I loved all these books too! - unsurprisingly. My favorite Great Brain book was definitely the one at the Academy, for the same reason. I LOVED reading about all those candy bars he smuggled in. I was a total sucker for anything about food. And then carving the key out of soap! And having his own store! OMG. I think I have it at home. I may have to interrupt my stack of thirty-odd library books to re-read that.

What are you doing this weekend? Do you want to come over and play a board game I think you will like? It is called Agricola. You get to be a German farmer at the very end of the Middle Ages, slowly building up your farm by way of small cubist wooden sheep and oxen. It is a total strategy game and it's fun to figure out what the strategies will be.