The Great Brain Audiobook By John D. Fitzgerald cover art

The Great Brain

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The Great Brain

By: John D. Fitzgerald
Narrated by: Ron McLarty
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About this listen

The Great Brain is Tom D. Fitzgerald, aged 10. The story is told by J.D., a sometimes confounded but always admiring younger brother. Such people as Mr. Standish, the mean schoolmaster, regret the day they came up against The Great Brain. But others, like the Jensen kids lost in Skeleton Cave, Basil, the Greek kid, or Andy, who has lost his leg and his friends, know that Tom's great brain never fails to find a way home.

©1967 John D. Fitzgerald (P)2002 Random House, Inc., Listening Library, an imprint of the Random House Audio Publishing Group
Action & Adventure Fiction Historical Fiction Humorous Fiction Primary Education Funny
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Critic reviews

"The strength of [Tom McLarty's] narration comes from his storyteller's ability to build each adventure with suspense, warmth, humor, youthful indignation, and the matter-of-fact tone that Tom maintains through each crisis." (AudioFile) "A lively, funny and not infrequently touching book written with flair." (Saturday Review)

What listeners say about The Great Brain

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A classic, fun for the whole family!

I read these books as a kid and now my four kids love the Great Brain too. Highly recommend!

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    4 out of 5 stars

Loved it as a kid, but hard to share with my own

Some stories are just really inappropriate, the bullying behavior etc. Bummer because I always remembered it as a great book. My husband was shocked that I bought it once we listened and had to turn it off. Waste of a credit.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Great choice for adults, too!!

This is an amazingly darling book geared for the younger crowd, but highly entertaining for the adult,too. I've read the whole series to my boys when they were 6 and 9 years old and then again to my two little girls. We've giggled,cried and laughed ourselves silly through each "business adventure" Tom D. managed to come up with. Although Tom's little brother J.D. is the innocent teller of these tales, Tom is the instigator of much mischief and genious and...trouble!! The book is cute and adorable,innocent and so very informative of the late 1800's/early 1900's. It has a good moral to each story and keeps you coming back for more. Can't go wrong here! Hope to see the remaining six books on audio soon,too.

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12 people found this helpful

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Fantastic Family Listening!

I used to listen to these as a kid on long trips. We would borrow the cassette tapes from people in our neighborhood and listen to them on long trips. I introduced my kids to them and now they ask for them when we go on long trips. Great and humorous stories that both parents and kids will enjoy!

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This is the best book I have ever heard of.

I just like the book in general
I highly recommend this book.
Any one that will read this book will love this it.

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    5 out of 5 stars

Great listening

This book was a delight for our whole family (kids 8 and 10). It sparked interesting discussions on a variety of topics. The reader really made the book come to life and the story was compelling.

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6 people found this helpful

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Great Book for All

I had originally read this book when I was in grade school. listened to this book with my second-grade son and it has been fun he said, "Kids really can do anything if they just think about the problem!" Entertaining to see the problems and opportunities of a small town play out.

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Great as a kid, fun revisiting!

One of my favorite stories as a kid and fun to revisit as an adult. Perfect narrator for this story as well!

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I loved these books as a kid

I read these books as a 9 year old and identified with both JD, and The Great Brain.
Now almost 40 years later I'm reading them as an adult and loving them all over again!

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listened twice... that good

enjoyed listening on long drive to Oregon from SoCal. listened again on the way home

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3 people found this helpful