The Great Brain Paperback – 9 February 2004

You just enjoy reading. Nicely written.

I got these books for my niece and nephew because I loved them when I was a kid - Tom (the great brain) is just that kind of brother and friend everyone wishes they had growing up

Ein großartiges Buch für Kinder und für Erwachsene.

Excellent graduation gift for young ESL student

The Great Brain books were one of my absolute favourite series when I was a kid - now that I'm grown up and I've got three sons of my own - who rather shockingly correspond to Sweyn, Tom, and JD - these books have become bedtime favourites. Each chapter gives plenty of discussion material both on how things used to be way back when and on the moral and ethical situations created by Tom. The kids hang on every word, and the whole series shines as brilliantly for me as an adult as it did when I was a kid myself. The Great Brain at the Academy is still my favourite, but you've just got to do the whole series!

I probably read this novel as a kid some 30 years ago, and remember enjoying it then. Imagine my surprise when I only just recently re-read it and found it as good or better than I even remembered it! I'd have to say I enjoyed it at least as much as anything I've read by Twain, though not to its detriment the writing style is somewhat more simplistic and easier to read, but no less riveting as a character study and story. To say readers will "lap up the story" is no understatement, and there is nothing childish in any negative connotation about the first person narration as told by J.D., The Great Brain's younger brother. It is a hilarious read and even moving by the time it reaches its conclusion. It's fun to re-look at Tom's shennanigans as an adult and to see how "off" and "on" he really was from that perspective. I've heard people say this first book wasn't the best in the cannon, but if that is true, how much more I look forward to re-reading the books that follow. Incidentally, having mentioned Twain, and if you are a fan of that great author and haven't done so yet, check out his last, somewhat more obscure novella "The Mysterious Stranger" for another riveting yet cynical and supernatural tale, probably more adult than children's fiction, though the story's characters are children. I'm on to book 2 of "The Great Brain".Another fantastic children/adult novel highly recommended: Lizard Music by Daniel Pinkwater.