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Freddy the Pig #15
Freddy Goes Camping
"There's two kinds of aunts," he said. "There's the regular kind, and then there's the other kind. Mine are the other kind." He enlists Freddy's aid in an attempt to rid his house of the ladies, with the result that Freddy and his chums become entangled with some extremely unfriendly ghosts in an abandoned summer hotel. Freddy camps out, goes canoeing, and tosses flapjacks like a pro when he's not mixing it up with the eerie Mr. Eha.
258 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1948
12 people are currently reading
113 people want to read
About the author
Walter Rollin Brooks
51 books67 followersWalter Rollin Brooks (January 9, 1886 – August 17, 1958) was an American writer best remembered for his short stories and children's books, particularly those about Freddy the Pig and other anthropomorphic animal inhabitants of the "Bean farm" in upstate New York.
Born in Rome, New York, Brooks attended college at the University of Rochester and subsequently studied homeopathic medicine in New York City. He dropped out after two years, however, and returned to Rochester, where he married his first wife, Anne Shepard, in 1909. Brooks found employment with an advertising agency in Utica, and then "retired" in 1911, evidently because he came into a considerable inheritance. His retirement was not permanent: in 1917, he went to work for the American Red Cross and later did editorial work for several magazines, including The New Yorker.
In 1940, Brooks turned to his own writing for his full-time occupation. Walter married his second wife, Dorothy Collins, following the death of Anne in 1952.
The first works Brooks published were poems and short stories. His short story "Ed Takes the Pledge" about a talking horse was the basis for the 1960s television comedy series Mister Ed (credit for creating the characters is given in each episode to "Walter Brooks"). His most enduring works, however, are the 26 books he wrote about Freddy the Pig and his friends.
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Born in Rome, New York, Brooks attended college at the University of Rochester and subsequently studied homeopathic medicine in New York City. He dropped out after two years, however, and returned to Rochester, where he married his first wife, Anne Shepard, in 1909. Brooks found employment with an advertising agency in Utica, and then "retired" in 1911, evidently because he came into a considerable inheritance. His retirement was not permanent: in 1917, he went to work for the American Red Cross and later did editorial work for several magazines, including The New Yorker.
In 1940, Brooks turned to his own writing for his full-time occupation. Walter married his second wife, Dorothy Collins, following the death of Anne in 1952.
The first works Brooks published were poems and short stories. His short story "Ed Takes the Pledge" about a talking horse was the basis for the 1960s television comedy series Mister Ed (credit for creating the characters is given in each episode to "Walter Brooks"). His most enduring works, however, are the 26 books he wrote about Freddy the Pig and his friends.
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
January 22, 2017
This was loads of fun and much closer to the ones I remember reading as a child. Freddy and gang help rescue a hotel that someone has seized through frightening away an old lady's employees. Freddy turns the table on the villains by using their tactics against them.
March 12, 2018
Mr. Camphor asks Freddy for help with two interlocking problems. Having invited themselves to Mr. Camphor’s estate, his two aunts are making their nephew’s carefree bachelor life intolerable. Because the Lakeside Hotel, where they usually spend summers, is closed, Aunt Minerva and Aunt Elmira have taken over Mr. C’s estate. Depredations by vandals and visits from a ghost have forced Mrs. Fillmore to sell her beloved hotel. Mr. C asks his detective friend (1) to devise a non-violent way of dislodging the aunts and (2) to discover who is harassing his friend, Mrs. Fillmore.
Escaping the aunts, Mr. C and Freddy pitch camp in the Big Woods near the hotel. In this idyllic spot, Mr. C teaches Freddy camping skills. With his customary enthusiasm for new areas of expertise, Freddy (with comic mishaps) learns to build a fire, cook flapjacks, and paddle a canoe. Secretly watching the hotel, Freddy observes Mr. Anderson, a Centerboro real estate agent, plotting with Simon and his evil band of rats. Besides hiring the rats to trash the hotel, Anderson has, Freddy and Mr. Camphor learn, driven away Mrs. Fillmore’s guests by masquerading as a ghost. “Acting for a group of New York capitalists,” Anderson plans to use the same tactics to drive Camphor from his estate and the Beans from their farm.
Acting together, the Beans, Bean animals, Freddy, and Mr. C expose Anderson’s ruse and to solve the aunt problem. Since Anderson frightens his would-be victims with hauntings, Mrs. Bean concludes that ghosts must be Mr. Anderson’s worst fear. When Mr. Anderson begins his ghostly routine outside Mrs. Bean’s window (“I come from beyond the tomb,” 175), Mrs. Bean invites him to meet Bezaliel, the ghost of Mr. Bean’s grandfather. When Mr. Bean flutters a white shirt in the darkened hallway. Anderson flees the Bean house in terror.
Mr. Bean, the cows, and Jinx the cat deal with the respective problems caused by Mr. C’s unwanted guests. Having fired the cook, bossy Aunt Minerva serves her nephew burnt food. Immediately (and implausibly) Mr. Bean turns Aunt Minerva into an excellent cook through extravagant complements: “You’re the champeen cook of the Western Hemisphere!” (160). When repeatedly praised, Minerva is transformed from a harridan into a gifted cook. Aunt Elvira presents a different challenge. Siting in a wheelchair all day crying, she makes Mr. Camphor unendurably gloomy. When the Bean cows and Jinx the cat outdo Aunt Elmira with their crying and wailing, she is no longer the center of attention; Elmira departs for the Dismal Swamp in Virginia.
While I enjoyed the creative ingenuity Mr. Bean and the Bean animals display in reforming/dislodging Camphor’s aunts, I was uncomfortable with the misogyny underlying Brooks’ depictions of these stereotypical old maids: Minerva is a domineering scold, Elvira an attention-seeking a drama queen. Twenty-first century readers, furthermore, would not laugh (I hope!) at a clinically depressed person.
Like all the Freddy books, FREDDY GOES COMPING reinforces altruism and kindness through positive and negative examples. After the Bean animals defeat the rats in battle, Mrs. Bean treats the wounded rat prisoners with iodine, bandages, and cod liver oil. To enlarge his real estate holdings, Anderson is ready to harm any whose property he covets. Similarly, the rats put their own interests above those of other creatures. (To be fair, in CAMPING, Mr. Anderson forces the rats to attack the hotel by holding Simon’s son Ezra hostage.) The worst sins in the Freddy universe are those of capitalists like Mr. Anderson: greed, self-aggrandizement, and cruelty. Freddy, in contrast, is always ready to put the needs of the Bean farm and Centerboro citizens ahead of personal interest. In successive books, Freddy thwarts selfish villains.
The Bean Farm functions through Mr. Bean’s faith in his animals’ judgment rather than any explicit direction: “I guess.” Mr. Bean explains, “I expect more of you than Schemerhorn or Witherspoon or Macy or any of the other farmers expect of their animals” (185). The Bean animals spontaneously undertake the tasks necessary to running the farm. Charles the rooster is the farm’s alarm clock; the dogs are guardians; Hank the horse provides taxi service. Freddy, of course, is the Farm’s problem-solver and organizer.. The Bean farm resembles Luke’s description of the early Christian Church: “All the believers were together and had everything in common” (Acts 2:44). Freddy books celebrate what social scientists call the “Commons”: i.e., the equitable sharing of collective resources.
Escaping the aunts, Mr. C and Freddy pitch camp in the Big Woods near the hotel. In this idyllic spot, Mr. C teaches Freddy camping skills. With his customary enthusiasm for new areas of expertise, Freddy (with comic mishaps) learns to build a fire, cook flapjacks, and paddle a canoe. Secretly watching the hotel, Freddy observes Mr. Anderson, a Centerboro real estate agent, plotting with Simon and his evil band of rats. Besides hiring the rats to trash the hotel, Anderson has, Freddy and Mr. Camphor learn, driven away Mrs. Fillmore’s guests by masquerading as a ghost. “Acting for a group of New York capitalists,” Anderson plans to use the same tactics to drive Camphor from his estate and the Beans from their farm.
Acting together, the Beans, Bean animals, Freddy, and Mr. C expose Anderson’s ruse and to solve the aunt problem. Since Anderson frightens his would-be victims with hauntings, Mrs. Bean concludes that ghosts must be Mr. Anderson’s worst fear. When Mr. Anderson begins his ghostly routine outside Mrs. Bean’s window (“I come from beyond the tomb,” 175), Mrs. Bean invites him to meet Bezaliel, the ghost of Mr. Bean’s grandfather. When Mr. Bean flutters a white shirt in the darkened hallway. Anderson flees the Bean house in terror.
Mr. Bean, the cows, and Jinx the cat deal with the respective problems caused by Mr. C’s unwanted guests. Having fired the cook, bossy Aunt Minerva serves her nephew burnt food. Immediately (and implausibly) Mr. Bean turns Aunt Minerva into an excellent cook through extravagant complements: “You’re the champeen cook of the Western Hemisphere!” (160). When repeatedly praised, Minerva is transformed from a harridan into a gifted cook. Aunt Elvira presents a different challenge. Siting in a wheelchair all day crying, she makes Mr. Camphor unendurably gloomy. When the Bean cows and Jinx the cat outdo Aunt Elmira with their crying and wailing, she is no longer the center of attention; Elmira departs for the Dismal Swamp in Virginia.
While I enjoyed the creative ingenuity Mr. Bean and the Bean animals display in reforming/dislodging Camphor’s aunts, I was uncomfortable with the misogyny underlying Brooks’ depictions of these stereotypical old maids: Minerva is a domineering scold, Elvira an attention-seeking a drama queen. Twenty-first century readers, furthermore, would not laugh (I hope!) at a clinically depressed person.
Like all the Freddy books, FREDDY GOES COMPING reinforces altruism and kindness through positive and negative examples. After the Bean animals defeat the rats in battle, Mrs. Bean treats the wounded rat prisoners with iodine, bandages, and cod liver oil. To enlarge his real estate holdings, Anderson is ready to harm any whose property he covets. Similarly, the rats put their own interests above those of other creatures. (To be fair, in CAMPING, Mr. Anderson forces the rats to attack the hotel by holding Simon’s son Ezra hostage.) The worst sins in the Freddy universe are those of capitalists like Mr. Anderson: greed, self-aggrandizement, and cruelty. Freddy, in contrast, is always ready to put the needs of the Bean farm and Centerboro citizens ahead of personal interest. In successive books, Freddy thwarts selfish villains.
The Bean Farm functions through Mr. Bean’s faith in his animals’ judgment rather than any explicit direction: “I guess.” Mr. Bean explains, “I expect more of you than Schemerhorn or Witherspoon or Macy or any of the other farmers expect of their animals” (185). The Bean animals spontaneously undertake the tasks necessary to running the farm. Charles the rooster is the farm’s alarm clock; the dogs are guardians; Hank the horse provides taxi service. Freddy, of course, is the Farm’s problem-solver and organizer.. The Bean farm resembles Luke’s description of the early Christian Church: “All the believers were together and had everything in common” (Acts 2:44). Freddy books celebrate what social scientists call the “Commons”: i.e., the equitable sharing of collective resources.
May 1, 2018
I did enjoy this book I just feel I didn't enjoyed it to enough give 4 stars. I loved the cute adventure but I just feel it wasn't a huge page turner or that it really did interest me. I was recommended this book by a family member telling me to read this book as a kid but I didn't have any interest or commitment that I was going to read this book until now.Overall it was an okay read for me but I did somewhat enjoy it.
May 25, 2024
Freddy Goes Camping (and Sleuthing and Ghost Busting)
“Hey, I’ve got an idea,” said Mr. Camphor. “He wouldn’t suspect campers. I’ve got a complete camping outfit—tent, sleeping bags, everything. What do you say we go camping?”
Freddy thought it wasn’t a bad idea. “But are you sure you want to go yourself? It may be dangerous.”
“Danger is the spice of life,” said Mr. Camphor, and Bannister said: “Faint heart ne’er won fair lady.”
“Don’t be silly, Bannister,” Mr. Camphor said. “I don’t want any fair lady; I want to have some fun. Anyway, we’ve got two aunts here—isn’t that enough fair ladies for one summer?”
The local rich man Mr. Camphor has asked his friend Freddy the pig (poet, editor, banker, detective, editor, etc.) to help rescue him from his gloomy Aunt Elmira and domineering Aunt Minerva. The maiden aunts have moved in with Mr. Camphor for the summer because a vandalizing ghost has closed Mrs. Filmore’s hotel where they usually vacation. Not (quite) believing in ghosts, Mr. Camphor asks Freddy to find out (in his capacity as detective) what’s going on in the hotel and stop the haunting so the aunts can be moved there where they belong. Thus, Mr. Camphor and Freddy (disguised as a doctor) are soon posing as campers to avoid looking like investigators to avoid spooking (!) the ghost.
Meanwhile, a jittery chipmunk is trying to sell info on the whereabouts of the unctuous Simon the rat and his thieving, vandalizing clan. Freddy is unconcerned about the rats until he learns that the mysterious Mr. Eha has hired them to do some dirty work and is holding Simon’s unpleasant son Ezra as a hostage to ensure the rats’ compliance (is Brooks indulging in antisemitic tropes by giving the rats Hebrew names? Luckily, there is something appealing in their brazen, disrespectful chutzpah).
Will Freddy be able to solve the spectral mystery (while reminding himself that there are no such things as ghosts while dreading meeting this one) so as to save the hotel for Mrs. Filmore? Will the cow Mrs. Wiggins’ advice about how to treat Aunt Minerva and the rooster Charles’ strategy for treating Aunt Elmira actually work? Will Freddy compose more absurd and clever poems? Will he learn how to paddle a canoe?
Freddy does have fun camping, at first, as Mr. Camphor teaches him to completely prepare before undertaking any task like making a fire and how to flip flapjacks over hot charcoal in the great outdoors (which sure seems like great fun!).
As usual in Freddy books, you can spot the villains a mile away (any person who dislikes and abuses animals), and it’s satisfying to see them get their comeuppances. And Brooks does make you want to treat creatures well, as when Mrs. Bean painstakingly removes some buckshot from the body of the unappreciative Simon.
As usual in Freddy books, the pig is a mixture of flaws and virtues, clever moves and absurd mistakes, cowardice and bravery, poetry and slapstick. One moment he’s cross-dressing while crashing a wedding party or ending up back home at the Bean farm after boasting that he could find the Macy farm blindfolded, the next he’s marshalling and organizing insects and animals into the Committee for Animal Defence to protect the Bean farm or boldly playing doctor to invade the scary Mr. Anderson’s house.
As usual in Freddy books, Brooks enjoys writing a wide range of registers, from Charles the rooster’s high-flown rhetoric (“Madam… only the anticipation of seeing you again so soon could have induced us to brave the inclemency of the elements”) to Jinx the black cat’s slang (“Aw, choke it off, will you… If she wasn’t so handy with a hatchet, do you think I’d let her make a monkey out of me like this?”)
As usual in Freddy books, there are plenty of amusing animal “facts,” like:
--“Pigs are full of ideas, but cows are full of common sense, and when you get that combination to work on a problem it’s pretty near unbeatable.”
--“Freddy thought Jacob was joking, but it was hard to tell, for wasps only have one expression on their faces, and even that one doesn’t express anything.”
As usual in Freddy books, there is plenty of wisdom about human nature, like:
--“Now when people say they want an honest opinion about something they’ve done, they probably mean it all right, but if it isn’t a favorable opinion, they’re apt to get mad.”
--“But being nice to people—well, I guess it’s giving them what they want, instead of what we think they ought to want.”
As usual in Freddy books, there are plenty of humorous touches that must fly right over the heads of kids while cracking up adults, like:
--“Freddy had a pet ant once,” said Mrs. Wiggins. “His name was Jerry. He could read and write.”
--“She was a tall nice-looking woman with a worried expression on her face and a pistol in her hand.”
The novel is a product of its time, the late 1940s. At one point the villain buys some DDT, causing Freddy some concern for his insect allies, and there is some politically incorrect (for today) “humor” regarding African witch doctors and Indian war cries.
By the way, I had assumed that “ghost busting” was a term coined for the first Ghost Busters movie or thereabouts, but Freddy (in 1948) says, “But my goodness, we’re detectives, not ghost busters.”
There is a weird moment when Mr. Camphor fries some bacon while camping with Freddy, with neither pig nor narrator commenting about it.
Hey, it’s a fun book! But why not start with earlier ones in the series like Freddy the Politician or Freddy and the Popinjay?
“Hey, I’ve got an idea,” said Mr. Camphor. “He wouldn’t suspect campers. I’ve got a complete camping outfit—tent, sleeping bags, everything. What do you say we go camping?”
Freddy thought it wasn’t a bad idea. “But are you sure you want to go yourself? It may be dangerous.”
“Danger is the spice of life,” said Mr. Camphor, and Bannister said: “Faint heart ne’er won fair lady.”
“Don’t be silly, Bannister,” Mr. Camphor said. “I don’t want any fair lady; I want to have some fun. Anyway, we’ve got two aunts here—isn’t that enough fair ladies for one summer?”
The local rich man Mr. Camphor has asked his friend Freddy the pig (poet, editor, banker, detective, editor, etc.) to help rescue him from his gloomy Aunt Elmira and domineering Aunt Minerva. The maiden aunts have moved in with Mr. Camphor for the summer because a vandalizing ghost has closed Mrs. Filmore’s hotel where they usually vacation. Not (quite) believing in ghosts, Mr. Camphor asks Freddy to find out (in his capacity as detective) what’s going on in the hotel and stop the haunting so the aunts can be moved there where they belong. Thus, Mr. Camphor and Freddy (disguised as a doctor) are soon posing as campers to avoid looking like investigators to avoid spooking (!) the ghost.
Meanwhile, a jittery chipmunk is trying to sell info on the whereabouts of the unctuous Simon the rat and his thieving, vandalizing clan. Freddy is unconcerned about the rats until he learns that the mysterious Mr. Eha has hired them to do some dirty work and is holding Simon’s unpleasant son Ezra as a hostage to ensure the rats’ compliance (is Brooks indulging in antisemitic tropes by giving the rats Hebrew names? Luckily, there is something appealing in their brazen, disrespectful chutzpah).
Will Freddy be able to solve the spectral mystery (while reminding himself that there are no such things as ghosts while dreading meeting this one) so as to save the hotel for Mrs. Filmore? Will the cow Mrs. Wiggins’ advice about how to treat Aunt Minerva and the rooster Charles’ strategy for treating Aunt Elmira actually work? Will Freddy compose more absurd and clever poems? Will he learn how to paddle a canoe?
Freddy does have fun camping, at first, as Mr. Camphor teaches him to completely prepare before undertaking any task like making a fire and how to flip flapjacks over hot charcoal in the great outdoors (which sure seems like great fun!).
As usual in Freddy books, you can spot the villains a mile away (any person who dislikes and abuses animals), and it’s satisfying to see them get their comeuppances. And Brooks does make you want to treat creatures well, as when Mrs. Bean painstakingly removes some buckshot from the body of the unappreciative Simon.
As usual in Freddy books, the pig is a mixture of flaws and virtues, clever moves and absurd mistakes, cowardice and bravery, poetry and slapstick. One moment he’s cross-dressing while crashing a wedding party or ending up back home at the Bean farm after boasting that he could find the Macy farm blindfolded, the next he’s marshalling and organizing insects and animals into the Committee for Animal Defence to protect the Bean farm or boldly playing doctor to invade the scary Mr. Anderson’s house.
As usual in Freddy books, Brooks enjoys writing a wide range of registers, from Charles the rooster’s high-flown rhetoric (“Madam… only the anticipation of seeing you again so soon could have induced us to brave the inclemency of the elements”) to Jinx the black cat’s slang (“Aw, choke it off, will you… If she wasn’t so handy with a hatchet, do you think I’d let her make a monkey out of me like this?”)
As usual in Freddy books, there are plenty of amusing animal “facts,” like:
--“Pigs are full of ideas, but cows are full of common sense, and when you get that combination to work on a problem it’s pretty near unbeatable.”
--“Freddy thought Jacob was joking, but it was hard to tell, for wasps only have one expression on their faces, and even that one doesn’t express anything.”
As usual in Freddy books, there is plenty of wisdom about human nature, like:
--“Now when people say they want an honest opinion about something they’ve done, they probably mean it all right, but if it isn’t a favorable opinion, they’re apt to get mad.”
--“But being nice to people—well, I guess it’s giving them what they want, instead of what we think they ought to want.”
As usual in Freddy books, there are plenty of humorous touches that must fly right over the heads of kids while cracking up adults, like:
--“Freddy had a pet ant once,” said Mrs. Wiggins. “His name was Jerry. He could read and write.”
--“She was a tall nice-looking woman with a worried expression on her face and a pistol in her hand.”
The novel is a product of its time, the late 1940s. At one point the villain buys some DDT, causing Freddy some concern for his insect allies, and there is some politically incorrect (for today) “humor” regarding African witch doctors and Indian war cries.
By the way, I had assumed that “ghost busting” was a term coined for the first Ghost Busters movie or thereabouts, but Freddy (in 1948) says, “But my goodness, we’re detectives, not ghost busters.”
There is a weird moment when Mr. Camphor fries some bacon while camping with Freddy, with neither pig nor narrator commenting about it.
Hey, it’s a fun book! But why not start with earlier ones in the series like Freddy the Politician or Freddy and the Popinjay?
October 9, 2019
I liked it. It's about him and this person who's trying to get this really good hotel that earns lots of money cause people go there because they want to go to this lake. Then Mr. Bean's yard. Then he also wants Mr. Copper's house. And he has this ghost costume and he attacks Mr. Bean's house, so he goes downstairs cause Mrs. Bean invites him to the cellar. Mr. Bean is hiding and there's this really scary thing. The ghost jumps out, crashes through the window and lands on a porcupine! Then he goes back to the hotel and he doesn't get sleep for 3 days cause when he tried to take a nap under a tree, Freddy told squirrels to drop stones into his mouth and they're pretty good at it. The first two landed in his mouth and he swallowed them! Then the squirrels chased him around so he went back to the hotel, but then Jack, he went and stung him cause the rats - the ones that didn't need to guard Simon, cause before that there was guards, they had this big fight in the Beans yard. They captured a few of the rats. Then they made him sign this thing - he had to give the hotel back to Mrs. Fillmore.
July 18, 2008
loved this amazing book
olive
olive
August 3, 2011
My grandchildren own this book and recommended it to me. :-) We started it while I was in Brazil when their new little sister was born and we just finished it today, less than a week from when they are to arrive on furlough. We started another Freddy book.
June 13, 2011
perfect for little kids could also make grownups laugh.
July 17, 2011
I can't tell you how happy I am that these books are being re-issued. They have been a part of my life since the 50's.
Read
July 29, 2011I love this book!!! It may be the fist book I ever read. Who doesn't love a camping pig?
January 4, 2012
We were laughing out loud with the Freddy Stories we have read. So glad that they are back in print now!
December 28, 2015
spooky[ish]
January 22, 2015
very fun, a good Freddy book with plenty of action and mystery!
February 12, 2019
I liked it
February 3, 2017
I just love this series so much! I've only read two, but I'm intending to purchase them all. So much fun, and so cozy!!!!! Awesome for any age.
December 28, 2022
"America's answer to Winnie-the-Pooh" really is the best tagline for this series. Talking animals but instead of an English wood, it's a farm in upstate New York. Cute but not twee.
Freddy's last poem in this book is my favorite yet:
"The Features, No. 5: The Ears"
The ears are two in number, and
Beside the head, on either hand,—
One to the left, one to the right—
They are attached extremely tight.
Their purpose is twofold, to wit:
To give the hat a place to sit,
So that it will not lose its place
And, slipping down, engulf the face.
Also to ventilate the brain,
When heated by great mental strain,
By standing at right angles out
To catch whatever wind's about,
Or when the summer breeze is napping,
To substitute by gently flapping.
Do not, therefore, attempt to pull
The ears from off the parent skull.
Though ears look odd and out of place,
And add so little to the face,
Though as adornment they're lamentable,
Without them you'd be unpresentable;
And he who rashly grabs the shears
Will find too late, with bitter tears,
That there's no substitute for ears.
Freddy's last poem in this book is my favorite yet:
"The Features, No. 5: The Ears"
The ears are two in number, and
Beside the head, on either hand,—
One to the left, one to the right—
They are attached extremely tight.
Their purpose is twofold, to wit:
To give the hat a place to sit,
So that it will not lose its place
And, slipping down, engulf the face.
Also to ventilate the brain,
When heated by great mental strain,
By standing at right angles out
To catch whatever wind's about,
Or when the summer breeze is napping,
To substitute by gently flapping.
Do not, therefore, attempt to pull
The ears from off the parent skull.
Though ears look odd and out of place,
And add so little to the face,
Though as adornment they're lamentable,
Without them you'd be unpresentable;
And he who rashly grabs the shears
Will find too late, with bitter tears,
That there's no substitute for ears.
May 28, 2022
Definitely not one of the strongest Freddy books. Too many implausibilities.
For example, a spy just happens to get a chance to listen when the topic of the conversation just happens to be about all sorts of plans?
And this Aunt Elmira character, do you know anyone like her? I sure don't. I know chronic whiners, people full of self-pity, but they wouldn't react the way Elmira did to Freddy's 'treatment."
Speaking of which, I love that Brooks makes it clear in every book that Freddy relies on his wide circle of friends, both human and animal. Everyone from a wasp or spider to a cow or bear or jeweler contributes to the success of Freddy's schemes.
"A whisper carries farther on a still night than if you just speak low."
"If you like something, or want something, or are afraid of something yourself, you are pretty apt to think that everybody else in the world likes or wants or is afraid of the same thing. You like poetry, and so you think everybody else does too."
For example, a spy just happens to get a chance to listen when the topic of the conversation just happens to be about all sorts of plans?
And this Aunt Elmira character, do you know anyone like her? I sure don't. I know chronic whiners, people full of self-pity, but they wouldn't react the way Elmira did to Freddy's 'treatment."
Speaking of which, I love that Brooks makes it clear in every book that Freddy relies on his wide circle of friends, both human and animal. Everyone from a wasp or spider to a cow or bear or jeweler contributes to the success of Freddy's schemes.
"A whisper carries farther on a still night than if you just speak low."
"If you like something, or want something, or are afraid of something yourself, you are pretty apt to think that everybody else in the world likes or wants or is afraid of the same thing. You like poetry, and so you think everybody else does too."
December 14, 2022
Freddy is back and just as ornery
Probably before you were born, the bookmobile would stop off at our school and I looked forward to reading "Freddy" books. I enjoyed all of his adventures and friends (Jinx had a few adventures of his own). Now those books are collector's items and rarely show up in used bookstores.
As much as I miss the originals, he is back and just as ornery as ever. One Day I hope the earlier one will be republished. In the meantime, even though, these books are geared toward young ones; they still can hold the attention of old codgers. Each Freddy adventure has a moral.
Kurt wise does a good job of illustrating and for those that have never read Freddy you have a great mystery ahead of you.
Probably before you were born, the bookmobile would stop off at our school and I looked forward to reading "Freddy" books. I enjoyed all of his adventures and friends (Jinx had a few adventures of his own). Now those books are collector's items and rarely show up in used bookstores.
As much as I miss the originals, he is back and just as ornery as ever. One Day I hope the earlier one will be republished. In the meantime, even though, these books are geared toward young ones; they still can hold the attention of old codgers. Each Freddy adventure has a moral.
Kurt wise does a good job of illustrating and for those that have never read Freddy you have a great mystery ahead of you.
September 2, 2020
Entertainment, with no real lesson, unless it's "your sin will find you out." There is some name-calling and "white lies," so I don't really recommend this for children, at least not without some correcting comments. My favorite parts were the poems.
May 31, 2018
Classic Freddy, with the usual thrills and fun and adventure.
August 5, 2020
I couldn't go camping this summer vacation because of a typhoon, so naturally I wanted to read something comforting
November 9, 2022
God this one rules. Possibly my favorite of the series. The climactic struggle with the villain is truly epic.
January 2, 2023
75th Anniversary printing
September 12, 2023
Older kids are starting to scoff at how humanoid Freddy has become. Younger kids and I like it still. We have 2 more Freddy books to read...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 11, 2013
Awesome book wonderful series
March 4, 2016
When there is a mystery to solve, Freddy is the pig to call.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews