By his mid-thirties, after fifteen years of hustling in the industry, he’d had minor roles in a string of A-list films: “Lincoln,” “Zero Dark Thirty,” “Selma,” and “The Big Short.” He’d played a staffer in both the nineteenth-century White House and the twenty-first-century C.I.A. By his early twenties, he had worked for all three men, and had adopted elements of their full-immersion acting methods. He read interviews that his heroes gave and, later, managed to get crew jobs on their movies. Book Review: See You Around, Sam! by Lois Lowry (1.When Jeremy Strong was a teen-ager, in suburban Massachusetts, he had three posters thumbtacked to his bedroom wall: Daniel Day-Lewis in “My Left Foot,” Al Pacino in “Dog Day Afternoon,” and Dustin Hoffman in “Rain Man.” These weren’t just his favorite actors: their careers were a road map that he followed obsessively, like Eve Harrington casing out a trio of Margo Channings.Book Review: The Tattooed Potato and Other Clues b.

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The Great Brain would also be a great book to recommend to upper elementary readers who liked Horrible Harry as first and second graders. Additional read-alikes include Knucklehead by Jon Scieszka, Cheaper by the Dozen, and the Alvin Ho series. Like the Henry Reed series, this is another great book about boys being boys and brothers being brothers. This book also gives contemporary kids a great opportunity to think about ways to amuse themselves without many of the bells, whistles, and gadgets now heavily relied upon as sources of entertainment. Discussion of the family's new water closet opens the action, and its construction provides the story's first great swindle. Historical details of the time period - the end of the nineteenth century - really enrich the story, and at times, add to the humor. often does not realize when he is about to be hoodwinked, while the reader chuckles along with Tom, marveling at his audacity and wit.) At times, the author brilliantly uses J.D.'s naivete as an opportunity to reveal information to the reader that the narrator himself does not understand.

J.D.'s is the perfect deadpan voice to report matter-of-factly on his brother's exploits. This semi-autobiographical novel of the author's Utah childhood features one of the best narrators in children's literature. Through the eyes of his younger brother, Tom is revealed to be charming, mischievous, and conniving, but deep down a caring and devoted friend. tells the story of the year his older brother Tom (T.D.) - the self-proclaimed 'great brain' and known prankster and con artist - reforms himself. In the first book of a classic children's series, narrator J.D.

The Great Brain by John D. Fitzgerald