Freddy the Pilot

Freddy the Pig #19

by Walter Rollin Brooks, Kurt Wiese (Illustrations)

The Freddy books are "the American version of the great English classics, such as the Pooh books or The Wind in the Willows."-- The New York Times Book Review

Freddy the Pig, famous detective of Bean Farm, has his hands full. The comic book tycoon (and evil mastermind) Watson P. Condiment is trying to kidnap Mademoiselle Rose, the prize performer from Mr. Boomschmidt's circus. Freddy goes to great heights in his brand-new airplane to foil Condiment's flying henchmen and save Mr. Boomschmidt from financial ruin. But will he be able to come to the rescue without crashing into the north fence?

Genres: Fiction, Childrens, Fantasy, Animals, Middle Grade, Classics

256 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1952

About the author

Walter 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.
Source

Reviews

[Zach Mercer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked it because a pig flew a plane

[Ingrid · Rating 3 out of 5]

Whimsical and random-- it was impossible to predict what was going to happen from one chapter to the next. Got a bit too convoluted by the end, but overall a fun read. Dynamic illustrations by Kurt Wiese.

[Joan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read these books as a kid and they were old then. They still are absolutely delightful. Freddy is a pig who can talk and is a detective. He and Mrs. Wiggins, a cow, solve mysteries. Each character is beautifully drawn with lots of humor. Freddy tries his best, usually blows it to some degree, then manages to save the day. In this one, the zoo might close down if the animal back rider won't agree to marry someone she isn't interested in. All the talking animals try to help out. What will Freddy do to save the day from the fiendish comic book tycoon? Comic books get a nasty treatment in this book, which is perhaps the only thing that really dates the book. Sure, machinery has changed since the books were written but who cares? The digs about comic books were pretty typical for the time they were written but seem quite dated at this point. Other than that, the series is wonderful escape literature. Oh, and kids will leave the book with quite an expanded vocabulary, taught in a completely painless and hilarious way!

[Jennifer Ritchie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another excellent Freddy the Pig book! In this episode, Freddy introduces Sniffy Wilson (the skunk) to Howard Pyle’s book about Robin Hood—with hilarious (and occasionally very useful) results. Meanwhile, all the talking animals are trying to save a damsel in distress from a nasty suitor and his henchmen.

[Niki (nikilovestoread) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is another wonderful book in the Freddy the Pig series. I've been reading them aloud to my kids and we all love them so much. They are always some of our favorite reads and I can't recommend them enough.

[Christin Le · Rating 5 out of 5]

A favorite

[Jefferson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Flying Pig, a Flamenco Dancing Pig, and Parachuting Skunks and Rabbits OR
Comic Books, Robin Hood, Dilemmas, Airplanes, and a Zoo



Freddy is reading poetry when Sniffy Wilson asks him if he can borrow some comic books, outraging the pig, who thinks comics are trash and suggests the skunk read The Adventures of Robin Hood instead, when their conversation is drowned out by a noisy airplane flying overhead. Soon enough Freddy will be learning to fly a plane, Sniffy and his clan will be fighting with quarter staffs and bows and arrows and talking “Robin Hood” (“thee,” “thinketh,” and so on), and the pig and skunks and Horrible Ten rabbits will be trying to prevent the rich, amoral comic book publisher Mr. Condiment from either marrying Mademoiselle Rose, the popular “equestrienne” of Mr. Orestes Boomschmidt’s Stupendous and Unexcelled Circus, or driving the circus out of business.



Key cameos are played by Uncle Ben, the quirky, laconic inventor brother of Freddy’s farm owner surrogate father Mr. Ben, as well as by circus animals like Leo the Lion and the bickering top brass of the American military. The flying scenes, complete with bird’s eye views of the NY State farm countryside, are nice, and the cross dressing scenes with Freddy playing a Spanish female flamenco dancer who’s clicking castanets one moment and turning into a fierce leopard the next are amusing, but this is (to me) a second tier Freddy book, with just one plot (the best Freddy books have multiple plots), a pretty bland villain (despite being named Mr. Condiment and overusing synonyms), and fewer charming points than the best Freddy books.

That said, Freddy the Pilot (1952) DOES have some of the charms of other books in Walter R. Brooks’ series, such as whimsical animal “facts,” like “Rabbits are peaceful as a rule, but when roused they can be ferocious fighters, and seldom give quarter,” and “Pigs don’t have as sensitive skins as people do, but their feelings are just as easily hurt.”

And plenty of generally amusing lines, like

--“A shotgun isn’t much use to a rabbit or a skunk.”

--“That’s the trouble with books: you have to think what they mean all the time.”

--“It was always hard to surprise Mr. Boomschmidt because he had seen a lot of queer things in his time, and also because he was one of those happy people who find almost everything queer and interesting.”

Brooks has an appealing vision of animals. They are at least as interesting and intelligent as his human characters; they can all talk and should be treated with respect; they like doing things people do (e.g., flying planes, reading Robin Hood, and parachuting); they do retain their animal lives/habits/characteristics etc. (though this book has less of that kind of thing than most of the previous ones, as, for instance, the skunks never use their distinctive scent defense); people like Mr. Boomschmidt and Mr. Bean who treat animals well are good, people who mistreat them bad (Mr. Boomschmidt uses cages just for animals to sleep in and the animals are performers and run the circus at least as much as the people do).

And the clever illustrations by Kurt Weise always depict the animals looking more like real animals than like cute characters, no matter what they happen to be doing.

This novel introduces a less serious, new ethical gauge for people: characters who don’t read comic books are generally ethically superior to those who do. Brooks published this novel in 1952, around the time when comic books were getting a bad rap by Dr. Frederic Wertham et al (Wertham published Seduction of the Innocent in 1954). The villain here is a comic book publisher, and lines like this appear in the novel: “People who read comics will believe almost anything, and Mr. Condiment had of course read, and no doubt enjoyed, a great many.”

ANYWAY, readers new to Freddy should start with Freddy the Politician, Freddy the Detective, or Freddy and the Popinjay.

[Ann-Marie Messbauer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book, which I found on the children's table at a local library book sale, is a quirky, zany, silly, and thoroughly satisfying story, especially for anyone who loves words. There's a convoluted plot, lots of great "vocabulary", a fun dose of "Robin Hood talk," and even a few humorous poems thrown in. I can't think how my ten-year-old self would have reacted to it, but I feel sure that I appreciate it more as an adult than I could have back then. "Freddy the Pilot" is apparently one of a series of Freddy books, and I would like to hunt down the first volume of the series to see how it all began.

[Cheryl]

Lots of quotes in Wit and Wisdom were from here....

[Lynette Nickel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read aloud to my son. We had some good laughs and enjoyed reading it together.

[DeadlyDoom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this Freddy book!!! It is humorous and silly like all the others!

[Geoffrey · Rating 2 out of 5]

The absolutely ridiculous axe that Brooks has to grind with comic books really drags this down--he just WON'T SHUT UP ABOUT IT, and it gets really unbearable--but even beyond that, this one is weak, and unfortunately it's a precursor of worse to come.

[Alida · Rating 4 out of 5]

We, the grandkids in Brazil and I, are hoping the next installment arrives by next Tuesday. :-)

[Ethan · Rating 5 out of 5]

awsome!

[Nathaniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked it. It's about Freddy and he learns how to fly to chase a guy who's been dropping sacks of flour on the circus to make it so Mr. Boomschmitt runs out of money.

[Hillvan · Rating 4 out of 5]

740L

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great book about our friend Freddy the Pig.

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

My son said he doesn't have a favorite Freddy the Pig book because they are all good.

[Caleb · Rating 5 out of 5]

i liked it