Anyone who has read the Great Brain series will know about Tom. He looks for ways to make money, even if it involves swindling someone. His moneymaking efforts always include younger brother J.D., in whose voice this and the other voices are written.
In "The Great Brain Is Back," Tom ventures on a soap-selling campaign (of course J.D. has to do the legwork). When he finds a puzzle that seems impossible to solve, he sells chances to try the puzzle to all his friends for 10 cents . . . and J.D.There are also experiences with bank robbers, saving an innocent Indian on trial, dog fighting and Tom's first attempts at smoking. "For my money, it didn't look as if Tom was enjoying his cigar. His face was turning pale. Then, I'll be a cat with a dog's head if he didn't actually begin to turn green."
Each chapter is a small episode in the life of a Catholic family in Mormon country - southern Utah.
John Dennis Fitzgerald was born in Price in 1907. His father, who owned the local newspaper, the Advocate, was a Catholic and his mother was a Mormon.
When John was 18 he left Utah and became a foreign correspondent in Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia. After returning to the United States he became a purchasing agent for a steel company in California while trying to write articles and short stories. By 1950 he had published more than 300 pieces. But the success was shortlived and he hocked his typewriter and became a bank auditor, jazz drummer and publicist for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
He collaborated with his sister, Belle Fitzgerald Empey, to write "Papa Married a Mormon" in 1955, which is an account of their family's life in pioneer Utah. This book sold seven foreign editions, two book-of-the-month clubs and a serial in McCall's magazine. The script, which has classic lessons in religious tolerance, was later made into a movie.
After John D. Fitzgerald's success with adult books about his family ("Papa Married a Mormon" and "Mamma's Boarding House"), he wrote another story about the Fitzgerald children, intended for adults as well. This book, "The Great Brain," was submitted to editor, E.L. Doctorow. As often happens, the editor changed jobs and the manuscript was in oblivion for two years.
When Doctorow became editor-in-chief of adult books at the Dial Press, Fitzgerald's agent again submitted "The Great Brain" manuscript.
"When I arrived as editor-in-chief of Dial Books for Young Readers in 1966," says editor Phyllis Fogelman, "I found the manuscript waiting for me. I read the manuscript and told the agent I would love to publish it - if the author would cut the novel in half . . . and delete a few references that were aimed at adults rather than children (and were by far the least interesting parts of the book)."
Fogelman admits the difficulty of having an author revise his own work objectively and took the attempts (three versions by then) home for six weeks. "I edited `The Great Brain' every night after work and on weekends. That was a beginning of a series that is still in print after 28 years."
By 1975 Fitzgerald had written six more Great Brain books. He said, "My memories of Tom are very graphic because he swindled me so many times when I was a boy."
All of the books are like Tom Sawyer stories of the West. Horn Book Magazine describes his "Great Brain" series as "lively, humorous, suspenseful, which derive much of their appeal from the author's perceptive, conversational style, which is as indicative of adolescent ambivalence as a sudden voice change."
The Great Brain series includes the following titles:
"The Great Brain," 1967. Movie in 1978 starring Jimmy Osmond; "More Adventures of the Great Brain," 1969; "Me and My Little Brain," 1971; "Great Brain at the Academy," 1972; "Great Brain Reforms," 1973; "Return of the Great Brain," 1974; and "Great Brain Does It Again," 1975.
John Dennis Fitzgerald died May 21, 1988, in Tilusville, Fla., at the age of 81.
Some time after his death the loose chapters already titled "The Great Brain Is Back" were found. This new episode coincides with the 20th anniversary of the publication of the seventh in the series, "The Great Brain Does It Again."
Again, Fogelman and staff arranged and edited the material to meet the format of the previous novels, except using another illustrator. J.D., Tom, Mamma, Papa, Sweyn, Frankie and all the people of Adenville (a fictitious town in Utah in the 1890s) are brought to life for Great Brain fans.
"The Great Brain Is Back" is full of laughs and good lessons.