Customer Reviews

The Great Brain Does it Again (Great Brain #7)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

John Dennis Fitzgerald intended to chronicle his youth in Utah for adults, not children. His publisher thought otherwise and the result are these gems. I don't even call them children's lit gems because I find them just as enjoyable as an adult. Before I go on, you should know that Fitzgerald wrote one book about his youth that is for adults, called "Papa Married a Mormon". It is one of the most amazing books on the American west that I have ever read. Sadly, it is out of print, and you may, like me, have to pay an exorbitant sum to get a copy. Trust me, save up and do it. Now back to this book. Every single Great Brain book in the series is pure gold, and the entire set can be had cheaply, so I say buy them all at once. I "put my money where my mouth is" as Tom the Great Brain would say, and bought the lot.

The Great Brain #7 was, at the time, a great way to end a series, with Tom not doing any big swindles, but instead going out rather quietly; he had grown up by that point. Of course, I say "at the time", because John Fitzgerald had decided a decade later to start work on what was to be the last of the series. Number 7 wasn't as humorous or adventurous as the other six, but it still makes for a good read.

I think this a great book. It is about a boy named Tom that everyone called the great brain. He was very smart and liked to outsmart other people, but only if he got money for doing it. He could outsmart every kid in town and most adults. The Great Brain wasn't very likable--he took people's things, especially money, and he made fools of people. But what he did was entertaining. He put his great brain to work on how to swindle someone to get what he wanted. What motivated him to do this was his money loving heart. In this book he is involved in the buried treasure swindle, the horse race, and the chute the chute (a thrill ride). In all of those he gets money. I really think you should read his book because the characters each have an interesting, believable personality, The swindles he pulls off are fun to read about, and it is a really funny book.

While the Great Brain aka TD was supposedly reformed two books back, he's at it again wheeling and dealing full force in this book. The Great Brain comes to the rescue in two to the chapters proving his worth to society. However, a couple other stories show his money-loving heart getting the best of him, but Papa manages to put TD in his place atleast once. This book and all the others ones in the series are super entertaining. I highly recommend this series to all ages.

All the books in this series are great- humorous, engaging, and lots of fun even after years of rereading. Buy and enjoy

Once again T.D. is stying to avoid open swindles, and in this book he once again earns some honest money. He also saves the town (of course expecting a reward), and does some actually downright nice things. It's rather obvious that the Great Brain is growing up, and he seems to get much milder as the series goes on. This was the last book published in the series during the author's lifetime, and it was a good end to the series. It looked as if Tom had finally given up the swindling business.

Overall grade: A

THE GREAT BRAIN
Rated: five stars (Craigon)
The setting is in Adenville, Utah and Tom has a Great Brain and solves mysteries and tricks people. Tom almost tricked john when he said he was going to give him the 25 cents he gets for turning the vegetable garden over but john smartly said no. So Tom went down to the playground to trick the kids to spade the garden for the buried tin can with a silver dollar in it. The kids went with Tom to the garden and started to spade and after a while a kid named Pete Kyle found the tin can with the silver dollar. Next Frankie's rocking horse Bullet was stolen and Papa said he would give tom a dollar if he found it. So Tom discovered that Mr.Gruber stole the horse and Tom's family went to his house to see if he had it and he did. Then Mr.Gruber explained his son only has a year left to live and he couldn't afford to buy a rocking horse so he took it. Frankie let them keep it and Papa gave Tom his dollar. Tom wanted money when he said was getting low and told the owner of the fastest horse he could beat his horse with Dusty the oldest horse in Utah. He thought it was a joke but Blaze was a quarter mile horse and Dusty was a mile horse. When they raced Dusty won and Tom received 10 dollars in bets then bet he could beat Dusty with Blaze. Blaze's owner didn't believe that and when they raced again Tom had beat Dusty and received 15 dollars in bets. So now Tom was back to normal in money. Tom's brother Sweyn came for Christmas in stupid clothes Tom, John, and Frankie were being picked on by the other kids and Tom came up with a plan to make him stop wearing his stupid clothes and Tom, John, and Frankie put on torn and smelly clothes and went to his girlfriend's house and told her they have to wear this every day when all the money goes to Sweyn's clothes. That got Sweyn's girlfriend mad at Sweyn and she broke up with him. Sweyn was crying and Tom decided to tell the truth and fix this when Sweyn promised to stop wearing the clothes and Tom, John, and Frankie told Sweyn's girlfriend they have clothes and only did that because kids were picking on them for having a sissy brother. Then Sweyn and his girlfriend got back together. Tom wanted more money and told John about when he went to school they went on a field trip and he rode Chute the Chute. So Tom and John built a version of the Chute the Chute and charged one cent for each ride until Pete broke his leg on the ride and Tom and John both had to give all their money to Pete to repair his leg destroy the Chute the Chute and do Pete's chores until he could do them himself. There was Indian reservation in Utah that was lost 25 percent of their supplies when they weren't supposed to and Tom wrote a letter to the president and the president's secretary responded saying there was no cut in the Indian's supplies and they arrested Henry Parker who confessed he took the 25 percent of the supplies and sold them for money. The chief of the Indian tribe had a celebration and Tom ate in a feast with the chief then they both cut each other wrists and put them together and became blood brothers. Tom met a new kid who moved in to town named Herbie and Herbie was the fattest kid he had ever seen. Herbie said he would give him 10 cents for each pound he loses when he exercises with Tom. When they exercised for a week Herbie gained weight and Tom caught Herbie eating candy. Tom exercised Herbie harder and he weighed the same. Tom caught Herbie again and made him swear on the bible he couldn't eat another sweet or he belongs to the devil. Tom exercised Herbie harder and he caught Herbie eating candy again and at night he dressed as the devil and scared Herbie but Herbie wouldn't eat or drink anything or come out of his room for days. Tom had to tell the truth and he dressed as the devil went to Herbie's house and his room and talked to him and Herbie started eating again.
THE END

The book named "The Great Brain Does It" by John D. Fitzgerald is about two boys solving cases like thievery, stealing and so on.The main character is named Tom.Tom is a smart boy.He knew his alphabets, could write the numbers one thru one-hundred, and knew how to spell some words before going to school.He had help from his mama and papa though.The other character is Tom's brother which they don't mention his name,not until the middle of the book.He and Tom go solve a case which involves a stolen puppy,which by the way is theirs.They have alot of suspects and they're going to find out who stole the puppy.This is a very good book, and to make it better, I won't tell you what happens next.

Tom and Frankie, the two worst brother to brother connections ever, a family with two younger brothers but at an age of 11, Tom is really smart. He tricks and fools people to take their money. And which the great brain was born. But most of all, he always manages to swindle his little bother each time in his scams. Frankie couldn't take any more. It's time someone got him back. But with a small brain like Frankie's it's going to be hard.
These two brothers with a relationship like a cat and dog have to go through various mysteries solving them one at a time.
Starring the book The Great Brain Does It Again, is a terrific book with great characters with twists and turns on Frankie and Tom.
Tom is the same all the way through the book, dodging and overcoming everything Frankie tries to throw at him. But once Frankie stopped looking down on himself thinking he has a little brain. He found ways to use his brain for the better unlike Tom. In the end though, Tom learned the true meaning of brotherhood and friendship when everyone turned their backs on him with hatred. But still, he will always have a great brain and a money loving heart.
This book is great for everybody at all ages, especially between the ages of 6-13.