the chutry experiment

I like the great Brain books also. If you find any other sites PLZ E_MAIL ME! I,ve been studying this 4 over a year and would love 2 kno more.

Aly

Hi,

I just ran across this. I'm a Fitzgerald fan myself. I am working on a research and writing project on his works and their history. I began in 1999.

I read The Great Brain books as a child, but never could find Papa Married A Mormon, my husband found it. I loved it, and wanted to know the rest of the story. From there my work took off.

The Reiser Site is the only one that exists at present. The Utah State Historian, is not a Utah State Historian. He like most of us took a trip to find the answers. He does have some legitimate information, but will only share it for a price. Atleast that was what he quoted me 4 years ago. Yes, Adenville is fictional, but John's hometown was a closer match than most people know.

What do you write Chuck? Mr. Fitzgerald's style has touched alot of people. I bet he'd be glad to know he touched you. There was a time in his life when he gave up writing. Luckily his wife never did.

Carrie

P.S. Aly tell us more about your interest

To be honest, I don't write anything other than academic articles and this blog right now, but at some point would like to try to write a screenplay. I figured Adenville might be fairly representative of JDF's hometown--it's much easier to draw from personal experience.

Do you do any writing, Carrie?

they should make a movie based on the books

The Osmond family did make a movie of the first book back in the seventies. I have tried to find a copy on videotape but to no avail. I remember it being a very good screenplay of the book.

My class loves the Great Brain books, too. We are really into the characters and the 4th graders cannot wait to see how Tom swindles his brother or others into another fix. Thanks Mr. Fitzgerald. I am looking for a movie as well. Just like Maniac Magee, great story, no movie around!

Growing up my mother was a librarian and was thrilled when she finally got me interested in reading through the Great Brain Books.

I am now 37 years old and recently moved and found my copies of the series and reread them for the at least 30th time but the first time in probably 15 years.

My copy of the Great Brain has the movie poster on the cover and hadn't thought about that for many years. So of course I started in on the web and haven't had any luck so far.

I have never actually spoken to anyone who has even seen the movie. Growing up in central Nebraska in the 1970's we did not get many movies that were released.

If anyone has any luck getting a copy I would love to be notified.

Thank you in advance.

Jahn Grandstaff

PS I have two daughters but the name if either had been a boy was going to be Sweyn.

This is for Chuck. Chuck there is a movie but its an old one.

I just have got to say a couple of things. I am 33 now, and my son is 6. I loved the Great Brain books so much when I was a kid, I read them over and over. (My mother swears that they warped me in some way, never to be the same child again, which perversely, makes me value them all the more.) I am now reading them to my son (he can read, but now I get to enjoy them again)and am thrilled to share them. I am so happy to realize that others enjoyed them as much as I, because I have never met anyone else who has read them.
I had no idea that there was a movie, so if anyone gets a lead on that, I would love to know as well.
Thanks to J.D. for a life of loving his stories, and being able to share them and pass them on...

I read these books as a child myself, and of course loved them. My son borrowed one from the library and really enjoyed the book. His Christmas list had all kinds of tech stuff listed and then The Great Brain series. I didn't know it would be sooooo hard to find the whole series. Some of the books are out of print it looks like. I hope he is not disappointed this Christmas.
Ahh, the joy of reading good children's books.

I wonder if Amazon would have used copies? It's dissapointing to hear that some of the books are out of print....

does anyone know how i can get the one where the Great Brain goes to the academy?

I've also been looking for a copy of "The Great Brain" video. I'm a teacher and my class has been listening to the book on audio. I'd like to show the class the film too, but haven't been able to locate a copy. Hope someone out there can help.

To All Fellow Great Brain Fans:

It is great to see so many lovers of these books! I grew up in the mid 1970's in Southern Minnesota and was introduced to this series by my 6th grade teacher's novel discussion groups. I read The Great Brain at the Academy first and the others soon followed. I think Me and My Little Brain is my favorite. I eventually became an elementary ed teacher. While taking a children's lit class incollege I did a short project on these books. I have read these book to each of my classes over the past 18 years. Back in '89 I even had my students write letters to Mr. Fitzgerald, only to learn he had tied. I have seen the OSmond movie. I would love to see another made, perhaps even something in animation.

Like may have posted, I loved the Great Brain books when I was a child. After I got married, my wife (who had not read them as a child) read them together after I talked to her about them one day. I'm currently reading The Great Brain to my two sons.

Some years ago, I found Papa Married a Mormon. In that book, it does have pictures of John's family and pictures of his house where he and the rest of the family grew up. I'm not sure where Mr. Reiser got his information, but the house on his website clearly isn't the one in Fitzgerald's book. That book, too, is a terrific read - goes into much more detail of his parents and grandparents than you get in the Great Brain series. The Fitzgerald's life was much more compicated than the GB series ever let on to, but, of course, the GB series was meant for kids, about the exploits of kids, not their parents.

Thanks for this site!

I read a short bio of John D. Fitzgerald. He was born in Price, Utah in 1906. The fictional John D. was about 8 years old in 1896--so he would have been born in the late 1880s. The real John D. grew up in Price, Utah, which is definitely not the southwestern Utah "Dixie" Adenville described in the books. He says in the first chapter of the Great Brain that it rarely snows in Adenville. That would put it south of Cedar City, where there is a lot of snow. The elevation drops about 15 miles south of Cedar City (called Cedar Ridge in the book; Black Ridge in real life) along the border of Iron and Washington Counties. Washington County is warm and deserty; Iron county is higher and snowy in the winter with a climate like Salt Lake City. There is about a 10 degree temperature difference between "Dixie" Southern Utah and the rest of the state all year.

The problem with the location is that the railroad is in town. Utah's "Dixie" didn't have the railroad, and still doesn't, as you can see on this map. St. George, a town that is booming now, stayed tiny for years because there was no railroad.

The librarian who wrote to the Reisers above thought it sounded like Leeds and Silver Reef, and I would agree--except for the railroad bit. There isn't a railroad in Leeds, and I'm about 95% sure there isn't railroad in Silver Reef.

John D. Fitzgerald grew up in Price, where there was railroad. Because of the mining industry there would have been a fair number of non-Mormons in the town, so socially Price would have been similar to Adenville.

Also notice that the author was about 15 years "older" than his character.

"The Great Brain" is more fictionalized than I would have suspected.