Books with author Walter R. (illustrated by Kurt Wiese). Brooks

In Freddy Goes Camping, Mr. Camphor's aunts, Minerva and Elmira, were staying with him, much to his disgust. "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.

In Freddy the Magician, Freddy, who has won so many admirers in his roles of detective, pied piper, editor, general advisor to the animals on the Bean Farm, and-always-poet, will fascinate his readers in his role of magician. With the help of Jinx, the cat, and Jinx's sister, Minx, as well as many other well-known animals on the Bean Farm, Freddy pulls some wonderful tricks, not the least of which is outwitting the fraudulent magician who comes to entertain the unsuspecting inhabitants of the nearby town of Centerboro.

Adults, children, and reviewers have embraced the stouthearted Freddy the Pig since he and his Bean Farm chums first appeared in 1927. The Overlook reissues of this classic series-with almost 150,000 hardcover copies sold-have brought these timeless adventures to a whole new generation eager for a good time and a good laugh. As a recent USA Today feature about the Freddy phenomenon noted, the Freddy books brilliantly illustrate the cardinal virtues: "fair play and a good sense of humor." In Freddy's Cousin Weedly, the irrepressible Freddy's cousin comes to Bean Farm, and what a timid soul he turns out to be. Jinx, the cat, decides to take charge of him, so as to help him get over his shyness and poor Weedly doesn't know what exciting events are about to occur. Does Weedly change? And what happens when Mr. and Mrs. Snedeker come to visit? Do they get what they came for?

In Freddy and the Men From Mars, the trouble starts when a newspaper reports that six little creatures, believed to be the only Martians ever to have visited Earth, have been captured single-handedly by Mr. Herbert Garble. This news wouldn't have disturbed Freddy and the other barn animals had not the paper further stated that their friend Mr. Boomschmidt had invited Mr. G. and his men from Mars to join Boomschmidt's Stupendous and Unexcelled Circus. Freddy, ever ready to maintain his reputation as a detective, immediately suspects a hoax, and quickly sets out to expose it. How he manages to do so, with the help of Jinx, the Horrible Ten, and several other familiar allies-and a band of real Martians who turn up just in the nick of time-makes for one of the most hilarious of all the Freddy tales, a story that is simply out of this world! "Freddy is simply one of the greatest characters in children's literature!" (School Library Journal)