John Dennis Fitzgerald (1907 1988) was an American author. He was born in Utah, the son of a Irish Catholic father and a Scandinavian Mormon mother. He left Utah in 1925, at the age of 18, and worked at a variety of jobs, including playing in a jazz band, working at a bank and working for a steel company. He became a surprise literary success in 1955 with his first novel, the autobiographical Papa Married A Mormon. Other novels for adults about late nineteenth and early twentieth century Utah followed. Fitzgerald had many stories published in magazines, and he also co-wrote two textbooks about creative writing. In the 1960s, he turned his attention to books for children, writing the highly successful The Great Brain series, in which his characters are loosely based on characters from his own family and community, including himself. The Great Brain is his brother, Tom D. Fitzgerald. The novels are structured like a collection of short stories, in which Tom either swindles people to teach them a lesson, or solves an important problem for the community. There are at least 8 books in the series.

The Great Brain Series

• The Great Brain
• Adventures of the Great Brain
• The Great Brain At The Academy
• More Adventures of the Great Brain
• The Great Brain Reforms
• The Great Brain Does It Again
• The Return of the Great Brain
• Me and My Little Brain

Adult Fiction

• Papa Married a Mormon
• Uncle Will and the Fitzgerald Curse
• Mamma's Boarding House