Me and My Little Brain

Tom, a.k.a. The Great Brain, has gone off to attend boarding school in Salt Lake City, leaving little brother J.D. to follow in his ingenious and conniving footsteps. Since all of J.D.'s attempts at profitable endeavor fail miserably, he soon realizes that he just doesn't have that crafty Great Brain knack. But when his young adopted brother is kidnapped by a desperate outlaw, J.D. finds that his little brain may not be so ordinary after all.

John's older brother, Tom the Great Brain, has gone off to boarding school, leaving him to wonder if he can use his little brain to work the kinds of scams Tom did to make himself rich. He tries to do things the way his brother would, but it doesn't seem to work out the same way for him, teaching him that he's not the kind of guy who can work a scam. When he decides to be himself, the rewards follow.
The book is set in the 1890's in rural Utah, making it a fascinating look into the lives of children in that era. The author has loosely based these adventures on his own childhood, lending it richness and making it very believable and engrossing. Smaller children may be frightened or traumatized by the kinds of adventures these kids took as show more the regular way of life, but older children will be able to engage in discussions about how things have changed for youngsters since then. show less

This is the third book in the "Great Brain" series. Here the narrator, JD, the Great Brain's younger brother, here he takes center stage. We also get little Frankie, the adopted orphan, the "kickin'est, fightin'est, bitin'est kid I ever seen", in the words of Cal Roberts, scoundrel and murderer. The real story here is how JD outwits Cal to save Frankie's life.

I'm having a blast reading these books again, some twenty five years or so after I read them for the first time.

For what it's worth, this is the version with Mercer Meyer's illustrations. The Meyer version is the ONLY way to go, IMHO.

This story really holds up now that I read it again as a mature adult.

The Mercer Mayer illustrations still bring me joy.

With more J.D. and less T.D., this is my favorite so far.

Got the box set at a thrift store, reading all so I'll know what all the high praise is about. All I can say is, thank goodness none of my three boys were quite as wicked as T.D. Thank goodness he does do at least one nice thing per book.

(Copying this review to the others as I finish them; will add notes if nec.)

Loved this book since I was in elementary school. I like to read this series even now. I have read the series many times as an adult and still love it.

The younger brother tries to be as clever as his brother, and gets in all sorts of trouble.