How about a wholesomeness break? Yeah!
I had this book when I was a little boy, and now I’ve got it again. I loved Walter R. Brooks’ Freddy the Pig books when I was ten years old, and I love them even more, now.
If you’re looking for something wholesome, extremely funny, and full of unexpected twists and turns, either for your children to read on their own, or for you to read aloud to them, or for you to read in bed and revel in it, you can’t do much better than Freddy and the Perilous Adventure. Published in 1942, it doesn’t show its age at all. And if you really like it, there are 26 books in the series.
Brooks, who also created Mr. Ed the talking horse, is one of those rare authors who can delight children and adults on two different levels at once. If you think that’s easy, try it sometime.
In this outing, Freddy, along with two ducks and a pair of spiders, goes up in a balloon that won’t come down again. It turns into a somewhat intense predicament–especially when they get caught in a thunderstorm. Accused of stealing the balloon, Freddy not only has to devise a way to get back down to earth, but also to repair his reputation.
Try it! You’ll like it.
Sounds delightful! Somehow in my avid reading as a child I missed this one.
By the way, having read all the ‘Bell Mountain’ books so far – and eagerly awaiting ‘The Throne’, it’s my humble opinion that you’ve managed to do exactly what you stated above – ‘. . . one of those rare authors who can delight children and adults on two different levels at once.’
To be likened to Walter R. Brooks is higher praise than I ever dreamed I’d hear–thank you, Linda!
I’ll have to try to work it in. I could use something of this nature.
I’ve spent the last year or so in intense study and, at times, it gets wearisome.
Nothing like a Freddy book to clear away the cobwebs.
I think that talking animal books serve a purpose. They allow us to step back and observe human behavior with a sense of detachment.