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** Does this to stay out of trouble throughout the sixth book, with the wheel of fortune being a notable example.
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** Zigzagged with Tom's wheel of fortune in book 6. His mother allows him to run a wheel of fortune, but gives strict instructions that every spin will win a prize. The prizes Tom offers range from a nickel box of crackerjack all the way up to a relatively expensive baseball mitt. However, instead of giving the prizes directly, he instead awards the winner the cash value of each prize, ostensibly so that they can go buy the prize themselves at the local co-op store. Tom cleverly manipulates the winners into spending their prize money on further spins of the wheel, with the end result that only two kids make more money than they spend while every other kid ends up broke, with Tom pocketing handsome profits. J.D. accuses Tom of running a gambling casino. Tom doesn't deny it, but says he won't get caught because the other kids will be afraid to tell their parents out of fear of corporal punishment. When J.D. threatens to tell their father, he points out to J.D. that nobody will corroborate his story because they won't want to be punished, and nobody will believe J.D.
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* TheyHaveTheScent: Two boys and their female dog go missing in the cave system outside of Adenville. Tom, in [[HiddenDepths one of his moments of genuine heroism]], instructs the rescue party to bring the Fitzgeralds' male dog along: the missing boys' dog is in heat, allowing the Fitzgeralds' dog to find them by her scent. They also bring a strong-smelling cut of meat and rub it on their shoes periodically so that they can find their way back out afterward. (No word on whether puppies resulted.)
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* GirlsHaveCooties: Both JD and TD have this view for most of the series, expressing horror and disgust at the idea of having anything to do with girls, to the point where Dotty kissing Tom on the cheek is something John tries to exploit for black mail potential. Tom also has one of his few failures when he tries to "logically" figure out what is going on with Sweyn and his new girlfriend in one book, only to conclude that [[LoveMakesYouCrazy its a mystery even he can't solve]]. Tom gets over this eventually, when he gets a girlfriend of his own at the end of book 7
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* LoveMakesYouCrazy: What Tom concludes after he tries to analyze Sweyn's behavior around his girlfriend in one of the later books.
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** This is Uncle Will's defining character trait when he is first introduced in the adult novels. He despises "weak" people above all else. His backstory reveals that his parents lost control of him at a young age because he fought back when his father tried to discipline him, and would refuse to listen to anyone who couldn't beat him in a fight.
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* HidingBehindTheLanguageBarrier: At the academy, the upperclassmen openly state that when they don't want the "baby seventh graders" to know something, they'll talk to each other in Latin. Tom is annoyed as even his great brain can't teach him the language overnight.
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* CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot: Tom is upset the academy serves liver once a week as he cannot stand the taste of it. This leads him to pull some shenanigans to sneak into the kitchen to make himself a sandwich. When discovered, Father Rodriguez is set to hand out a punishment when Tom protests being unable to eat liver. An astounded Rodriguez asks why Tom simply didn't say that before and immediately arranges for the cook to give him a different meal that night. Rodriguez lampshades Tom made the mistaken assumption that A) he's the first kid in school to have this problem and B) that Rodriguez is the type of man who'd make a child go to bed hungry rather than eat a food he hates.
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* BrokenPedestal: JD spends the first few books jealous of Tom's smarts and even trying to emulate him at times. By the fifth book, JD has finally realized Tom's greed is overwhelming him. An eye-opner is when Tom bilks a friend out of a toy rifle, even knowing the kid will be punished by his father for it. JD reflects on how Tom could have easily bought a rifle of his own but "his money-loving heart wouldn't let him spend a penny for something his great brain could get for nothing." The clincher is when Tom nearly gets two kids killed for a lousy thirty cents and JD realizes how awful he can be. While that softens in the later books, JD may love his brother but no longer wants to be like him.
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* BrokenPedestal: JD spends the first few books jealous of Tom's smarts and even trying to emulate him at times. By the fifth book, JD has finally realized Tom's greed is overwhelming him. An eye-opner eye-opener is when Tom bilks a friend out of a toy rifle, even knowing the kid will be punished by his father for it. JD reflects on how Tom could have easily bought a rifle of his own own, but "his money-loving heart wouldn't let him spend a penny for something his great brain could get for nothing." The clincher is when Tom nearly gets two kids killed for a lousy thirty cents and JD realizes how awful he can be. While that softens in the later books, JD may love his brother but no longer wants to be like him.
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* ThrowTheDogABone: Now and then, Tom can do something unselfish. After he wins Sweyn's prized fishing pole in a bet, Tom promises he won't be as selfish with it as Sweyn was and let JD use it free of charge.
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* ExactWords: TD often takes advantage of this to pull off a scheme or lie without technically lying.
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* ExactWords: TD often takes advantage of this to pull off a scheme or lie without technically lying. For example, when a priest asks if he has any candy, Tom replies "I don't have any on me" and he's right, it's in his suitcase.
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* FateWorseThanDeath: The "silent treatment", JD's family's ultimate punishment. For a period of time determined by the inflicter, you are treated as though you don't exist. It is presented as being utterly crushing, which is now known to be TruthInTelevision.
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* FateWorseThanDeath: The "silent treatment", JD's family's ultimate punishment. For a period of time determined by the inflicter, you are treated as though you don't exist. The boys openly wish they'd just get a whipping like any other kid, as at least that's over fast. It is presented as being utterly crushing, which is now known to be TruthInTelevision.
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** There's also the Tug O' War game, where Tom gets JD and his entire team to enthusiastically participate in a scheme to win the competition through cheating, and even profit from it with some side betting. Despite the fact that everyone has been a victim of Tom's schemes in the past, they all still go along with it and justify the cheating as "putting the Mormon kids in their place" for winning several previous years in a row.
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** The rest of the kids aren't much better most of the time either. The Tug O' War game demonstrates this, when Tom gets his entire team to knowingly cheat against the Morman kids, and even profit from it with some side betting, despite how many times all the kids have been cheated and taken advantage of by him themselves. Even JD justifies it in his mind.
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** The tug o' war contest also; Tom secretly plants stakes in the ground on one side of the field so his team can brace their feet and prevent the other team from pulling them down into the river, and also arranges it so his team is guaranteed to get the side of the field with the stakes. Notably one of the only schemes in the series where Tom lets multiple kids in on the plan.
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--'''JD''': If he was caught stealing a horse, he'd claim he was nearsighted and thought it was his lost milk cow. And for my money, he'd get away with it.
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--'''JD''': If he was caught stealing a horse, he'd claim he was nearsighted and thought it was his lost milk cow. And for my money, he'd get away with it.
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* SelfServingMemory:
** ''The Great Brain at the Academy'' has JD realizing that Tom has a habit of omitting details in his letters that have him in a poorer light while Sweyn can be harsher on his brother.
** JD himself can have this as more than once, he'll complain about being punished as "an innocent bystander" in some of Tom's antics when the reader sees JD was often in it up to his neck and perfectly okay with Tom's plans until it got them in trouble.
** ''The Great Brain at the Academy'' has JD realizing that Tom has a habit of omitting details in his letters that have him in a poorer light while Sweyn can be harsher on his brother.
** JD himself can have this as more than once, he'll complain about being punished as "an innocent bystander" in some of Tom's antics when the reader sees JD was often in it up to his neck and perfectly okay with Tom's plans until it got them in trouble.
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* CassandraTruth: Tom figures out a supposed big business being set up in town is really a confidence scam. His father, however, refuses to believe him, brushing off Tom's evidence. Uncle Mark was already onto the guy but lampshades that if Tom can't convince his own father, he'll have a hard time convincing other people. However, Tom's own evidence is enough for Mark to find more that reveals the truth to arrest the group.
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* SpottingTheThread:
** Tom can be a master of this as he can catch details his brain puts together to either figure out a crime or the makings of a new scam.
** On a train trip to Salt Lake City, Tom is able to spot that the cards being used in a game are specially marked to allow one player to cheat.
** Tom suspects a supposed new business in town is really a confidence swindle. While his dad doesn't believe him, Uncle Mark does as the boss of the "company" was going too far with tricks like having his hair cut in a hotel during a talk with "investors," knowing the barber would spread the story around town to get other people to buy in.
** Tom can be a master of this as he can catch details his brain puts together to either figure out a crime or the makings of a new scam.
** On a train trip to Salt Lake City, Tom is able to spot that the cards being used in a game are specially marked to allow one player to cheat.
** Tom suspects a supposed new business in town is really a confidence swindle. While his dad doesn't believe him, Uncle Mark does as the boss of the "company" was going too far with tricks like having his hair cut in a hotel during a talk with "investors," knowing the barber would spread the story around town to get other people to buy in.
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* NotNowKiddo: In ''The Great Brain Reforms'', Tom becomes convinced a man setting up a business in town is a con man. He gets telegrams from folks on how there's no record of the company he claims to represent and a chemical expert saying the man's claims a huge field of salt can be viable for production is false. To Tom's shock, their father refuses to listen, brushing off the evidence and saying, "leave this to the adults." Tom and JD go to Uncle Mark who, to their surprise, instantly believes them as he'd been suspicious of the guy already. Tom's telegrams are enough for Mark to go ahead and gain more evidence to find out the truth and arrest the group.
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* RashomonStyle: It's indicated that ''The Great Brain at the Academy'' is this for JD. As he explains, his way of finding out what's happening are letters from Tom (both to their parents and private ones for his brother), letters from Sweyn and letters from the Academy teachers. While Tom's letters are frank and more detailed, JD knows better than to trust Tom not to embellish things to make himself look better. Likewise, Sweyn's letters have a bit of a bias against his brother while unaware of several details. The Academy teachers may be blunter on Tom's actions but likewise don't know the reasons why he does what he does. Thus, JD "had to be a bit of a detective" to piece together the differing viewpoints and fill in the blanks to figure out what happened and even then, acknowledges there might be a few details he's wrong on.
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* RashomonStyle: It's indicated that ''The Great Brain at the Academy'' is this for JD. As he explains, his way of finding out what's happening are letters from Tom (both to their parents and private ones for his brother), letters from Sweyn and letters from the Academy teachers. While Tom's letters are frank and more detailed, JD knows better than to trust Tom not to embellish things to make himself look better. For example, Tom never told JD about being embarrassed on the train by his idea for a "locomotive chimney" failing until Sweyn told him. Likewise, Sweyn's letters have a bit of a bias against his brother while unaware of several details. The Academy teachers may be blunter on Tom's actions but likewise don't know the reasons why he does what he does. Thus, JD "had to be a bit of a detective" to piece together the differing viewpoints and fill in the blanks to figure out what happened and even then, acknowledges there might be a few details he's wrong on.
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* ThreatBackfire: Every time JD threatens to tell what Tom's done, Tom flips it back, pointing out how heartbroken their parents would be knowing of his antics. Half the time, it ends with JD forced to pay Tom to keep quiet. Sweyn gets this too when he says he'll tell their parents of anything shady Tom does at the academy. Tom just smirks that it won't look good for Sweyn if the kids at school think he'll tattle on his own brother and Sweyn backs down.
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* EverybodyHasStandards: One of the things that keeps Tom from falling into pure villainy is he has a code of honor. He may scam folks but he tries not to openly hurt people with them and is often appalled at some bigger crooks. When they find out a dogfighting ring is being set up, Tom and JD try to save the dogs with JD noting that no matter how greedy Tom would be, he'd never stoop to hurting animals to make money.
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** A unique case when Tom plays a prank making it look like a dinosaur is in the area. Amazingly, his father (a newspaper publisher) falls for it, reporting it for real. When things are settled, he declines from punishing Tom, realizing him being fooled balances things out.
** JD confirms Tom's Houdini status in-universe, when he points out that many townspeople have tried to have him arrested for his stunts, but are never able to because he never does anything technically illegal.
** JD confirms Tom's Houdini status in-universe, when he points out that many townspeople have tried to have him arrested for his stunts, but are never able to because he never does anything technically illegal.
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* ATasteOfTheirOwnMedicine: Fittingly, the final story of the last book has Tom outwitted, done in by ExactWords and forced to pay his brothers and other kids money and publically humiliated...and all by [[spoiler: his own mother]].
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* MightMakesRight: The kids all basically operate on this to a certain extent, even when Mr. Fitzgerald occasionally tries to discourage it.
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* MoralMyopia: JD and TD suffer from this to some extent on occasion; understandable considering their young ages. The mumps chapter in book 1 easily being a good example for all the kids; JD desperately wants to catch a childhood illness first just so he'll finally have the chance to bully his sick brothers the same way they always did to him in the past. When it actually happens, TD and Sweyn retaliate with an extreme punishment, and never acknowledge that they in the past indulged in the same bullying and teasing.
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* BrokenPedestal: JD spends the first few books jealous of Tom's smarts and even trying to emulate him at times. By the fifth book, JD has finally realized Tom's greed is overwhelming him. An eye-opner is when Tom bilks a friend out of a toy rifle, even knowing the kid will be punished by his father for it. JD reflects on how Tom could have easily bought a rifle of his own but "his money-loving heart wouldn't let him spend a penny for something his great brain could get for nothing." The clincher is when Tom nearly gets two kids killed for a lousy thirty cents and JD realizes how awful he can be. While that softens in the later books, JD may love his brother but no longer wants to be like him.
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** It's indicated that this is why Tom's attempts at legitimate ventures don't work as well. He's terrific at figuring out the nuances of a con game but misses the legal loopholes and issues of an honest line of work.
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* InformedFlaw: According to JD, their father has a reputation for jumping into bad investments and crazy ideas that don't work. Their mother complains on the attic filled with now-worthless stocks. However, the closest to that actually shown in the books is Mr. Fitzgerald nearly falling for a con man and even then, he's not the only person in town to do so. He's the first in Adenville to have an indoor toilet and rightly predicts that giving JD a basketball and backboard will make him the most popular kid in town.
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* CutLexLuthorACheck: Tom is intelligent enough to make money without resorting to cheating and manipulation, and he ''does'' come up with a few legit business ventures over the series, but always ends up falling back on his con man ways.
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* CutLexLuthorACheck: Tom is intelligent enough to make money without resorting to cheating and manipulation, and he ''does'' come up with a few legit business ventures over the series, but always ends up falling back on his con man ways. JD lampshades the irony that when Tom does try a legit venture, it somehow never works as well as his con games.
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* DidntThinkThisThrough: Most of JD's attempts to beat Tom at his own game end up with him either being blackmailed by Tom into paying money to him, or in JD ending up doing Tom's share of the chores. However, many of Tom's schemes also end this way.
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* DidntThinkThisThrough: DidntThinkThisThrough:
** Most of JD's attempts to beat Tom at his own game end up with him either being blackmailed by Tom into paying money to him, or in JD ending up doing Tom's share of the chores. He'll openly grouse on how he could be so dumb as to miss the obvious problem and citing it as an example of "my little brain."
** However, many of Tom's schemes also end thisway.way. After all, as smart as Tom can be, he is still a kid and often fails to grasp the complexities of some long-term schemes or their consequences.
** While on a train, Tom gets a piece of cinder in his eye looking out the window. He's told the train company will reward anyone who comes up with an idea to improve the train performance. Tom suggests a long pipe going from the train engine to the rear of the train that would ensure the smoke doesn't affect the passengers and sits as if expecting to be paid on the spot. Smirking, the train conductor tells Tom that very idea has been suggested before and shot down because the smoke and ash will get clogged in the pipe and overheat the engine, not to mention be far more expensive to build and maintain. Tom has to bite down the embarrassment of being wrong on such an obvious point.
** Most of JD's attempts to beat Tom at his own game end up with him either being blackmailed by Tom into paying money to him, or in JD ending up doing Tom's share of the chores. He'll openly grouse on how he could be so dumb as to miss the obvious problem and citing it as an example of "my little brain."
** However, many of Tom's schemes also end this
** While on a train, Tom gets a piece of cinder in his eye looking out the window. He's told the train company will reward anyone who comes up with an idea to improve the train performance. Tom suggests a long pipe going from the train engine to the rear of the train that would ensure the smoke doesn't affect the passengers and sits as if expecting to be paid on the spot. Smirking, the train conductor tells Tom that very idea has been suggested before and shot down because the smoke and ash will get clogged in the pipe and overheat the engine, not to mention be far more expensive to build and maintain. Tom has to bite down the embarrassment of being wrong on such an obvious point.
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* DumbIsGood: Completely averted. JD flat out says that it's not Tom's Intelligence that makes him a JerkAss, but his "money loving heart".
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* DoubleStandard: Tom and JD can sometimes feel this way for adults doing things that would get kids into trouble. In ''The Great Brain Reforms'', Mama wants to "borrow" the schoolhouse bell for a 4th of July parade float with Papa getting the kids to help. JD reflects that if he and Tom were to even suggest such a thing as a joke, they'd lose their allowance for months, yet their parents perfectly okay stealing a school bell just to win a parade prize.
* DumbIsGood: Completely averted. JD flat out says that it's not Tom's Intelligence that makes him a JerkAss, but his"money loving "money-loving heart".
* DumbIsGood: Completely averted. JD flat out says that it's not Tom's Intelligence that makes him a JerkAss, but his
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* ForYourOwnGood: How JD acts during Tom's trial in Book 5. His "summation" has him stating he's genuinely afraid if Tom doesn't change his ways, his con artist antics will go from just mischief to full-fledged criminal ways and end up in prison or the end of a hangman's noose. That, more than anything, shakes Tom to realize how far he's gone.
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* ForYourOwnGood: ForYourOwnGood:
** Tom often invokes this during his scamming of JD as he's just "teaching" his brother to watch out for things like this. JD just sees it as a flimsy excuse for Tom's antics.
** How JD acts during Tom's trial in Book 5. His "summation" has him stating he's genuinely afraid if Tom doesn't change his ways, his con artist antics will go from just mischief to full-fledged criminal ways and end up in prison or the end of a hangman's noose. That, more than anything, shakes Tom to realize how far he's gone.
** Tom often invokes this during his scamming of JD as he's just "teaching" his brother to watch out for things like this. JD just sees it as a flimsy excuse for Tom's antics.
** How JD acts during Tom's trial in Book 5. His "summation" has him stating he's genuinely afraid if Tom doesn't change his ways, his con artist antics will go from just mischief to full-fledged criminal ways and end up in prison or the end of a hangman's noose. That, more than anything, shakes Tom to realize how far he's gone.
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* ForYourOwnGood: How JD acts during Tom's trial in Book 5. His "summation" has him stating he's genuinely afraid if Tom doesn't change his ways, his con artist antics will go from just mischief to full-fledged criminal ways and end up in prison or the end of a hangman's noose. That, more than anything, shakes Tom to realize how far he's gone.
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* RulesLawyer: Tom will do this when it suits him, though he typically doesn't have much respect for the rules. A prominent example would be book 5 when he's trying to convince the boarding school kids that his planned Black Market Candy Store is perfectly ok. To their first objection he asks them to show him where in the Bible it says that eating candy in a catholic school is a sin, which obviously there is no such specific commandment, and then he gives a "technically" correct example of a situation where eating candy in school would not break the rules, and the kids are convinced. His examples are a little [[InsaneTrollLogic Trolly]] and definitely wouldn't convince a rational adult, but the kids fall for it.
