By: John D. Fitzgerald Publisher: Dial Average Rating: Binding: Hardcover Label: Dial Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 128 Publication Date: March 01, 1995 Reading Level: Ages 9-12
Product Description: Tom Fitzgerald, The Great Brain, has turned 13 and pretty Polly Reagan has put a spell on him. When it comes to swindling the kids of Adenville with his great brain and his money-loving heart, Tom hasn't changed a bit.
He's Back... I ordered this book to put on the shelf for my 2 year old. Why? Because I remember loving The Great Brain so much as a young boy that I can't imagine my own son not having it available the moment he can read it! I loved the Great Brain books so much that I still have them on my shelf som e 30 years after I first read them myself.
The chapters of this book, published after the author's death, fulfill the promise and memory of the original tales. I read the book in an evening just to see what J.D. and Tom had been up to since I last checked in. As a 38 year old academic I was delightfully captivated. I think you will be too, as will your children! The only thing I can't figure out is how J.D. can still be such a sucker after all the cons he was a victim too.
A note on the artwork: I did miss the work of Mercer Meyer who illustrated the editions I read as a child. However, Ms. de Groat's pencil illustrations were of top quality and will be sure to please new readers.
Fun, but not as good as the previous ones I've read all the great brain, and this is my least favorite. It is written by someone else after the author died, and it's obvious. It is entertaining, but does not qualify as a great brain book to me.
Closure for a great series. My first introduction to this wonderful "young readers" series was in elementary school. Our class had a weekly period where the teacher read to us. It so happened that the Great Brain was one of those books. I was immediately hooked. I had the other 7 books since my teenage years, but I had no idea that an 8th posthumous book had been released. I finally had the chance to purchase it, and I must say that it was a very nostalgic experience to read new tales of these familiar character. I highly recommend fans of the series to get this book to complete the collection. New readers should start with the 1st book, "The Great Brain".
Good, but not great Honestly, I liked the original last book better than this posthumously published one, but I'm not going to complain about another book being added to the series. In this book T.D. catches some criminals and pulls a few minor swindle's, but the final conclusion of the series seems to be that swindling doesn't pay. The very last chapter is called "The Swindler gets Swindled," and Tom tries to pull a swindle and it backfires completely and he ends up losing some money. On that note the series ends, the author's point being made. Lots of humor along the way, as well as fascinating adventures in the old west. Definitely a series I'll be re-reading again in the future.
Overall grade: A-
So-so entry into the Great Brain series... I would only give this 2.5 stars out of 5. As someone who grew up with the Great Brain series in the '70s I was quite pleased to hear about this "lost" book surfacing a few years ago. These were my favorite books when I was a kid and I kept them for many years afterwards. Imagine my disappointment when I read the introduction by the "editor." If one were to believe what she writes here, she is the one who should be commended for the "Great Brain" series, not Fitzgerald.
Oh, please.
Her insulting forward aside, readers should know that this book was assembled (after his death) from Fitzgerald's notes and we will never know for sure if he intended for it to be published or not. It's a fair book, but it doesn't have nearly the spark of the original works, all of which I would highly recommend over this, any day of the week.
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