Book Twentyeight: More Adventures of the Great Brain

More Adventures of the Great Brain, John D. Fitzgerald



You know what else makes the Great Brain books some of the best kid's books around? The awesome illustrations by Mercer Mayer! I had forgotten how completely captivated I was by those drawings and how clearly I remembered them from my youth. I love how easy it is to spot the Great Brain in the drawings because of his freckles and I love J.D.'s curly hair and often wide-eyed expressions.

This book contains one of the stories that freaked my shit out as a kid: the one where they go camping and Papa gets them lost and then tries to reassure the boys that they could survive for five years out there in the wilderness and everyone things they are doomed until the Great Brain tells them that he has left a trail of markings so Uncle Mark can find them. And I forgot how great the story is about the funeral for the town dog, Old Butch. That scene with the whole town parading down main street and the band playing "Home, Sweet Home"... well, that made my day, rereading that.