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Freddy the Pig #20
Freddy and the Space Ship
The lovable characters from Bean Farm took off for Mars in Benjamin Bean’s fabulous space ship but Mrs. Peppercorn’s fiddling with the controls knocked them off their course and landed them in a far more strange place than they had prepared for.
276 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1953
7 people are currently reading
97 people want to read
About the author
Walter Rollin Brooks
51 books67 followersWalter Rollin Brooks (January 9, 1886 – August 17, 1958) was an American writer best remembered for his short stories and children's books, particularly those about Freddy the Pig and other anthropomorphic animal inhabitants of the "Bean farm" in upstate New York.
Born in Rome, New York, Brooks attended college at the University of Rochester and subsequently studied homeopathic medicine in New York City. He dropped out after two years, however, and returned to Rochester, where he married his first wife, Anne Shepard, in 1909. Brooks found employment with an advertising agency in Utica, and then "retired" in 1911, evidently because he came into a considerable inheritance. His retirement was not permanent: in 1917, he went to work for the American Red Cross and later did editorial work for several magazines, including The New Yorker.
In 1940, Brooks turned to his own writing for his full-time occupation. Walter married his second wife, Dorothy Collins, following the death of Anne in 1952.
The first works Brooks published were poems and short stories. His short story "Ed Takes the Pledge" about a talking horse was the basis for the 1960s television comedy series Mister Ed (credit for creating the characters is given in each episode to "Walter Brooks"). His most enduring works, however, are the 26 books he wrote about Freddy the Pig and his friends.
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Born in Rome, New York, Brooks attended college at the University of Rochester and subsequently studied homeopathic medicine in New York City. He dropped out after two years, however, and returned to Rochester, where he married his first wife, Anne Shepard, in 1909. Brooks found employment with an advertising agency in Utica, and then "retired" in 1911, evidently because he came into a considerable inheritance. His retirement was not permanent: in 1917, he went to work for the American Red Cross and later did editorial work for several magazines, including The New Yorker.
In 1940, Brooks turned to his own writing for his full-time occupation. Walter married his second wife, Dorothy Collins, following the death of Anne in 1952.
The first works Brooks published were poems and short stories. His short story "Ed Takes the Pledge" about a talking horse was the basis for the 1960s television comedy series Mister Ed (credit for creating the characters is given in each episode to "Walter Brooks"). His most enduring works, however, are the 26 books he wrote about Freddy the Pig and his friends.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
October 31, 2021
This book is most noteworthy for introducing Mrs. Peppercorn's glorious poetry, a sample of which I shall include here: "Some stars are large, some stars are small / And some are quite invisiball."
It delights me more than nearly any other verse of poetry I have ever encountered.
It delights me more than nearly any other verse of poetry I have ever encountered.
January 24, 2013
This book is so funny!
The Freddy books all share this great, wry, old-timey deadpan Vermont humor. But this one stands out because the plot itself is funny, too. I figured out one of the twists halfway through and just started giggling. And then the author built on it some more, and tied everything together so neatly.
Rather than give away any of the plot points, I'm just going to have to share some of my favorite quotes.
I always enjoy the pig's forays into poetry, and the way that he's shown to be a little bit full of himself and constantly deflated by his friends. He writes a grand poem about outer space, and then he's topped by a friend who "remarked that as a girl she had been no slouch of a poet herself, and she kept trying to help Freddy. Some of the verses were pretty terrible. Here is one:
'Some stars are large and some are small,
And some are quite invisiball.'"
I'm also pretty fond of the escalating drama of Mrs. Bean's cousins, who are staying on the farm "temporarily" and turning down every possible job or housing opportunity while eating the Beans out of house and home. They're about to con the Beans out of their own bedroom, and Jinx remarks, "And Bismuth, he'll say how 'twon't really be giving up anything, because the little back bedroom is much handier to the kitchen, and so on.And by and by the Beans will give in, just so the Bismuths will shut up. That's the way it's been about everything else - Bella always having a pitcher of cream with her cereal, because she's delicate, and old Bismuth having chicken every meal because he's delicate, and Mrs. Bismuth always sitting in the parlor while Mrs. Bean cooks the meals and washes the dishes - because she's delicate too. Why, they're all so darned delicate that they can't manage to eat but six or seven meals a day."
And of course, there's Jinx again when asked to be a public speaker: "'No, sir, you don't get me up on any platform. Once you start that business you get like Charles - you just can't stop talking. Me, I'm a doer, not a talker.' And when they asked him what it was he did, he said: 'Sleep, mostly.'"
I'll limit myself to one more: when Mr. Bismuth takes a gig as a handyman for Dr. Wintersip. The good doctor recalls: "First thing he fixed was the back door. It would blow open in the wind because the latch was loose. 'Ha, ha,' says Bismuth: 'we'll fix that all right!' And he did. He took half a dozen spikes and nailed it shut. Now we can't use that door any more."
The Freddy books all share this great, wry, old-timey deadpan Vermont humor. But this one stands out because the plot itself is funny, too. I figured out one of the twists halfway through and just started giggling. And then the author built on it some more, and tied everything together so neatly.
Rather than give away any of the plot points, I'm just going to have to share some of my favorite quotes.
I always enjoy the pig's forays into poetry, and the way that he's shown to be a little bit full of himself and constantly deflated by his friends. He writes a grand poem about outer space, and then he's topped by a friend who "remarked that as a girl she had been no slouch of a poet herself, and she kept trying to help Freddy. Some of the verses were pretty terrible. Here is one:
'Some stars are large and some are small,
And some are quite invisiball.'"
I'm also pretty fond of the escalating drama of Mrs. Bean's cousins, who are staying on the farm "temporarily" and turning down every possible job or housing opportunity while eating the Beans out of house and home. They're about to con the Beans out of their own bedroom, and Jinx remarks, "And Bismuth, he'll say how 'twon't really be giving up anything, because the little back bedroom is much handier to the kitchen, and so on.And by and by the Beans will give in, just so the Bismuths will shut up. That's the way it's been about everything else - Bella always having a pitcher of cream with her cereal, because she's delicate, and old Bismuth having chicken every meal because he's delicate, and Mrs. Bismuth always sitting in the parlor while Mrs. Bean cooks the meals and washes the dishes - because she's delicate too. Why, they're all so darned delicate that they can't manage to eat but six or seven meals a day."
And of course, there's Jinx again when asked to be a public speaker: "'No, sir, you don't get me up on any platform. Once you start that business you get like Charles - you just can't stop talking. Me, I'm a doer, not a talker.' And when they asked him what it was he did, he said: 'Sleep, mostly.'"
I'll limit myself to one more: when Mr. Bismuth takes a gig as a handyman for Dr. Wintersip. The good doctor recalls: "First thing he fixed was the back door. It would blow open in the wind because the latch was loose. 'Ha, ha,' says Bismuth: 'we'll fix that all right!' And he did. He took half a dozen spikes and nailed it shut. Now we can't use that door any more."
April 5, 2013
Our first grader's teacher read this to their class earlier this year and I wanted to experience some of what she was reading.
This was my first Freddy book and it was delightful!
Freddy is a sleuthing pig with a penchant for writing poetry. Distant, mooching relatives move onto the Bean's farm when their house burns down. Uncle Ben, the non-talking inventor builds a space ship to take a trip to Mars. Shenanigans ensue.
It is refreshing to read a kids book that is creative and fun yet has a sensibility of values and politeness. Good lessons, interesting characters.
Read it with the kids, or read it yourself for kicks. I may be acquiring more of the 20+ Freddy books.
This was my first Freddy book and it was delightful!
Freddy is a sleuthing pig with a penchant for writing poetry. Distant, mooching relatives move onto the Bean's farm when their house burns down. Uncle Ben, the non-talking inventor builds a space ship to take a trip to Mars. Shenanigans ensue.
It is refreshing to read a kids book that is creative and fun yet has a sensibility of values and politeness. Good lessons, interesting characters.
Read it with the kids, or read it yourself for kicks. I may be acquiring more of the 20+ Freddy books.
June 12, 2011
We are seriously into the Freddy books these days. Everyone should read them. Freddy and the Space Ship did not disappoint.
December 24, 2025
Freddy the Astronaut or Freddy the Alien
Freddy and the Space Ship (1953), the twentieth Freddy the Pig book by Walter R. Brooks, starts with a nasty new family, the Bismuths, burning down their house and half of the Old Woods in a fire of their own manufacture, thereby inserting themselves voraciously, slothfully, and destructively into the Bean’s house and farm, much to the displeasure of the animals. Mr. and Mrs. Bean, generous and kind to a fault, refuse to evict the Bismuths, because Mrs. Bismuth is Mrs. Bean’s cousin, despite the woman breaking Brooks’ moral code by being cruel to animals, going after the black cat Jinx with a wet mop, and despite Mr. Bismuth turning out to be a con man and thief, laughing everything off as a joke when caught.
The story introduces the title plot when Mr. Bean’s brother Uncle Ben prepares to do a little interplanetary travel in another of his many inventions, the Benjamin Bean Space Ship, and selects as passengers Jinx, Freddy the pig, Charles the Rooster, and Georgie the dog. Feisty old Mrs. Peppercorn forces her way onto the rocket, while feisty young Cousin Augustus (a mouse) sneaks his way onto it, and they all blast off for Mars, leaving the Beans to contend with the relatives from hell, who are eating like grasshoppers, commandeering the Beans’ own rooms, and complaining about everything.
The few chapters on the space flight are at first interesting and funny, especially when Freddy and company try to sleep in zero gravity. However, Brooks soon runs out of imaginative fuel in space, writing things like,
==There isn’t much to do on a space ship. Except for watching the radar screen and occasionally regulating the temperature and pressure, there is no work for the crew. There wasn’t much to see out of the window, either. The stars were brighter and there were millions of them, but as Cousin Augustus said, when you’d seen one, you’d seen them all.==
Through much of the novel, Brooks manages to keep an ironic situation in play, during which the locals on and around the Bean farm believe they’ve been invaded by aliens, while the space explorers believe they’ve landed among hostile Martians, whose planet they annex for the USA.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Wiggins the cow is framed for a local theft, while the Bean ducks’ jewelry (once hidden at the bottom of their pond) goes missing. The spider couple Mr. and Mrs. Webb play a key role, securing a fly who knows something, tying up his wings and making him talk. Old Mr. Whibley the owl provides a caustic voice of reason and acts as a formidable defense lawyer in an intense trial.
And Brooks writes some of his amusing animal “facts,” like “A pig’s grin is almost as terrifying as an alligator’s, and when the pig’s face is painted blue, and he wears a queer wig and eight-inch eyebrows, it is pretty horrible.”
And the old spider couple, Mr. and Mrs. Webb, are a neat check on human pride:
==For spiders as a rule don’t pay any attention to people; they consider it a waste of time. People seldom talk about anything that would interest a spider, and as Mrs. Webb put it: “They’re certainly not pretty to look at.”==
However, Mrs. Peppercorn’s word-rhyme contorting poetry (e.g., "Some stars are large, some stars are small/ And some are quite invisiball") is more awful than comical. Some of the humor relies too much on slapstick and not enough on the traits and foibles of animals and humans. Despite donning for a while an outrageous disguise as “Captain Neptune,” an alien merchant with a strangely “Russian” accent and a death ray gun (that looks suspiciously like a flashlight), Freddy is disappointingly passive, while Jinx is kept offstage for too long.
Finally, overall, this is a mediocre entry in the series, not terrible, sometimes amusing, but finally lackluster, almost as if Brooks began losing his inspiration or ambition or creative powers as his long career entered its twilight. Or maybe--gasp--I am getting tired of the series, twenty books in?!
The illustrations by Kurt Weise are as usual lively and well-chosen.
Freddy and the Space Ship (1953), the twentieth Freddy the Pig book by Walter R. Brooks, starts with a nasty new family, the Bismuths, burning down their house and half of the Old Woods in a fire of their own manufacture, thereby inserting themselves voraciously, slothfully, and destructively into the Bean’s house and farm, much to the displeasure of the animals. Mr. and Mrs. Bean, generous and kind to a fault, refuse to evict the Bismuths, because Mrs. Bismuth is Mrs. Bean’s cousin, despite the woman breaking Brooks’ moral code by being cruel to animals, going after the black cat Jinx with a wet mop, and despite Mr. Bismuth turning out to be a con man and thief, laughing everything off as a joke when caught.
The story introduces the title plot when Mr. Bean’s brother Uncle Ben prepares to do a little interplanetary travel in another of his many inventions, the Benjamin Bean Space Ship, and selects as passengers Jinx, Freddy the pig, Charles the Rooster, and Georgie the dog. Feisty old Mrs. Peppercorn forces her way onto the rocket, while feisty young Cousin Augustus (a mouse) sneaks his way onto it, and they all blast off for Mars, leaving the Beans to contend with the relatives from hell, who are eating like grasshoppers, commandeering the Beans’ own rooms, and complaining about everything.
The few chapters on the space flight are at first interesting and funny, especially when Freddy and company try to sleep in zero gravity. However, Brooks soon runs out of imaginative fuel in space, writing things like,
==There isn’t much to do on a space ship. Except for watching the radar screen and occasionally regulating the temperature and pressure, there is no work for the crew. There wasn’t much to see out of the window, either. The stars were brighter and there were millions of them, but as Cousin Augustus said, when you’d seen one, you’d seen them all.==
Through much of the novel, Brooks manages to keep an ironic situation in play, during which the locals on and around the Bean farm believe they’ve been invaded by aliens, while the space explorers believe they’ve landed among hostile Martians, whose planet they annex for the USA.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Wiggins the cow is framed for a local theft, while the Bean ducks’ jewelry (once hidden at the bottom of their pond) goes missing. The spider couple Mr. and Mrs. Webb play a key role, securing a fly who knows something, tying up his wings and making him talk. Old Mr. Whibley the owl provides a caustic voice of reason and acts as a formidable defense lawyer in an intense trial.
And Brooks writes some of his amusing animal “facts,” like “A pig’s grin is almost as terrifying as an alligator’s, and when the pig’s face is painted blue, and he wears a queer wig and eight-inch eyebrows, it is pretty horrible.”
And the old spider couple, Mr. and Mrs. Webb, are a neat check on human pride:
==For spiders as a rule don’t pay any attention to people; they consider it a waste of time. People seldom talk about anything that would interest a spider, and as Mrs. Webb put it: “They’re certainly not pretty to look at.”==
However, Mrs. Peppercorn’s word-rhyme contorting poetry (e.g., "Some stars are large, some stars are small/ And some are quite invisiball") is more awful than comical. Some of the humor relies too much on slapstick and not enough on the traits and foibles of animals and humans. Despite donning for a while an outrageous disguise as “Captain Neptune,” an alien merchant with a strangely “Russian” accent and a death ray gun (that looks suspiciously like a flashlight), Freddy is disappointingly passive, while Jinx is kept offstage for too long.
Finally, overall, this is a mediocre entry in the series, not terrible, sometimes amusing, but finally lackluster, almost as if Brooks began losing his inspiration or ambition or creative powers as his long career entered its twilight. Or maybe--gasp--I am getting tired of the series, twenty books in?!
The illustrations by Kurt Weise are as usual lively and well-chosen.
February 4, 2018
At the beginning of this YA novel, two plot strands are set in motion. Sociopathic Mr. Bismuth, his whiny wife, and two voracious children have moved in with Mr. and Mrs. Bean. A freeloader, con artist, and thief, Mr. Bismuth preys on Centerboro humans and animals. Generous Mrs. Bean will not evict the Bismuths because they are distant relatives. It is up to the Centerboro animals, therefore, to rid their idyllic home of evil marauders.
Uncle Ben Bean is building a space ship in the Bean woods. Uncle Ben, Freddy the pig, Charles the rooster, Jinx the black cat, and Georgie the dog are bound for Mars. At the last moment, Mrs. Peppercorn, a feisty old lady who bought a phony ticket from Bismuth, joins the Mars expedition. In outer space, the crew must adapt to weightlessness: “After the first day, the novelty of not weighing anything, of not knowing whether they were on their heads or their heels, had worn off. . . Freddy had brought. . . a checker board, and he and Mrs. Peppercorn tried to play; but the checkers wouldn’t stay on the board. They floated an inch or so above it, and if you happened to brush one with your hand it would drift off. . . (72). When Mrs. Peppercorn accidentally touches a valve, the ship spins out of control. When spinning stops, the ship lands on a planet the travelers assume must be Mars. Having unknowingly returned to the Beans’ woods, the travelers mistake the humans and animals they encounter for Martians. Centerboro residents compound the comic confusion, assuming that Uncle Ben’s spaceship must have come from another planet.
In an earlier book, FREDDY THE DETECTIVE, Freddy had solved crimes by using Sherlock Holmes as a model. While the problem-solving Freddy was in space, Mr. Bismuth’s cheating and stealing escalated. Incognito on the Bean farm, Freddy disguises himself as a “Neptunian”: “He painted his face blue and stuck a heavy black beard upright on top of his head, and he took . . . rat tail mustaches. . . and made eyebrows with them” (154-155). Freddy, Old Whibley the owl, Mr. and Mrs. Webb the spiders, and other trusted animals find the hidden jewelry Mr. Bismuth has stolen from the Bean ducks. Mr. Bismuth is brought to trial. Though the trial ends ambiguously, the Bismuths are forced to return to Cleveland. Serpents banished, Centerboro is again a prelapsarian paradise--a place where humans and animals freely and innocently support each other.
Rereading FREDDY AND THE SPACE SHIP, I thought of Ray Bradbury’s iconic story, “Mars is Heaven.” When Freddy and his companions land on the planet they believe is Mars, it looks (not surprisingly) just like home: "There were trees and a brook. . . and beyond, green fields with what looked very much like earthly grass growing in them" (98). In "Mars is Heaven," the crew, landing on Mars, find an earthly small town. Bradbury's telepathic Martians have, of course, entrapped the travelers by constructing an illusion, based on their collective, idealized memories of small town upbringings. Though it seems as safe and nurturing as Brooks's Centerboro, Bradbury’s small town is a deadly deceit. The reader of Brooks’s Freddy books, in contrast, is fictionally transported to the benign, Edenic place that Bradbury’s Mars only pretends to be.
I was introduced to Freddy the Pig in the 1940’s by my fifth grade teacher, Mrs. English. Every morning, before arithmetic, she read our class a chapter from a Freddy book. As a child who longed to converse with beloved pets, I was enchanted by Freddy’s adventures! Now as a senior citizen living in Syracuse, New York (near the fictional CNY Centerboro), I am rereading Freddy the Pig novels and have joined the Friends of Freddy Facebook group. Every night before bed, I visit a place where animals solve crimes, write poetry, serve on juries, and are respected participants in civic life.
Uncle Ben Bean is building a space ship in the Bean woods. Uncle Ben, Freddy the pig, Charles the rooster, Jinx the black cat, and Georgie the dog are bound for Mars. At the last moment, Mrs. Peppercorn, a feisty old lady who bought a phony ticket from Bismuth, joins the Mars expedition. In outer space, the crew must adapt to weightlessness: “After the first day, the novelty of not weighing anything, of not knowing whether they were on their heads or their heels, had worn off. . . Freddy had brought. . . a checker board, and he and Mrs. Peppercorn tried to play; but the checkers wouldn’t stay on the board. They floated an inch or so above it, and if you happened to brush one with your hand it would drift off. . . (72). When Mrs. Peppercorn accidentally touches a valve, the ship spins out of control. When spinning stops, the ship lands on a planet the travelers assume must be Mars. Having unknowingly returned to the Beans’ woods, the travelers mistake the humans and animals they encounter for Martians. Centerboro residents compound the comic confusion, assuming that Uncle Ben’s spaceship must have come from another planet.
In an earlier book, FREDDY THE DETECTIVE, Freddy had solved crimes by using Sherlock Holmes as a model. While the problem-solving Freddy was in space, Mr. Bismuth’s cheating and stealing escalated. Incognito on the Bean farm, Freddy disguises himself as a “Neptunian”: “He painted his face blue and stuck a heavy black beard upright on top of his head, and he took . . . rat tail mustaches. . . and made eyebrows with them” (154-155). Freddy, Old Whibley the owl, Mr. and Mrs. Webb the spiders, and other trusted animals find the hidden jewelry Mr. Bismuth has stolen from the Bean ducks. Mr. Bismuth is brought to trial. Though the trial ends ambiguously, the Bismuths are forced to return to Cleveland. Serpents banished, Centerboro is again a prelapsarian paradise--a place where humans and animals freely and innocently support each other.
Rereading FREDDY AND THE SPACE SHIP, I thought of Ray Bradbury’s iconic story, “Mars is Heaven.” When Freddy and his companions land on the planet they believe is Mars, it looks (not surprisingly) just like home: "There were trees and a brook. . . and beyond, green fields with what looked very much like earthly grass growing in them" (98). In "Mars is Heaven," the crew, landing on Mars, find an earthly small town. Bradbury's telepathic Martians have, of course, entrapped the travelers by constructing an illusion, based on their collective, idealized memories of small town upbringings. Though it seems as safe and nurturing as Brooks's Centerboro, Bradbury’s small town is a deadly deceit. The reader of Brooks’s Freddy books, in contrast, is fictionally transported to the benign, Edenic place that Bradbury’s Mars only pretends to be.
I was introduced to Freddy the Pig in the 1940’s by my fifth grade teacher, Mrs. English. Every morning, before arithmetic, she read our class a chapter from a Freddy book. As a child who longed to converse with beloved pets, I was enchanted by Freddy’s adventures! Now as a senior citizen living in Syracuse, New York (near the fictional CNY Centerboro), I am rereading Freddy the Pig novels and have joined the Friends of Freddy Facebook group. Every night before bed, I visit a place where animals solve crimes, write poetry, serve on juries, and are respected participants in civic life.
February 12, 2018
My kids and I are still reading our way through the Freddy the Pig books and we are enjoying each and every one. In Freddy and the Space Ship, Freddy and Uncle Ben build a spaceship to go to Mars. In a typically funny fashion, things get a little mixed up and Freddy comes to the rescue. When back on earth, Freddy must figure out a way to rid the Beans of their very unpleasant family members who have, unfortunately, come to stay. We have all kinds of fun hijinxs in this one (trips to Mars, Mrs. Wiggins on trial for theft, figuring how to get rid of unwanted and dishonest family members, getting stolen jewels back to their rightful owners, two ducks, and more). I can't recommend the Freddy books enough. They are some of our all time favorite middle grade books.
June 5, 2019
I was attracted to the cover and the period in which it was written.
I have to say that this universe was actually a bit odd. The human-animal shared world was an unusual setting. By unusual, it was as though the animals were fully personalized, but there were strange underpinnings of food-chain hierarchy that I could see as confusing to children, but —maybe not. Freddy mentions that some people might eat his kind, and yet at one point he is nearly offered ham and eggs for breakfast if it hadn’t run out. Just strange, that’s all.
Otherwise, it’s a middle grades mystery-adventure with some implausible space travel. Enjoyable 50’s artifact.
I have to say that this universe was actually a bit odd. The human-animal shared world was an unusual setting. By unusual, it was as though the animals were fully personalized, but there were strange underpinnings of food-chain hierarchy that I could see as confusing to children, but —maybe not. Freddy mentions that some people might eat his kind, and yet at one point he is nearly offered ham and eggs for breakfast if it hadn’t run out. Just strange, that’s all.
Otherwise, it’s a middle grades mystery-adventure with some implausible space travel. Enjoyable 50’s artifact.
September 19, 2022
I was afraid that this was where the Freddy books jumped the shark, but it turned out to not be what it seemed. The foreshadowing might be a little too obvious for adult readers, but my 10-year-old was still pleasantly surprised by the way the story unfolded. There is an undercurrent of 1940s-ish "unemployed people are shameless grifters" but it's not too strong.
November 9, 2022
Even though there are no actual aliens here, there's an unsavory colonialist feel to it, even if you don't mind the radically different sense of reality that the book has compared to previous. It DOES kind of get better as it goes on and starts to feel more typically Freddy-ish, but then there's what amounts of a character assassination of Uncle Wesley, which really left a bad taste in my mouth.
March 17, 2021
I loved Freddy the pig as a kid. I was never able to get my own children interested in him, however. I remember this one being a lot of fun - was this the one with the exploding alarm clocks? A great old series.
November 10, 2024
So, I loved seeing perspectives of space and Mars and what concerned everyone. The story plots were well-woven together. Also, this one had the most hilarious poetry. I sincerely wish that I could sit down with Mrs. Peppercorn and listen to her reciting her contrived rhymes outloud.
September 3, 2019
One of the best Freddy titles! Who else but Uncle Benjamin Bean would try for a Mars landing on his first flight?
March 21, 2017
Freddy and the Space Ship is a cute and funny read for all ages.
December 15, 2016
This book for young adults/children features a farm run by humans (the Bean family) with all of the creatures, from the pigs and cows down to the spiders and the flies, sentient. All of them are also capable of human speech, although the spiders need to crawl into your ear in order to be heard.
Freddy is a very intelligent pig that builds a genuine rocket where the destination is to land on Mars. The farm is upset when the Bismuth family (they are relatives) arrives and begins eating all the food and taking up the best bed space. The Beans are too polite to evict them or to aggressively curb their appetites, so things are unsettled. The Bismuths create havoc for many other people in the area, so there is no one that does not want them to leave.
The rocket is launched with a larger crew than expected, but when there is navigation trouble, they land on what they think is Mars, but is in fact only a short distance from their point of departure. This leads to a series of rather silly actions, including the trial of a cow.
This combination of science fiction with the human-like creatures will amuse children, sentient animals are a staple of children’s literature. All of the characters, both human and animal, have their quirks, their normal is odd, unusual and amusing. The inclusion of the relatives that are guests that refuse to leave is a problem that many adults will relate to.
Freddy is a very intelligent pig that builds a genuine rocket where the destination is to land on Mars. The farm is upset when the Bismuth family (they are relatives) arrives and begins eating all the food and taking up the best bed space. The Beans are too polite to evict them or to aggressively curb their appetites, so things are unsettled. The Bismuths create havoc for many other people in the area, so there is no one that does not want them to leave.
The rocket is launched with a larger crew than expected, but when there is navigation trouble, they land on what they think is Mars, but is in fact only a short distance from their point of departure. This leads to a series of rather silly actions, including the trial of a cow.
This combination of science fiction with the human-like creatures will amuse children, sentient animals are a staple of children’s literature. All of the characters, both human and animal, have their quirks, their normal is odd, unusual and amusing. The inclusion of the relatives that are guests that refuse to leave is a problem that many adults will relate to.
November 12, 2014
I liked it. Uncle Ben makes a space ship and they go up into space and then they land on earth again, but they don't know it. And so their person who talks about what's happening on earth says, "We found a spaceship in the big woods" and they don't know it's them.
October 26, 2014
I Liked it
March 4, 2016
Freddy and his friends fly to Mars...or do they?
September 4, 2014
just remember when it was written....
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews