We've moved!

We've recruited a new social media coordinator who's started a new blog for us. You can find it at http://freddythepigblog.blogspot.com/ . From now on, all of our blog entries will go there, though we'll keep this site up for the foreseeable future.

First Scenes

Hello!  If you are not familiar with The Clockwork Twin, please take a moment to review Michael Cart’s brief review of this fourth book in the Freddy series on the landing page of www.freddythepig.org.  Then join us in reading the book this fall in celebration of the 75^th anniversary of its publication.  We would love to have your comments on The Clockwork Twin or anything else Freddy-related. 

This is our first attempt at a blog on Friends of Freddy.  As I read through the instructions, Google said this about getting started blogging:

“What will happen then? Who knows. It might be fun, though.”

I wonder if the person who wrote those words had ever read The Clockwork Twin? We’re going to try this experiment and see what happens. Who knows? Like Adoniram and Georgie, we may all have a lot of fun.

First Scenes.  Do you have a favorite first scene in Freddy?

The Clockwork Twin begins with one of the best scenes in all of Freddy: Adoniram and Georgie, the little brown dog, are floating down a flooded river in a small outbuilding. They have no food and they are too far away from shore to be rescued. Under these trying circumstances, it is not surprising that Adoniram begins to worry. Georgie, on the other hand, assumes a more insouciant air.

“’Isn’t this fun?’ said Georgie.

‘Why –yes,’ said Adoniram. ‘Only I can’t help thinking about–‘

‘About all the awful things that may happen–is that it?’ asked the dog. ‘Well, why don’t you think about how maybe they won’t happen? Why don’t you think about nice things that may happen? It doesn’t cost any more. Maybe we will be carried out to sea. But then, maybe we’ll be rescued by a warship or an ocean liner, and live on it, and maybe you’ll learn how to run it, and maybe when you grow up you’ll be captain.’

‘Oh, could I?’ asked Adoniram.

‘How do I know?’ said Georgie, ‘But one thing’s certain: there are hundreds of boys our age that are going to be sea captains some day and don’t know it. Maybe you’re one of them.’”

Freddy and the Clockwork Twin

Written by Walter R. Brooks, a long-time resident of Roxbury, Freddy and the Clockwork Twin, one of 26 books in a series, was published 75 years ago. To celebrate this anniversary, and to encourage new readers of the Freddy series, the Friends of Freddy and the Roxbury Arts Group will offer a free radio play* of Freddy and the Clockwork Twin on October 27, 2012 at 4 p.m.  The production will take place at the Roxbury Arts Center and a fun, interactive book discussion with prizes will precede the play.  

The Clockwork Twin may be one of the best books to use when encouraging children to read; and it is certainly one of the best books for introducing readers of all ages to the Freddy series.  It has elements of Huckleberry Finn; science fiction and comic books, not to mention talking animals and a great deal of adventure.  What’s not to like? 

Here is where the Friends of Freddy would like your help:  we are writing to ask you to encourage everyone you know, but especially book clubs, school teachers, librarians and civic organizations, to choose Freddy and the Clockwork Twin as a reading selection for the months of September through October, 2012.  To participate, all anyone has to do is add a comment below and let us know when they have read the book. Our goal is 300 individual readers.  

New: We've added a blog post with a quiz about this book!

About the Friends of Freddy

The 2012 Friends of Freddy convention will take place October 26-28 at the HANAH Mountain Resort and Country Club, Margaretville, NY, located just south of Roxbury NY, where Brooks wrote the Freddy books. Everyone is welcome to attend.

The Friends of Freddy is an international membership organization dedicated to the preservation and perpetuation of the writings of Walter R. Brooks and his literary alter ego, Freddy the Pig. First published by Alfred A. Knopf between 1927 and 1958, the 26 Freddy books were illustrated by Kurt Wiese, who deftly brought to life hundreds of hilarious events throughout the series.

* Based on Freddy and the Clockwork Twin, copyright © 1937 Walter R. Brooks, copyright © renewed 1965 Dorothy R. Brooks. Published in 2003 by The Overlook Press, Peter Mayer Publishers, Inc. www.overlookpress.com. All rights reserved.

Clockwork Twin Activity Page

CLOCKWORK TWIN

ACTIVITY PAGE

I. All about animals. This section has two parts. The first part is a phrase from the book that says something about a certain kind of animal, except that I've blanked out two words in each phrase. You have to fill in the kind of animal for one word and something about the animal for the other word. To help you out, the second part asks a question about a character who is the kind of animal you need to fill in for the first part.

1. a. You ____(s) are awfully lucky having ____ you can wag.

    b. Who is the first animal that Adoniram rescues from the flood?

2. a. One very bad thing about being a ______ is that you have to get

        up at sunrise and ____ .

    b. Who operates Bertram, the clockwork twin?

3. a. _____ as a ______

    b. Who has a beautifully curled mane?

4. a. ____(s) are supposed to do nothing but ____

    b. Who wins the Adoniram Bean Diligence Medal for figuring out

        a way for the boys to tell each other their middle names?

II. Who?

5. Whom does Ronald marry?

6. Who opposes the wedding at first?

7. Who kisses the bride?

8. Who is the first line of defense against Adoniram's uncle?

9. Who paints the face on Bertram?

10. Who is awarded the Benjamin Bean Distinguished Service Medal?

III. What?

11. What does Freddy invent?

12. What happens to the police sergeant's pencil?

13. What was Uncle Ben's job before he retired?

14. What town is closest to where Adoniram lives?

15. What does Mrs. Church give the gypsies?

IV. Just for fun

16. Byram and Adoniram have a middle name that is so silly that

    they don't want to tell anyone what it is. Can you think of a name

    beginning with "R" that's so silly you wouldn't want anyone to

    know it if it was yours?