Brain Snacks: Tasty Tidbits of Knowledge
The illustrator, Mercer Mayer, is best known for his "Little Critter" series of picture books. Tom and his brothers are basically just human versions of little critters running around getting into mischief.
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Adenville is a fictional town based on Price, Leeds, Silver Reef, and other small towns in the Dixie region of Utah. It's called "Dixie" because it's warm and they used to grow cotton there, not because it seceded from the Union during the Civil War. Maybe they should come up with a new nickname to avoid confusion?
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There were six children in the real Fitzgerald family, one girl followed by five boys. John D. was the third boy and the fourth child overall. Wonder how his big sister and little brothers felt about being cut from the family in his books.
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There are eight total books about the Great Brain's adventures, which makes us think Tom's reformation at Christmas is probably just an act for Santa Claus.
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