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The Fred Books #4
Postcards from Fred
EVER WONDER What Would Jesus Do? ON A DATE?
It's been a bad weekend. Mark Cloud's dreams of romantic bliss have been cruelly obliterated, and his friendship with the local moonshiner has drawn unwelcome attention from the local Pharisee, Deacon Fry.
Then two girls enter his one a lovely and sold-out-for-Jesus preacher's kid who just might be The One for him, the other a prodigal wild-child who just might give Deacon Fry the ammunition he needs to rid himself of this troublesome pastor and his vexing family.
Mark's romantic aspirations and his vow to fly under the church-politics radar crash into his vow to live his life asking the seductive but inconvenient What Would Jesus Do? His response will determine not only his dating life but possibly the future of his father's career.
It's been a bad weekend. Mark Cloud's dreams of romantic bliss have been cruelly obliterated, and his friendship with the local moonshiner has drawn unwelcome attention from the local Pharisee, Deacon Fry.
Then two girls enter his one a lovely and sold-out-for-Jesus preacher's kid who just might be The One for him, the other a prodigal wild-child who just might give Deacon Fry the ammunition he needs to rid himself of this troublesome pastor and his vexing family.
Mark's romantic aspirations and his vow to fly under the church-politics radar crash into his vow to live his life asking the seductive but inconvenient What Would Jesus Do? His response will determine not only his dating life but possibly the future of his father's career.
302 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 1, 2013
About the author
Brad Whittington
15 books30 followersVisit BradWhittington.com to sign up for email notices of new releases, sneak peeks, and freebies.
Brad Whittington was born in Fort Worth, Texas, on James Taylor's eighth birthday and Jack Kerouac's thirty-fourth birthday and is old enough to know better. He lives in Austin, Texas with The Woman. Previously he has been known to inhabit Hawaii, Ohio, South Carolina, Arizona, and Colorado, annoying people as a janitor, math teacher, field hand, computer programmer, brickyard worker, editor, resident Gentile in a Conservative synagogue, IT director, weed-cutter, and in a number of influential positions in other less notable professions. He is greatly loved and admired by all right-thinking citizens and enjoys a complete absence of cats and dogs at home.
Brad Whittington was born in Fort Worth, Texas, on James Taylor's eighth birthday and Jack Kerouac's thirty-fourth birthday and is old enough to know better. He lives in Austin, Texas with The Woman. Previously he has been known to inhabit Hawaii, Ohio, South Carolina, Arizona, and Colorado, annoying people as a janitor, math teacher, field hand, computer programmer, brickyard worker, editor, resident Gentile in a Conservative synagogue, IT director, weed-cutter, and in a number of influential positions in other less notable professions. He is greatly loved and admired by all right-thinking citizens and enjoys a complete absence of cats and dogs at home.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
March 10, 2025
This is my second Fred book, and since it's number 4 it's clearly out of sequence... But it didn't matter. Even if there were others before it I don't feel as though I came in in the middle. It was a fine stand-alone book.
Funny...very funny. I'm so glad I read this today. I needed something light.
I love the dialog of this teenage boy. I love that it's clean humor. I love the situations and the things learned without the reader feeling preached at...not that I mind preaching... It's just that sometimes it becomes trite and over done.
Mark Cloud is such a likable kid...someone I would have hung around as a teenager.
The author has an amazing way of describing things that just makes you giggle. You can't help but enjoy this book. I couldn't recommend it more! It's was just plain fun.
Funny...very funny. I'm so glad I read this today. I needed something light.
I love the dialog of this teenage boy. I love that it's clean humor. I love the situations and the things learned without the reader feeling preached at...not that I mind preaching... It's just that sometimes it becomes trite and over done.
Mark Cloud is such a likable kid...someone I would have hung around as a teenager.
The author has an amazing way of describing things that just makes you giggle. You can't help but enjoy this book. I couldn't recommend it more! It's was just plain fun.
May 18, 2026
Further adventures of Mark, the son of a preacher, as he lives life in school, his paper route, working part time at the church, and his relationship(s) with the opposite sex. He has a habit of saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. What he considers humor, others consider insults. His repeated attempts to smooth over a meaningful relationship made me laugh. A troubled cousin comes to stay, and introduces unexpected problems for Mark and his family.
The storyline contains humor and serious situations—like real life. This is the fourth book in the series. Not everything was resolved. I would like to see a fifth one in the near future.
The storyline contains humor and serious situations—like real life. This is the fourth book in the series. Not everything was resolved. I would like to see a fifth one in the near future.
September 8, 2018
Good Read
It hit home with me as I grew up in this era. Writer knows how to tug the heart strings, spin a yarn and weave in a bit of religion. A good coming of age tail. Recommended for young adults and old softies alike.
It hit home with me as I grew up in this era. Writer knows how to tug the heart strings, spin a yarn and weave in a bit of religion. A good coming of age tail. Recommended for young adults and old softies alike.
June 28, 2014
Mark Cloud’s a PK from the East Texas town of Fred
who thinks he’s found The One
‘cause she won’t get out of his head.
But a confounding thought seals their fate
An old question he amends to
“How would Jesus date?”
Through many a trial and tribulation
from pot to bullies to strained family relations
Mark finds his inner muse
penning postcards for others to use
finding real what he’d only assumed
“Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.”
-------------------
Everyone should visit Fred at least once in their life—not necessarily the town itself, but the books that Whittington sets in that singular locale. Fred provides the perfect backdrop for teenage Preacher's Kid Mark Cloud to work out his faith in fear and trembling (especially near the pharisaical Deacon Fry).
This is Whittington's fourth trip back to Fred, and it's a worthwhile road to take. For this reviewer, the book really picked up steam after Cloud started using his gifts of wit and verse to help other teens in dire straits with their significant others, but that's just one part of a much larger story regarding Cloud's prodigal cousin.
"Postcards" is funny and poignant and an excellent addition to the Fred oeuvre.
who thinks he’s found The One
‘cause she won’t get out of his head.
But a confounding thought seals their fate
An old question he amends to
“How would Jesus date?”
Through many a trial and tribulation
from pot to bullies to strained family relations
Mark finds his inner muse
penning postcards for others to use
finding real what he’d only assumed
“Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.”
-------------------
Everyone should visit Fred at least once in their life—not necessarily the town itself, but the books that Whittington sets in that singular locale. Fred provides the perfect backdrop for teenage Preacher's Kid Mark Cloud to work out his faith in fear and trembling (especially near the pharisaical Deacon Fry).
This is Whittington's fourth trip back to Fred, and it's a worthwhile road to take. For this reviewer, the book really picked up steam after Cloud started using his gifts of wit and verse to help other teens in dire straits with their significant others, but that's just one part of a much larger story regarding Cloud's prodigal cousin.
"Postcards" is funny and poignant and an excellent addition to the Fred oeuvre.
April 8, 2014
Mark meets a beautiful, blonde, PK, Anna, and ponders "The One,. Claire, a rebel cousin, comes to live in Fred with the Fox family and introduces some interesting dynamics with her unorthodox views and life. I didn't realize that this books existed between "Living..." and "Escape..." and wish I had read it in sequence. Still not bad. Whittington continues with a consistent logical character development. Claire's introduction adds some meaningful and needed conflict and companionship. Accurately portrays the 'glass house' existence in a small town, especially for a pastor and his family. It can be a source of comfort as well as a source of suffering.
April 12, 2014
Loved all the Fred books! This one was a great read but it would have been nice if it ended a little different. I guess the author wanted the ending to be realistic and true to human nature and it was. I would recommend the Fred books for a good look at life with a dose of God and comedy.
May 31, 2015
Strange book. A bit simplistic. A bit predictable. But it fits the bill when you're looking for Christian fiction to fill your sick-bed hours. :-)
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews