The Great Brain Does It Again
No. 7 in The Great Brain series
by John D. Fitzgerald
illustrated by Mercer Mayer
|
Bantam Doubleday Dell (New York): 1975. Trade paperback: 129 pages. ISBN-10: 0-440-42983-8 Suggested retail price: $4.50 (US) Tags: amusement park rides; boys; costumes; frontier; horses; Native Americans; Utah; Youth Tactical strength: [5/10] |
Compare prices on The Great Brain Does It Again by John D. Fitzgerald at Book Cost
I find this volume of the Great Brain series the least exciting work in the series so far. Tom Fitzgerald, the Great Brain, continues to find ways to make a profit through bets, deals, and rides. In this volume, Tom seems entirely motivated by profit and hardly motivated by compassion. In an earlier volume, Tom sees an opportunity to profit by teaching Basil, a child of Greek immigrants, how to speak English and adapt to rural town life. Tom makes a profit, but he also provides a valuable service to a boy and makes a lasting friendship. In this volume, Tom looks to make a profit by helping Herbie, an obese ten-year-old, lose weight. Tom doesn't seem to want to create a friendship with Herbie like he did with Basil. When Herbie stops eating altogether, it takes Tom a week before he explains to the adults what he has done to scare Herbie out of eating.
In other volumes, Tom also uses his intellect to solve crimes or prevent confidence men from defrauding the community. In this volume, Tom does write a letter to the President of the United States complaining about the treatment of the Native Americans on a nearby reservation, but Tom merely writes the letter to vent his anger. He doesn't have any involvement in the actual discovery or correction of the supplies to the reservation.
The stories in The Great Brain Does It Again don't provide a coherent whole like other volumes. Fitzgerald still tells excellent individual stories and you continue to get an expanded picture of life in rural Utah towns in the 1890s. Even the illustrations by Mercer Mayer seem to reflect the change in attitude. Previously, Mayer's illustrations would show the boys in the middle of some wild activity -- pulling a rope in tug-o-war or sailing down a river on Tom's excursion raft. In this volume, Tom races his brother's mustang against Parley's quarter horse. Instead of illustrating the boys racing their horses, Mayer elected to illustrate Tom taking bets before the race.
If you have read the other six volumes in the series, you'll still find enough fun here to keep reading this seventh volume, but you probably won't make this the book that you reread.
