Freddy the Detective

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"Oh, I am the King of Detectives, / And when I am out on the trail / All the animal criminals tremble, / And the criminal animals quail..." boasts Freddy, the poetry-prone, Sherlock Holmes-obsessed pig who stars in Walter R. Brooks's beloved series. From 1927 to 1958, Brooks wrote 26 Freddy books--including Freddy Goes to Florida--all focused on the well-rounded pig, who has been described by various fans as ingenious, intelligent, loyal, and resourceful. Since Brooks's books fell out of print, librarians across the country have scrounged up copies wherever possible, even resorting to photocopying the books and binding them with hockey-stick tape! To the delight of thousands, the fabulous Freddy books have been reprinted by Overlook Press!

The intrigue of Freddy the Detective begins on the Bean Farm (Freddy's upstate New York abode), when a toy train is discovered missing from young Everett Bean's room. Freddy jumps at the chance to prove his sleuth skills: "I'll find that train, you bet! There are a lot of mysteries on a farm like this and I'll solve 'em all!" he proclaims. The pig can't gracefully outfox the rats (and they sing derisive songs about him), but eventually he does solve cases from "The Mystery of Egbert" (about a bunny who'd wandered off from his family) to "The Case of Prinny's Dinner" (about a white woolly dog's missing food). The shenanigans all sound innocent enough, but Brooks is hilariously tongue-in-cheek; his insightful descriptions of animal characters are always compassionate; and his subtle appeal to a child's instinct for justice is no less than masterful. As Adam Hochschild of the New York Times Book Review writes, "The moral center of my childhood universe, the place where good and evil, friendship and treachery, honesty and humbug were defined most clearly, was not church, not school, and not the Boy Scouts. It was the Bean Farm." Welcome back, Freddy! (Ages 9 to 12, but great for reading aloud to younger children.) --Karin Snelson


From Publishers Weekly
Available for the first time in paperback, Freddy the Pig stars in two adventures. In the first, fresh from reading about Sherlock Holmes, Freddy is drafted to solve several disappearances on Bean farm. In the second, the porcine hero and his friends escape the drafty barn for a vacation in sunny Florida. Ages 9-12. (July) Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Book Description
There's trouble on the Bean farm. First a toy train disappears. Then Prinny the Dog's dinner is missing and Egbert the Rabbit is nowhere to be found. The animals of Bean Farm need a detective, and fast! Luckily, Freddy the Pig is on the case. Having just finished reading Sherlock Holmes, Freddy and his partner Mrs. Wiggins the Cow set up a detective agency in the barn. But when Freddy's best friend Jinx the Cat is framed for a dastardly deed, all of Freddy's detecting skills are put to the test.


Card catalog description
Freddy the pig does some detective work in order to solve the mystery of a missing toy train.


About the Author
Walter R. Brooks died in 1958 after writing 26 Freddy the Pig books. Kurt Wiese illustrated over 400 books, nineteen of which he also wrote, before his death in 1974.


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When it comes to pigs, today's children may be more familiar with Wilbur and Babe, but it is time they made room in their hearts for Freddy. There is a crime wave at Bean's Farm. Rats are stealing grain, Everett's toy train is missing, and goats have gobbled a lace tablecloth right off the clothesline. Fortunately, Freddy the Pig, who has been reading Sherlock Holmes, is eager to tackle the barnyard crimes. This engaging detective story is only one of twenty-six Freddy books, all written over sixty years ago, with humor and fast pacing that will still entice young readers. With its strong sense of caring and community, it also makes an especially engaging read-aloud for younger children. The narrative is crowded with memorable characters—hot-tempered mice with pride in their good sense, dignified crows, a dog embarrassed by his name, a rooster who is carried away with his public speaking skills, to name only a few. The wide-ranging assemblage of problem-creating-and-solving personalities will remind readers of the all-too-human animal residents of Winnie-the-Pooh's Hundred Acre Wood. Wiese's expressive black-and-white drawings add to the charm of this reissue that is part of "The Freddy Collection" series. 2001 (orig. 1932), Penguin/Puffin, $6.99. Ages 8 to 11. Reviewer: Betty Hicks


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