The Great Brain

The Great Brain is a series of children's books by American author John Dennis Fitzgerald (1907-1988). Set in the fictitious small town of Adenville, Utah, at the turn of the last century, between 1896 and 1898, the stories are loosely based on Fitzgerald's childhood experiences. From Fitzgerald's description of the town of Adenville as the hub of a cattle and sheep ranching region in southwestern Utah, it may be reasonable to infer that it was based on Price, Utah.

Chronicled by the first-person voice of John Dennis Fitzgerald, the stories mainly center around the escapades of John's mischievous older brother, Tom Dennis Fitzgerald, whose nickname is "The Great Brain".

Mercer Mayer illustrated the books.

Series titles

Titles in order of chronological continuity include:

• The Great Brain (1967)
• More Adventures of the Great Brain (1969)
• Me and My Little Brain (1971)
• The Great Brain At The Academy (1972)
• The Great Brain Reforms (1973)
• The Return of the Great Brain (1974)
• The Great Brain Does It Again (1976)
• The Great Brain Is Back (Published in 1995 from loose notes after the author's death)

Characters

Fitzgerald family

The Fitzgerald family members include:

• John Dennis Fitzgerald (J.D.) - the narrator of the series, and youngest of the three brothers before the adoption of Frankie Pennyworth
• Tom Dennis Fitzgerald (T.D.) - the mischievous middle brother and swindler extraordinaire. His nickname is "The Great Brain", and his escapades form the basis for the series. Throughout the series, Tom demonstrates that he possesses great intelligence and a money-loving heart, but at times, he also demonstrates great humanity and generosity.
• Sweyn Dennis Fitzgerald - the eldest brother; eventually departs for Pennsylvania to live with relatives so that he can attend high school.
• Frankie Pennyworth - a boy who is adopted by the Fitzgerald family after the loss of his own family.
• Thomas ("Papa" or "Fitz") Dennis Fitzgerald - patriarch of the family. Owner, editor, and publisher of the town paper, the "Adenville Weekly Advocate". He is an Irish Catholic originally from the Eastern United States who headed west to seek his fortune as a newspaper writer and publisher. He is one of Adenville's leading citizens, and the only one with a college education.
• Tena ("Mama") Fitzgerald - matriarch of the family and homemaker, of Danish -Scandinavian ancestry
• Aunt Bertha - not actually the brothers' aunt but family nonetheless
• Uncle Mark - the town marshal
• Aunt Cathie - Mark's wife, who appears only briefly when she and Mark consider adopting Frankie

All the Fitzgerald men have the middle name of Dennis, a reminder of the "Fitzgerald Curse," put upon the family because of the cowardice of an ancestor named Dennis.

In real life, the author had a sister, Belle Fitzgerald Empey [1].

Other characters

Some of the town's other children include:

• Sammy Leeds, a bit of a bully, but basically not a bad guy
• Herbie, a fat poet whom Tom sets out to reform
• Danny Forester, the barber's son, whose left eye always seems half-shut
• Andy Anderson, the amputee
• Basil Kokovinis, a Greek boy who recently emigrated to America. Upon his arrival in Adenville he has difficulty assimilating, until Tom takes the initiative to show Basil the ropes of being a bona fide American kid.
• Seth Smith, a local Mormon boy about Tom's age. Seth's father owns the empty lot on which the children frequently play baseball and scrub football
• Jimmy Gruber, a diabetic boy
• Parley Benson, son of a bounty hunter and the envy of most of the other boys. He possesses his own coonskin cap and his own repeating air rifle.
• Marie Vinson, daughter of leading citizen Mrs. Vinson; Sweyn is sweet on Marie, much to John and Tom's chagrin

Religious demographics

Catholicism is central to the family's life and identity, a recurring theme in a town where Catholics are distinctly in the minority. The breakdown is said to be 2000 Mormons, 500 or so Protestants, and only about 100 Catholics. All the non-Mormons or "Gentiles" attend a generalized community church, and the Fitzgeralds have to make do with the services of an itinerant priest.

The Jewish population is very small, comprised of an aging itinerant Jewish peddler named Abie who sets up shop in Adenville with tragic results, as chronicled in the first book in the series, "The Great Brain."

Education

• Adenville contains an elementary school that serves the first through sixth grades.
• When Tom turns twelve, Papa sends him to a Catholic boarding academy in Salt Lake City, Utah, that serves ten boys in the seventh grade and ten boys in the eighth grade. The head of the academy is Father Rodriguez.
• Papa, who had emigrated from the northeastern United States, is the only person in town with a college education.

Historical context

Fitzgerald's books describe many issues regarding society and life in the context of the turn of the last century, between 1896 and 1898 in the southwestern United States. Among the topics covered are the following:

• The small-town culture of long ago
• Diabetes
• The banking system in the days before the Federal Reserve,
• Racism, intolerance, and indifference.
  • Although blacks do not appear, the issue of nativism arises when some of the kids torment the son of a Greek immigrant.
  • Native Americans and their lives on reservations
  • The second-class status of Jews
• Mormonism and Catholicism
• Modes of transportation, such as walking and riding horses.
• Sewage. Outhouses are not only the norm, they are a mark of social status. When Papa orders a flush toilet (called a "water closet") from Sears Roebuck and has a cesspool built, the whole town becomes fascinated.
• Child discipline. Most families gave their children "whippings." In The Great Brain Reforms, Parley Benson says that his pa "horsewhipped" him for letting Tom cheat him out of his repeating air rifle. The better-educated, more progressive Fitzgeralds being a notable exception with their use of the silent treatment. This means that Mr. and Mrs. Fitzgerald will not talk to or acknowledge the boy or boys being punished for a day, a week, or longer depending on the circumstances. J.D. frequently describes the silent treatment as worse than a whipping because of the emotional impact of being ignored by his parents, and at times says that he wishes his parents would just give them a whipping and get it over with.
• Non-conformity.
• Leisure time amusements and activities in the days before radio and television.
• Crime. This includes episodes such as the outlaw Cal Roberts escaping from prison and holding Frankie hostage, a bank robbery, a cattle buyer being robbed and murdered on a train, and the citizens of Adenville being defrauded by con men claiming to represent "Alkali Products, Inc." Tom becomes involved in solving these crimes because of the Fitzgerald boys' relationship with their Uncle Mark, the town marshal.

In real life, Tom Fitzgerald—the man on whom the Great Brain character was based—died while serving as a soldier in World War I.