22 Comments

Thank you for sharing this. I grew up in a…similar environment as you. Without getting into too many public details, reading was my first escape from the chaos of my life and my family. Books were my peace.

I never encountered this series, but it sure looks interesting.

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What a great way to start a Monday! With what seems like 3 out of 4 Substacks being political with varying amounts of vitriol, you now offer an oasis of calm. The prospect of having a new topic each Monday (or whenever) is also fun. it's not unlike the packages under the Halloween tree, where only you know what's inside each one.

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I almost did Number Theory today but decided I should save that for after I've written a couple of these and gotten a successful amount of readers, LOL. "Here's why I love this math thing and you should too" is really asking a lot.

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Thank you for this delightful peek into your life's interests, Holly. I also used books as an escape mechanism. One of my favorites was Mr. Popper's Penguins, which I read over and over again. As I grew up history became more my focus. The American Civil War, stories of resistance and escape from slavery and how reconstruction ended were important to me in understanding both history and how cultural beliefs can get embedded by being made the center of social and legal institutionalization. I also read about the Trail of Tears, in part because of my Dad's Cherokee ancestry. And the Holocaust and the ways people found to organize and fight against it under extremely difficult conditions was something I got absorbed in.

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These sound like wonderful books for children. Boys and girls are different. I grew up in house of girls, and the first time I heard my son and his friends hurling insults whilst playing I was slightly perplexed, until two minutes later they were all falling over in laughter together.

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The Great Brain series *forever*.

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"Checking in With Holly" is my morning [& evening habit] after my waking devotions. Thank you for staying active despite retirement, hahaha. Please consider adding a "buy me a coffee" link to wipe out cobwebs and student loan debt. I'm heading out to work my yards before this summer's 114 permeates the air.

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Great Brain is, hands down, one of my favorite series from my childhood. I grew up in small-town Utah, so the settings felt especially close-to-home for me (granted, about 100 years after JD and Tom). There are so many really profound ideas in the books:

For the boys in the town, the most important thing to figure out who can lick who (their term for beating the snot out of each other). Once the hierarchy is established, there are few problems.

One of JD's friends has to have is leg amputated, and goes into pretty serious despair—mostly because he can't do anything to help around his house. He can't do chores, he specifically says, which makes him feel "plumb useless." What a wild idea to so many modern kids—the worst thing in the world is to be useless. And then Tom steps in and helps the boy figure out how to walk with a peg leg in a useful way. The triumph is when the boy learns how to carry water in from the well with his limp without spilling anything.

And Tom himself is a fascinating character. I can see why Fitzgerald's childhood was so dominated by his older brother. Tom can be a selfish prick. The entire town knows that he's a money-grubbing swindler. And yet, he can also be good and generous.

And there's just something magical to think of what life was like not-so-long ago. As I said, I grew up in a small town in Utah, and there was a part of me that always longed to grow up in the wild-tumble times of JD and Tom.

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I LOVE these books. I found them one summer in a closet at my grandparents’ house and read them during the visit. I liked them so much that I took them home with me and ended up re-reading them so many times over the years that those copies fell apart. I think I need to get them again and re-read them as an adult. Thanks for this reminder!!

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I will miss your cultural commentary, but I understand. You are a fantastic writer and I enjoy everything you share. Keep writing and I will keep supporting you. 🥰

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The culture war sucks. This is a delightful alternative. Keep up the good work.

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I'm with you girl. It's full on playbook •divide and conquer• tactics 101 in our clown world right now, and people are loosing their common sense and humanity all over the place. Quite exhausting, and akin to screaming at each other into the wind. Our country hasn't been OURS in far too long, but we are unfortunately too far down this path for much to be done about it by the average citizen.

I'm glad you are going to keep writing. Thank you

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Thank you for suggesting a helpful way out of the emotional despond of current days: concentrating on something we love.

I would also like to recommend another series of autobiographical books, set in the early 1900s, Little Britches. It starts with Father and I Were Ranchers. Ralph Moody describes the family’s move from New England to a “ranch” in Colorado that requires stupendous labor and ultimately doesn’t save the father’s health. Subsequent books describe how the family survives after his death, with many highly entertaining accounts of the author’s experiences in several places such as becoming a trick rider, a cowhand, a farmer, a sculptor. He ages in the series as Laura does in the Little House books, which I loved as a child, and then matures into his late 20s or early 30s. I’d say his brain appears to be pretty great and his character superior to Tom’s.

I bought the whole series for my grandson, who’s about to turn 6 next month. As bedtime stories at their current ages have to appeal to his sisters, and it will be some time before he tackles the books on his own, at your recommendation, I will check out the Great Brain series particularly because of the girls in the audience!

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I understand your reasons for this change and I will continue to follow because I love the way you think. But I will especially miss your comments about the transgender cult because it has destroyed my daughter and I can't retire from it.

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These sound amazing. I’ll definitely be looking to give them to my son when he’s old enough (he’s 2 now, so it’ll be a few years)

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Thanks for sharing this. I had also read these books as a young boy but then forgot about them. I hadn’t thought about The Great Brian in 40 years until your article stirred up pleasant memories. I’m going to find them and read them again!

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Oh, thank you! I absolutely loved the Great Brain books when I was young, and also bought sets for each of my nieces and nephews, who also loved them. Such great memories!

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