![]() ![]() However, the stories are delicately handled. A man starves to death instead of accepting charity, a crippled young boy seeks to end his life because he thinks he is “useless,” boys get lost in a cave and presumed dead, a newly arrived Greek boy learns not to be a “crybaby and a mama’s boy” through grueling rituals of schoolyard initiation. There is nothing overtly inappropriate in the charming novel, but it is certainly gritty. Like so many stories about the early twentieth century, there is a fascinating development of technology and a rapidly changing social scene that makes for great fiction, especially when told through the eyes of the young.Īpproach the book forewarned: there is some difficult material that will likely incite nagging questions and a great deal of puzzling from young people. The books are not widely known, but those who read them and loved them as children seem never to forget them. The character John Dennis Fitzgerald, heavily influenced by the real-life experiences of the author, is an Irish Catholic boy with a smart older brother, Tom, who can scam the pants off any kid or grownup in town. Like so much good storytelling, the tale arises from an outsider observing a close-knit social group, in this case the predominantly Mormon community. ![]() The Great Brainseries, published from the 1950s to 1970s are rollicking tales of boys figuring out life in small-town Utah. Fittingly, one of Utah’s best-loved authors wrote a series of children’s books unlike any other. Visiting Utah reveals that it is a place unlike any other. ![]()
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