Happy Holidays from the Friends of Freddy!

     I've always enjoyed Freddy's entry into the Christmas genre, More To And Again or Freddy Goes to the North Pole. It features, as do so many other Christmas books, a threat to that pillar of the Yuletide season, Santa Claus. In a clever twist, however, the threat is not hostile-the whalers see themselves as helping Santa modernize (a comment on the development of world economies over the century before North Pole's publication?). These whalers, lead by the steely Mr. Hooker, are perhaps the most relatable villians ever to stare down Freddy and his friends. Indeed, the confrontation between the two groups is, unusually, initiated by the Bean bunch. These whalers play games with the animals, eat ice cream jovially, and throw snowballs-a far cry from the murderous Herb Garble and the vindictive Simon.
     North Pole also marks the end of the first great era of Freddy's adventures, that time when Brooks' overall view of the books was of a group of animals thrust into unusual places. I think Brooks realized that, as good as these first two entries in the series are, the series couldn't continue under this model, and, sure enough, the next Freddy book, Freddy The Detective, was based on the animals themselves providing the incongruities with ordinary barnyard life. Happily, there was enough character development in Florida and North Pole to allow for this shift to proceed, for the most part, painlessly. It's pretty clear that the series was not meant to focus on Freddy originally, as he (admittedly debatably) dowsn't serve as the central character for a novel again until number 8, Ignormus. 
     In conclusion, we at the Friends of Freddy would like to wish all of you Happy Holidays! Enjoy (or despise) the Christmas music swirling out from every radio station while you can.

Sallie Palmer: My Favorite Library

The following contribution arrived too late to be included in the Favorite Library Contest, but that's no reason not to share it. - The Editors

I'm Sallie Palmer, and I'm 80 years old!  I'm a Friend of Freddy and have been a friend of his for as long as I can remember. I started out by reading library copies, but eventually started my own collection, with the latest Freddy given to me by my parents as a birthday present every year. In recent years, thanks to Overlook Press, from which I was able to obtain copies of titles I was missing, I now have a complete set of Freddies.

 

I've had access to many libraries in my life, all over the world, from the huge New York Public Library down to a library run by the British Women's Club, housed in a former storage closet, in the Anglican Church in Abu Dhabi.

 

Today my favorite is my local library here in Largo, Florida.  It was started in 1916 on the first floor of the old Town Hall by the Largo Women's Club.  A total of 560 books were donated to start the library, almost one apiece for each of the town's 600 residents. Today it's located in a 90,300 squ. ft. building opened in 2002. It's the largest one in Pinellas County, except for St. Petersburg, and has a reciprocal network with the other twelve libraries in the County.  It gets a steady supply of new books.

 

One section of the premises is rented by the local, very active, genealogical society which offers access to books, microfilm records and computer programs to its members.

 

It's a regular destination for me several times a week.

 

It does carry a few Freddy books, but should definitely have more - preferably a whole set!

My Favorite Library Contest: And the Winner is...

Nancy Hatcher of the Norelma Walker Youth Library! You may recall Nancy’s whimsical entry for the My Favorite Library contest featured the Bean animals (and Simon!) arriving at the library in a hot air balloon, reminiscent of Freddy and the Perilous Adventure.

While it is true that Perilous Adventure is my favorite Freddy, the winner was chosen by the voters using a survey posted on the web with a link emailed to all Friends of Freddy members with electronic memberships and posted on the Friends of Freddy Facebook page, blog, maillist, and website. So thank you one and all for voting, and thank you doubly to those who submitted an entry in the contest.

Here is what Nancy said when she learned the Norelma Walker Youth Library had won:

I cannot begin to tell you how absolutely surprised and delighted I was to find your email waiting to be opened. . . . I am thrilled to know that the Norelma Walker Youth Library at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Fresno, CA. has won the My Favorite Library contest, especially given the other very excellent entries. We are so pleased to be in the company of others who cherish Freddy and who love their libraries. We thought each of the other entries were quite special and deserving of recognition. We hope that the contest will encourage many others, young and young at heart, to support their library and renew their acquaintance with our clever, intelligent, daring, adventurous and lovable friend Freddy.

The Norelma Walker Youth Library will receive three Freddy books, plus The Art of Freddy and Talking Animals and Others.

Nancy will receive two paperback Freddies.

The Friends of Freddy agree with Nancy’s assessment that all the entries were “quite special and deserving of recognition.” The voting was very close with Luke Colson and Dave Carley tying for second place, and Mary Curtis taking fourth. While they wrote about their current library, several other people wrote about the libraries where they were first introduced to Freddy. These contestants recalled child- hood memories of forty and fifty years ago and how much Freddy meant to them back when they were as young as Luke, Mary, Anastasia and Silas, the youngest entrant at age nine.

What came through clearly in all of the entries was everyone’s love for the Freddy books and for libraries. Almost everyone in the Friends of Freddy seems to have been introduced to Freddy at their local library and it is only right that the club should contribute something to the libraries in our community in return. With generous support from Overlook Press, the Friends of Freddy have decided to give all of the contestants the opportunity to nominate a “needy” library to receive a full set of the Freddy books. Each contestant will also receive two paperback copies of Freddy. For the purposes of the contest, our definition of “needy” library is one without a full set of the Freddy books. However, we do ask that the contestants consider how well-funded a particular library may be, and whether or not it is visited by a large number of children.

We could not have arranged to provide these books for the contest winners without the assistance of our Needy Schools and Libraries Fund. Through the Fund we have contributed Freddy books to hun- dreds of schools and libraries across America, but especially to those in rural areas. We also have provided books to children’s hospitals and to libraries on military bases. We welcome all contributions to the Fund, no matter their size, and they are 100% tax-deductible. Checks can be mailed to Friends of Freddy, P.O. Box 912, Greenbelt, MD 20768-0912.

- Alice Tracy

Freddy the Librarian

My Favorite Library Contest

Or

Freddy the Librarian

Have you read Freddy the Librarian? No? Neither have I, but you can bet he would have made a great one!  In honor of National Library Week, the Friends of Freddy are initiating “My Favorite Library.”  Send in a brief essay praising your favorite library, and feel free to include a photo or two. Then the members of Friends of Freddy will vote online for the best entry.  


The library selected as the winner of the My Favorite Library Contest will receive:

   - three Freddy books*

   - a copy of  The Art of Freddy

   - a copy of Talking Animals and Other Friends by Michael Cart

The person submitting the winning entry will receive their choice of two Freddy paperbacks.

*If your library already has all of the Freddies, we will donate the books to another local library of your choice, or a selection of other Freddy-related titles will be donated to your library.

Contest Deadline has been extended to May 31 Labor Day (September 2), 2013.


Submissions and inquiries should be sent to Kevin Parker at kevin.parker@tcs.wap.org . 

My Favorite Library: Worden Public Library, by Anastasia Curtis

Dear Friends of Freddy,

My name is Anastasia Curtis. I'm ten years old, and I'm going into 5th grade. I live in Worden, a small town of around 1000 people. I'm glad we have a library. Many towns around us don't. We can order books from bigger libraries at ours. Our library does a book fair once a year, outside. I can walk to the library, and it's always fun to walk to the Post Office, then to the library, and then to the park.

Our library has a good selection of books that I like, like the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew. If we bring the younger kids, the librarian lets them color. Kindergarten, first, and second grade at my school go to the library every Wednesday. The children's librarian reads them a book, and then the kids can pick a book from the wide selection of children's books, including many of Dr. Seuss's works. I like our little library, and I hope we can get some Freddy Books.

Sincerely,

Anastasia Curtis

(Last from the Curtis family--thanks again! Rebekah AKA Mom)

My Favorite Library: Harrisburg (IL) Public Library, by Silas Curtis

Dear Friends of Freddy,

My name is Silas Curtis and I am almost nine years old. My favorite library is the Harrisburg (IL) Library because the books there are very easy to find and because they have the kind of books I like. We go there because it is close to where we camp in southern Illinois. That is why I like the Harrisburg Public Library.

Sincerely,

Silas Curtis

My Favorite Library: Edwardsville Public Library, by Mary Curtis

 Dear Friends of Freddy,
My name is Mary Curtis. I am seven years old. I like the Edwardsville Library in Edwardsville, IL because it has a nice playroom. The playroom has blocks that you can build towers with. There is a place where you can color in the room.

 We go the Edwardsville Library because our library is very small. We go to our little library too but we go the Edwardsville Library because it is very big and nice. The babies can play in the playroom so Mom or Dad can go find a book. There is a big kid section and a little kid section.

 The outside of the library looks kind of like a chapel. It has a fountain with flowers around it. Sometimes the fountain is off.

 My family likes the Freddy books. Mom reads them when Dad is gone. Sometimes Dad is here and he listens to them too. The Edwardsville Library doesn't have any Freddy books.

 Thank you for reading my letter.

 Sincerely,

 Mary Curtis