The Great Brain Is Back
No. 8 in The Great Brain series
by John D. Fitzgerald
illustrated by Diane deGroat
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Dial Books for Young Readers, Penguin (New York): 1995. Hardcover: 120 pages. ISBN-10: 0-8037-1346-0 Suggested retail price: $16.99 (US) Tags: boys; dogfighting; frontier; Native Americans; spelling bees; Utah; Youth Tactical strength: [5/10] |
Dial Press for Young Readers published this final volume in The Great Brain series based on an unfinished manuscript John D. Fitzgerald left when he died. The Great Brain Is Back adds some additional humorous episodes to the legend of Tom Fitzgerald, but I expect that only die-hard fans of The Great Brain will really enjoy this volume or even find it necessary reading.
Tom continues to use his Great Brain and money-loving heart to expand his bank account and solve some community problems. First he swindles his brother John by buying soap at five-cents a bar and getting John to sell the soap for ten-cents a bar. Of course, Tom makes John buy all the soap before John has a chance to see if the soap will sell. Other than cheating John, Tom doesn't really swindle anyone else. He does arrange to tie the town spelling bee with his girlfriend Polly so they both win the first prize of a new bicycle. Tom also serves the community by solving a series of crimes supposedly committed by Native Americans from a nearby reservation. Tom proves that a local rancher has framed the Native Americans. Later, when a man comes to town and opens a dogfighting ring, Tom figures out a way to put the man out of business after just one dogfight.
In this posthumous work, I noticed several editorial differences between this book and the other volumes in the series. The stories show almost no interconnection. For example, in a story after Tom wins the spelling bee, the text makes no mention of Tom's new bicycle as Tom and John set out on their bikes. Other volumes made such interconnections. Also, in previous volumes, only Papa calls his sons by their initials, but in this volume Mama and several of the boy's friends call the Fitzgerald boys "T.D." and "J.D."
These editorial differences distracted from the easy reading of the stories, but not as much as the illustrations by Diane deGroat distracted me. The illustrations do accurately depict the events, but the portrayal of Tom looks too juvenile and innocent. Tom looks like an innocent eight-year-old rather than a scheming thirteen-year-old. Although Mercer Mayer's illustrations had more of a cartoon quality, he did a better job at capturing the feeling of both the period and the attitudes of the characters.
I can only recommend The Great Brain Is Back to absolute fans of the series or people who want to say they have read every book in the series. This eighth volume certainly doesn't stand on its own, but it does let you spend just a little bit longer with these loveable characters.
