Customer Reviews

Freddy's Cousin Weedly (Freddy Books)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Ever since third grade I have hunted for and read every Freddy book I could lay hands on, but FREDDY'S COUSIN WEEDLY was always among the missing.
Thanks are due the publisher and Amazon.com making this book available again. I was afraid it was a sort of one-off, or a minor book, but ordered it for Christmas and discovered a lost treasure. All our friends are there; Jinx the Cat, Mrs. Wiggins of the uncommon common sense, patient but indecisive Hank, and, of course, that paragon of poets, detectives, and pigs -- Freddy himself.
The book was obviously written after Brooks had hit his stride with the series, having a timeless quality and the morals clearly but unobtrusively stated. This book would've gotten five stars had I not compared it to FREDDY GOES CAMPING and FREDDY THE MAGICIAN. Compared to any other children's books, it gets the full five stars. Excellent!

"Freddy's Cousin Weedly"
by Walter R. Brooks
(Copyright, 1940)
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One of the classics of the Freddy series, about a farm full of talking animals and their adventures in the human world. In this volume, adventure comes to the farm when their farmer, Mr. Bean, takes a vacation and leaves the animals to run the farm. Much to their surprise, Mr. Bean's relatives come unannounced and take over the house, determined to find (and steal!) a family heirloom that they feel belongs to them. Freddy and the animals defeat their foes in a surprising way: through kindness. By being honest and polite, Freddy and his friends shame the rascally Aunt Effie (a marvelous character!) into being honest herself, and we the readers learn a thing or two ourselves. We are also introduced to Freddy's relatives on a nearby farm, including the painfully shy Cousin Weedly, who is brought out of his shell by the other animals, and by the adventures they have. A great entry in this series -- fans of the wise old cow, Mrs. Wiggins, will be pleased by her prominent role in this story. (Joe Sixpack, ReadThatAgain children's book reviews)

This is the best of the Freddy the pig books in my opinion.

What makes a person brave? Freddy, Jinx and the other barn animals learn that important lesson as they try to cure Freddy's cousin Weedly of his paralyzing shyness. Jinx comes up with a remarkable plan to instill courage and confidence in the little pig, but will it succeed or, as is more likely with a plan from the mischievous Jinx, will it backfire horrendously? To complicate things, the animals are also in the midst of battle of wits against Mr. Bean's old aunt, who has taken up residence at the farm in Mr. Bean's absence in hopes of stealing back a family heirloom that she believes rightly belongs in her home. When their attempts at trickery and cunning fail, the animals resort to a surprising tactic to prevent the theft: "killing" their enemy with kindness! Will Aunt Effie learn the lesson they're trying to teach her? And will you, gentle reader, do the same?

Full of simple wisdom and clean fun, this book is certainly a classic in children's literature and one of the better installments in the Freddy series. The lessons it imparts are timeless and, perhaps, needed more than ever today. Accompanied by adorable illustrations by Kurt Wiese, the book is sure to delight readers of any age (including this thirty-something year old "girl!")

My favorite quotes highlight Brook's wonderful sense of humor:
"It is a nice jail, if I do say so," said the sheriff. "One of the most popular jails in the state. I have to make it nice, or I wouldn't have any job. You see, ma'am, we don't have any crime...and if I didn't keep a nice comfortable jail that people want to stay in, why I wouldn't get any prisoners to look after, and where'd my job be? So I got all the cells fixed up with good beds, and we got a game room and tennis courts and so on, and we set a better table than the hotel does. Folks like to stay in my jail, so now and then they break a few unimportant laws so they can..."

"...yelling is about the hardest exercise there is, and if a lot of people who weigh too much would just yell ten minutes a day, instead of playing golf or tennis or swinging Indian clubs, they would reduce very quickly. Only, of course, the neighbors probably wouldn't like it much."

Pretty good but not as good as others.
it was not as good as freddy the pilot for insance or freddy and the egnormous, and freddy and the men from mars.
but i highly recomened this to all ages.