If you only read one T3I, read The Mystery of the Stuttering Perrot. It is my all time favorite. It's fantastic. So fun.
Which brings me to my last point, the books are fun to read. They are just enjoyable. I always have a good time reading a T3I book. Granted, part of it now is probably nostalgia, but even now I will laugh out loud or shake the book in frustration, and I love it. I love these books. These are the books that really solidified my love for reading and are what created my love for mysteries. I own 30 of the 43 books in the series. I want my kids to grow up reading these books. Heck, I want my husband to read these books. (The poor man I eventually marry is going to have this ridiculous reading list. I figure if it doesn't scare him off, he'll be good to marry. Haha.)
And that's it. The Three Investigators. T3I. Die Drei Fragezeichen (The Three Question Marks). T3I is really popular in Germany apparently. Germans know what's up. Haha.
Okay, it's late and I need to go to bed because church is tomorrow and I have not been getting to bed early all week and yes I know that it is not actually early and that then sentence has become ridiculous thank you very much.
DDoG:
The Three Investigators. Also, alone time which I had a lot of today.
Wait, wait, wait! You have to see their business card first.
What are the question marks for? You ask (everyone asks). Mysteries unsolved and riddles unanswered. Nothing is too tough for the Three Investigators. It was always a little cheesy to me when they would explain question marks in the books, but I kind of love it knows makes me laugh. Now, on to the boys. (All the descriptions are from here and are mostly descriptions the creator gave of the boys himself.)
First Investigator: Jupiter Jones. His friends call him Jupe.
"Head of the firm and known for his remarkable powers of observation and deduction, he is stocky, muscular, and a bit roly-poly. He has a round face which often looks stupid but which hides a sharp intelligence. Jupiter has an excellent mind, and he is rather proud of it. He has many good features, but undue modesty is not one of them."
Second Investigator, Peter Crenshaw. Or Pete. No one calls him Peter.
"Tall and muscular, sturdy and courageous, he excels at athletics. Inclined to nervousness before anything happens, but a tower of strength in any kind of trouble. He is Jupiter's right-hand man when it comes to trailing suspects and other dangerous activities. Pete's father is a special-effects man who works at one of the movie studios in Hollywood."
Records and Research, Bob Andrews.
"Slight of build, small but wiry. Studious in nature, he is something of a scholarly type with an adventurous spirit. He has great nerve and the courage of a lion. Adept at research, he works part-time at the local library which enables him to hunt up information needed for their investigations. Bob's father is a feature writer for a big newspaper in Los Angeles."
So, now that you have been introduced to the boys, lets move onto why this series is so awesomely amazing.
First, I usually describe these books as like the Hardy Boys but better. And one of the main reason for this, I think, is that T3I has a real author, Robert Arthur. He wrote the first 11 books but had to turn the books over to a new writer due to bad health. Of the new authors (there were several) I don't really have a favorite, but the earlier books are definitely the best. But I like that the names on the books belong to actual people unlike the Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew.
Second, the illustrations in the books. Just some wonderful artwork. I adored it when I was a kid, and I still love it now.
It's so fun, and I wanted to be able to draw like this when I was a child. The last one is my all time favorite. It is the end paper for some of the hardback versions of the earlier editions of the books.
Third, Alfred Hitchcock introduces the first 30 books! As written by the authors. Haha. Hitchcock actually had nothing to do with the writing or story of any of the books, but they had his permission to use his name (which he got money for of course). It's great though because he introduces the boys at the beginning of each book, and then at the end they go and tell him about the case (this is also where any loose ends are tried up). Also, they write it so he doesn't actually like the boys at first. He finds them annoying, snot nosed kids. Hahaha. It cracks me up. Unfortunately, when he died they didn't (or couldn't) use him anymore and replaced him with a fictional mystery writer. Who was fine, but he was no Hitchcock.
Fourth, the actually mysteries themselves. I would never figure them out as a kid, and even as an adult re-reading them I sometimes get stumped especially with the earlier books. But the jewels are Robert Arthur's. They are creative, clever, suspenseful, and funny. Lots of interesting characters. And of course, the boys are written best when written by him. If you only read one T3I, read The Mystery of the Stuttering Perrot. It is my all time favorite. It's fantastic. So fun.
Which brings me to my last point, the books are fun to read. They are just enjoyable. I always have a good time reading a T3I book. Granted, part of it now is probably nostalgia, but even now I will laugh out loud or shake the book in frustration, and I love it. I love these books. These are the books that really solidified my love for reading and are what created my love for mysteries. I own 30 of the 43 books in the series. I want my kids to grow up reading these books. Heck, I want my husband to read these books. (The poor man I eventually marry is going to have this ridiculous reading list. I figure if it doesn't scare him off, he'll be good to marry. Haha.)
And that's it. The Three Investigators. T3I. Die Drei Fragezeichen (The Three Question Marks). T3I is really popular in Germany apparently. Germans know what's up. Haha.
Okay, it's late and I need to go to bed because church is tomorrow and I have not been getting to bed early all week and yes I know that it is not actually early and that then sentence has become ridiculous thank you very much.
DDoG:
The Three Investigators. Also, alone time which I had a lot of today.
Okay, so this kind of reminds me of Granite Flats - it's a little tv show on BYU tv (it's new, though). You should watch it - it has three little kids investigating a mystery in the 1950s.
ReplyDeleteMy parents watch that show. Haha. I make fun of them for it... Haha. Maybe I'll check it out.
Delete