Book 1), The Great Brain (Great Brain

This completed a set for a family member. We have been looking for it for some time and were happy to find it in such good condition -- especially with the laminated cover and all! Thank you for your service in recycling older books!!

The book was enjoyable, as are all The Great Brain books. There is conniving, unpunished crime, and Tom saying something isn't a sin which is (fooling a priest and breaking rules) making me recommend it to ten year olds and up. Than again I do think that for most children this book would be more delightful, interesting, and beautiful than Huckleberry Finn.

Classic. Thought provoking but fun- discussion provoking when reading as a family as well. I think we do our children a disservice when we don't remember how things once were, and explain different viewpoints in history. This is a great vehicle for important conversations.

A childhood favorite, delivered swiftly. Wish I could find modern editions but it was worth the price. Reading these fun, clean adventures is itself a throwback to a time when fun and mischief were often innocent and interchangeable .

My husband got my daughter started on this series when she was about 10 since he had read it as a child. I thought the book might be a bit dated, but it turns out she loved it. She read the whole series and even goes back and rereads the books! Now her younger brother is reading them too and also seems to enjoy them.

I'm rereading this wonderful series about the exploits of a family in 1890's Utah and particularly the adventures of J.D., whom was loosely represented as John Fitzgerald's younger self, although the author wasn't born until 1906. J.D. tells the tale of older brother Tom, who is regarded as possessing a "great brain", and uses it to his advantage, usually to swindle other kids and find ways to make money by dreaming up various schemes. I did some research on Fitzgerald, and most of his siblings who were still alive when interviews with them were conducted considered him the true "Great Brain", but for whatever reason, maybe modesty, he gave that description to Tom. William, another elder brother was named Sweyn for the book, and again, for reasons unknown, his sisters were not mentioned. However, the series was not intended as a strict biographical account, although many descriptions of the town of Adenville, which I believe was the fictional substitute for Price, Utah, where Fitzgerald was born and lived for many years, are considered quite accurate if the characters are fictional.
That takes away from the series focus, however. I review the first book, "The Great Brain" as it is the first of the eight book series, the last book completed from notes after Fitzgerald passed away. We who love to read often have great attachments to the books we first really enjoyed other that the Dr. Suess type, which are still delightful, but not the first works of fiction people in their late 50's and older were likely to read. Personal favorites for me included "A Wrinkle In Time", which I was very disappointed in as a major movie and of course "Charlotte's Web", which was so much better as a book because of E.B. White's wonderful prose. Even though I didn't discover the "Great Brain" series until the eighth grade, I devoured them and still love them. While written from the viewpoint of a nine year old boy, like the best cartoons like "Looney Tunes", which ostensibly were for kids, the appeal to adults was irresistible. One of the funniest and most endearing stories, "The Magic Water Closet" was the detailing of the arrival of Adenville's first indoor toilet to his home. It raised quite the stink, pun intended, and Tom reveals for the first time his ability to make a profit from the whole situation. Other stories are equally humorous or more touching, but it's still a great read.
Because this is a chronological series, I recommend reading the books in sequence. Get the whole series, and do it in book form because you don't want to miss the great illustrations by Mercer Mayer included in the books.
You can get it for your kids or grandkids to read aloud to, but you will be just as entertained as they will be. The best works cross age lines effortlessly, and the "Great Brain" series does just that, with just the right amount of detail to satisfy we older "kids" without being too difficult for the younger readers. I don't know if teachers even read books to their classes any more - they used to, and it was always one of my favorite parts o school through the sixth grade. But I was already a voracious reader, and I had already read some of those books before the teachers did. If you are a teacher, and you do read to your students, I can't recommend the Great Brain series enough. They will love it. It takes us back to a time that kids used their imaginations and played games outside, before the video games and computers conquered the world and is helping destroy the creative process that's required for the stuff we did as kids. Maybe, after reading Fitzgerald mention playing "one-o-cat", some kid will look it up and find out exactly what it was, because he does not explain. I myself had to look it up, and discovered it was a pre-baseball style game, where each player was out for themselves as opposed to being on a team as they would try to hit a baseball or other ball and race to the "base" and back to home before either being hit with the ball after it was thrown at them by a defensive player (ouch) or if the ball was popped up and caught before it hit the ground. Variations included adding second and third bases, all requiring the same back and forth rule. It was also called "One Old Cat", or if extra bases were used, "Two" or "Three Old Cat". It is still played today, believe it or not, and sounds a bit like cricket except it doesn't use teams, as I learned.
This is why these types of books are valuable. Write a great story, and wrap it up in accurate history (except for the ages and characters), and you are transported back in time to whenever these stories take place in your imagination, and that's far better than looking at a screen.

I was 5yrs old with a penchant for reading anything/everything I could get my grubby little hands on...
My mother introduced me to J.D. Fitzgerald and family when she saw that not only did I share the same name of John's older brother Tom but his ability to fly throughout life where every mishap turned out to seem planned showering Tom with fortune, and praise for having a superior intellect of course. These books, as I reminisce upon reading them, turned out to be prophetic. My life although set in a different time period has been as though Mr.Fitzgerald looked into my future and wrote about it using the period of time his older brother Tom and he lived in. I had finished reading the current Gold embossed hard cover, gold laced pages of Encyclopedias from A-Z my father bought from a door salesman and started reading the king James version of the bible (again) to better understand it with a newfound knowledge of omniscience, Einstein's theory of relativity, and a (then very limited) introduction into Quantum mechanics. My father a Lt.Cmdr. naval aviator who became aware and a little unnerved when I began telling him the reason for the halo in depictions of Jesus was that it was purely conjecture, a way the people of the time who actually met Jesus could explain what they witnessed. A power so great it was ethereal, but could still be seen exuding from the head (mostly, thus the ring of light or halo) hands and feet (which we all now know was not only prophetic, but symbolically important as it was upon the blessing, and cleansing of all three throughout the gospel, before crucifixion)but without having the standards of current scientific methods to collect data for examination could not form the theorem as I've just explained. After that discussion I was sent to Carmel, CA.to be met/seen/assessed by some parapsychology Dr.s and as it happened met Carl Sagan who suggested that I be on tv but my dad didn't want me to be seen as a freak or picked on so that invitation was declined. It was then that my parents started to be more involved in my reading choices and subjects of interest. To make a long story short that year I was given the 1st in what turned out to be one of my favorite series of semi auto biographical books, The Great Brain. Do your children a favor and introduce them to The Great Brain. They too will love the book. In my opinion It is better than Tom Sawyer.

I loved this book written by John D. Fitzgerald. I think all of the stories in this are based on the author's childhood and the Great Brain was his older brother. There were two stories that I found especially interesting. One involves a Jewish man who was rumored to be really wealthy but was actually destitute and ended up starving to death. It says the townspeople didn't pay close enough attention to his declining health since he was a Jew.

Another story involves a boy who had his leg amputated and replaced with a peg leg. At first he was really depressed and even his father thought he was useless, but the Great Brain transformed his life and showed him he could still do many of the same things. In reality, the author had a sister, Belle Fitzgerald Empey. His brother "Sweyn" is fictional and he actually had three elder brothers and one younger brother. The author was born in 1906 in Price, Utah and died in Florida in 1988.

The whole series of "Great Brain" books were my favorite when I read them as a kid. I've since read the series to my kids and I still count them as some of the best books I've ever read.
The stories are told by John (J.D.), younger brother and often-time victim of Tom's (T.D.'s) "great brain" and "money-loving heart." They take place in small-town southern Utah at the end of the 1800's, but kids (and grownups) of all generations can easily relate. Tom, the Great Brain, uses his cleverness to outwit and swindle most of the other kids in town, and many of the adults. And while religion is often a force in the stories, it's handled with such tolerance that a lot of people could take a lesson from it today.
But the real magic of these books is that they're not just comedies, although many of the schemes are positively hillarious. Sometimes Tom's plans have near-disastarous results, and the consequences that follow are very real. Sometimes it can even be a bit frightening in the realism of life in the old west. And quite often the stories can even bring a tear to your eye - one of my favorites (I think it was in the 2nd book) was "The Taming of Britches Doty."
Again, I can't recommend this series highly enough. They're not only fun to read but make you wish you could have grown up in a place like that. I liked it even better than "Tom Sawyer" or "Huck Finn." And after you've finished this series you can read "Papa Married a Mormon," also by the author, but written a little more for the grownups - if you can find it in a library, that is!

Mr. Lockers 4/5 grade readers, Oliver,Tori, Madison,Luc,Sam & Nick, January 26, 2004,
Mr. Locker's 4/5 grade class reading group, loved this book!
The Great Brain was a very funny book. I liked how the Great Brain figures out funny solutions. I think the author did a very good jobwith the book. I like how the author took his childhood and fit it into the book. I thought it was really GREAT!-Oliver M.age10 The Great Brain is a very interesting book. It is based on the funny happenings of the author, J.D.Fitzgerald's childhood.The story is told by J.D., the youngest brother. He tells of the exciting things that his older brother Tom(aka the GREAT BRAIN)does.THis is a very good book.-Madison C. age 9 The Great BRain is a great book to read when you are just having fun. THis book is about a boy named Tom who has a 'GREAT BRAIN'. HIs younger brother J.D., always wants to be like Tom. Sometimes Tom's 'GREAT BRAIN' gets him rewards and sometimes it get him into trouble.-Tori T.-age 10 'Tom (THE GREAT BRAIN) is hysterical with his weird ideas'! I liked this book and hope others do too.-Sam F.-age 11 MR. Locker's 4/5 Grade Reading Group @ Carter Elementary-Palm Desert, CA Loved the GREAT BRAIN!
Also recommended: The Great Brain at the ACademy, Me and my little Brain, THe GREAT Brain does it again, More Adventures of The Great Brain

All summer I have been reading the Great Brain books that took place in Adenville, Utah in 1896. I liked the story in More Adventures of the Great Brain where the great brain makes the whole town believe that there is a monster in a place called Skeleton Cave. He did this because his friend Parley got a bowie knife for Christmas. Tom ( the Great Brain ) wanted Parley's knife, so Tom bet Parley his bb gun against Parley's knife that Parley would be too scared to meet Tom at Skeleton Cave at midnight the next night.

That night Tom made tracks that looked like monster footprints from Skeleton Cave to the river and back to the cave. The next day somebody saw the footprints and told the sheriff. Nobody was allowed to leave their houses until the monster was caught. Tom sneaked out of his house and went down to Skeleton Cave at midnight. Parley did not dare leave his house because of the monster. And he had to give his knife to Tom who usually gets money or toys when doing one of his swindles.

The reason that I like these books is because all of them are adventures and they are true.

Nathan D., age 12

Many books have complex plots or narration and attempt to pull together many characters or ideas, or they take place in some annoyingly exotic location. John D. Fitzgerald's books feel natural being in the town of Adenville, Utah and chart the progress of two brothers. Best yet, it introduces you to Adenville so you feel like you're there in a few pages and is overall nice and short--the chapters can stand alone as stories, but the book's short enough you'll have no problem reading it in one sitting. But the best part about this short book is--it has several sequels at least as good.
On the one hand, there's John D., the narrator, who's sentimental and well-meaning but easily pushed around. Being eight he also overreact to everything, yet at the same time the narration tells you exactly what's going on. Then there's Tom D., who uses his Great Brain for swindling and occasionally for helping schoolmates and even adults.
One chapter involves his charging money for kids to see the first instance of indoor plumbing in their hometown and trying to swindle John D., whom he hired to do the dirty work, into paying more than he should when things go wrong. Another involves his teaching a Greek immigrant boy how to be a 'real American'--for a fee, as he pulls some sharp deals along the way. But later Tom helps a friend who is seriously depressed without looking for repayment. You sense it can't last, and you don't want it to, because his hijinks are amusing, and as a reader, you don't have to worry about getting caught by them.
Mercer Mayer's illustrations fit the book wonderfully, and the whole Great Brain series tends to cover issues of potential inferiority without being the least bit whiny. Although this book doesn't contain any of my favorite Great Brain swindles, it focuses more on emotions and people trying to fit in. The whole series is an overlooked set of contemporary classics.

To my knowledge, John Dennis Fitzgerald never won any of the prestigious children's book awards or accolades for this book or any of the others in the series, but it is my opinion as an avid reader from childhood that these books constitute some of the best available children's literature. Fitzgerald was in his sixties when he started this series, but he clearly never lost touch with his childhood self and all of these books are brilliantly written so that J.d. and his big brother seem like kids you know, even though they lived in a small Utah town at the turn of the century. These books have it all: an interesting historical setting; believable characters that develop as the series progresses; plenty of humor, of both the laugh-out-loud and subtler varieties; tenderness and pathos; and even a few good scares.

I picked up a copy of More adventures of the Great Brain, the second in the series, at a book fair in elementary school. (It isn't strictly necessary to read the books in order, though of course it's nice.) I was the most avid reader in my family, though the youngest, and for some reason one summer day when we were bored I started reading the book aloud to my older sister and my uncle, who was only five years older than me (I was nine or ten at the time.) Pretty soon, all three of us were devouring the rest of the series, swapping them among ourselves. I can't be sure, but I think the books may have started my sister's love of reading, though my uncle had always been a reader and had turned me on to the Lord of the Rings. At any rate, these were favorites for years.

Parents, please, please don't be put off by the fact that these books are about a mischievous boy with a penchant for swindling his pals out of their prized possessions. I have not raised children myself, but from my own reading I think children's books that don't have an element of mischief and rebellion in them or quite dull, and as a kid I hated nothing worse than to read a book where I felt like I was being preached to. T.d. gets into plenty of trouble, but his conscience develops as the books progress and he learns that his great brain can be used to help others as well as to cheat them. Unlike some other kids' books where the grownups are simply the bad guys, the adults in these stories are firm but supportive, strict but loving. Despite their tendency to disobey, T.D. and his brothers love and admire their parents and their beloved Uncle Mark, the town's marshall and deputy sheriff who is portrayed as both heroic and down to earth. J.D. says at one point that he really likes his uncle because "he never talked down to Tom and me, but treated us just like grownups," and like his fictional uncle (who may have been based on a real person) Fitzgerald never makes the mistake of condescending to his readers. The tragic story of Abie Glassman in this first volume isn't the last time readers will encounter hard truths in these stories, but Fitzgerald writes about the ups and downs of life in a way that kids will find delightful to digest. The author also lets kids know that grownups screw up, too, and that we all have to learn from each other.

The Great Brain series, as a whole, has the very best of a Wild West adventure, one of Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer stories, and the best coming-of-age fiction. There are a few old-fashioned notions here that might not go down well with the PC crowd, like the episode in the second book in which the Fitzgerald family takes on the task of trying to get a tomboy to act more feminine, but none of this should keep you from reading these great stories or giving them to your kids. Despite J.D.'s quip in the first chapter of this book about there being noone more tolerant or understanding of your differences than a kid you can whip in a fight, these books are all about tolerance and treating your fellow man with decency and fairness and love. I am glad these books are still in print and I sincerely hope a whole new generation discovers them, as it would be nothing short of tragic for them to be lost in the dustbin of forgotten kids' lit. Buy them, read them, and pass them on.

A story about three brothers and their daily antics. When I first started reading this book I wasn't sure my son would be into the 1890's setting and that he'd find it too old-fashioned. However, I didn't have to worry long. After reading about the water closet and how Tom connived the neighborhood kids out of their pennies to come see the water closet that "didn't stink" I knew it would be a hit with my 9 year old. My older child, a girl, was listening in on my read-aloud and when I was done reading for the night, she quietly took the book to her bed and finished reading it that night! Each of my kids loved the stories in the book. Each chapter is set up as it's own story. I wasn't too crazy about the chapter where Abie Glassman gives up his merchandise wagon to buy a store in town. I won't give anything away but Abie ends up on the losing end. It's a very sad turn of events and I didn't think it fit in with the rest of the stories that were quirky and or humorous so I chose not to read it to my son. Maybe I should have read it to him and maybe one day he'll go back and read it to himself. I did tell my son that I left out that chapter and I did give him a summary of what happened and he was fine with me not reading it.

Anyway, it's a wonderful book. It has a very warm and cozy feel to it kind of like Tom Sawyer but easy enough for a third grader to read to himself. Tom was a bit of swindler but he was also smart beyond his years. I found him to be quite the resourceful and opportunistic kid.

I recommend this for the 9-12 year age range.

Set in Utah in 1896, this book showcases a family of boys becoming men. It has some funny parts, and that makes the serious values in the book stick a bit more. Read this as a family so you are in on the fun and the conversation.

The story is told by the little brother, in admiration of his big brother, the Great Brain.

Parent notes about the issues:

fairness - should you charge money for something free?
respect for parents/adults
bravery - rescuing/helping others, overcoming fears
religious issues - in a town of Mormons and Christians, is a Jew an outsider?
self-respect - the importance of developing your own skills and standing up for yourself
separation from parents
ruining a reputation for revenge and then making amends
a child has a leg amputated - does he become useless?
practice new skills until you master them
develop honor and trustworthiness - keep your word
work first (school/chores), play second

Entertaining from the get-go, the adventures of the Fitzgerald brothers are a delightful look into what life was like for boys growing up in the Midwest at the turn of the 19th century.

Tom's "great brain" is adept at swindling pennies from his friends and making trouble for the new teacher, but he never goes too far before Papa and Mama make him set things right. And when he puts his mind to helping out Peg-leg Andy or rescuing two boys lost in a cave, his accomplishments become the stuff of legend.

Tom is so much more than your run-of-the-mill mischief-maker. He has an understanding of human behavior far beyond his ten years. His little brother J.D. narrates the story with a quiet awe of his brother's cleverness. Together, they manage to learn many important lessons a boy should know: lessons in tolerance, bravery, and the importance of a man's good name.

Read this book aloud to your children and it will be nearly impossible for them to resist going to the library to read more. There they will find six more Great Brain titles to savor.

It's funny, heartwarming and really involving. All these
feelings I felt when I read it when I was 9 yrs. old. It's
so amazing how one can be so enterprising and witty at such
a young age! Tom definitely had an impact on me then and always
will! I grew up wishing to be like him...and I think I got my
wish.
EVERYONE: Grab this book, in fact, the whole GREAT BRAIN
series as soon as you can. The little ones will love you for
this great gift!
On a personal note: I lost all my GREAT BRAIN books to kids
who borrowed from me and never returned. Now that I'm 22 I'm
very happy to get a second chance to collect THE GREAT BRAIN SERIES!

Victoria Miranda

These are trrul some of the best books ever written!! I don't care what age you are; you can still enjoy the timeless innocence of youth!
I first heard of this series in Middle School when our teacher would read it to us for 30 minutes. After than I couldn't wait till she would read it! I was instantly hooked on the books & remain to this day. Read them, you to will become a fan!

The whole ``Great Brain'' series was my absolute favorite somewhere between the Hardy Boys years (ages 6-8) and the Hobbit years (ages 10-26). These books have the same gentle, antique pace as the Laura Ingalls Wilder books, but from a male perspective.
I wouldn't touch the Wilder books with a ten-foot-pole, but I could certainly relate to Tom Dennis Fitzgerald, who took a paddling without crying; who started parochial school in trouble because he went to the priest filthy with coal dust from driving the train; who taught his brother to fight because ``There's nobody so tolerant and understanding as a kid you can whip.''
Buy the whole series. Read it for yourself; read it to your kids.