WARNING: These articles are written with the assumption that the reader has already read the story in question. Don\u2019t read this article if you want any surprises to be preserved for you.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nI had to choose which one of the half-dozen novels have yet to be reviewed in this series, and given that it\u2019s the summer issue, the choice was pretty obvious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our story actually begins in April, albeit a hot one, when Freddy is cranky from the heat and from the stress of his obligations. He wishes for a break and wonders how to when Weedly points out an ad for a caretaker in the Bean Home News. (How Freddy was unaware of an ad in his own newspaper remains unexplained.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mr. Weezer, the banker, is given as the point of contact, and Freddy, Weedly, and Jinx go off to talk to him about it. Freddy gets his recommendation, and the next day the same trio make there way through the Big Woods to the Camphor estate, on the banks of Oteseraga Lake. After a brief misunderstanding with the very dignified butler Bannister, who initially tries to shoo the farm animals back out, they are introduced to Mrs. Camphor, hit it off, and Freddy has the position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not surprisingly, it turns out to be quite cushy: he lives on a houseboat on the water, the accomplished cook Mrs. Finch makes all his meals, and his duties are far from onerous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of course, we wouldn\u2019t have much of a story without complications. Those begin when the two resident hoptoads, Elmo and Waldo, introduce themselves and point out that there are rats living in the attic. If you\u2019re a Freddy fan, you already know what\u2019s coming: these aren\u2019t just any rats, these are Simon and his family, who aren\u2019t about to move out on Freddy\u2019s say-so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After a visit from his friends on the Bean farm, the plot complicates further when the man with the black moustache and the dirty-faced boy show up. It turns out that\u2019s Mr. Finch and son Horace, who first lock him up in the houseboat and then frame him for burglary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mr. Camphor is convinced of his guilt and dismisses him. Freddy leaves, soon meets Jinx and some friends on the way back, who were prepared to rescue him if need be, and returns home. There he finds that Mr. Webb is engaged in a patriotic effort to get the bugs to stop eating the plants in Mr. Bean\u2019s Victory Garden, opposed by the horsefly Zero.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Freddy also runs into Mr. Schemerhorn\u2019s dog, Johnny, who has a pack of fleas trained to do whatever he wants. This will prove convenient later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s on the way to do a two-pronged counterattack: to check Winch\u2019s house to see if the stolen goods are there, and to return to Camphor\u2019s to try to frame Winch in return. The latter turns into rather a mess: Freddy gets caught and only escapes with help from Jinx and two of the mice. But the sheriff comes in and vouches for Freddy while frightening the Winches enough that Mrs. Winch confesses to the frame-up. Winch and son try to escape but are caught down the road by the sheriff, with help from the eagle Breckenridge dive-bombing the escape car.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Following that, Freddy borrows Johnny\u2019s fleas and uses them to chase the rats out of the attic and away from the estate entirely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, Webb and Zero have scheduled a debate. On the day, Charles stands in for Mr. Webb and starts out by making a hard factual case for the Victory Gardens but ends up mostly taunting Zero and making him mad. Freddy does so further, getting Zero to attack his nose. Zero does, but what the fly doesn\u2019t realize is that Elmo and Waldo are in position and \u201ctheir two tongues shot out like electric sparks . . . and the fly vanished.\u201d As I\u2019ve noted before, it\u2019s the only death of a named character in the entire Freddy series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Finally, Mr. Camphor apologizes profusely to Freddy and offers him his old job back, with a new assignment: overseeing the Winches, who will be doing most of the work in lieu of going to jail. Freddy even manages to get the dirty-faced boy clean for once, and his father is shamed into doing likewise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I try to sum up the story like this, it seems rather thin and disappointing. The rats in particular are given short shrift. Not even the main villains in this piece, they make a brief appearance and are driven away far too easily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the other hand, like many of the Freddy books, the best bits are the ones that don\u2019t show up in a brief plot summary. I haven\u2019t mentioned Mr. Camphor\u2019s passion for figuring out whether proverbs are true or not, something that runs through the entire book, most notably when Jinx proves that it is worth crying over spilt milk, after he gets some cream from Mrs. Bean for doing so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Painting also forms almost its own subplot. It\u2019s one of Freddy\u2019s new hobbies at the outset, and he has to call on it when he finds that the rats have maliciously chewed out the faces of all the portraits in Mr. Camphor\u2019s attic. It turns out Horace has a redeeming interest in painting, and he and Freddy together replace all the faces with ones that look exactly like Mr. Camphor. This is much to the rich man\u2019s amusement. \u201c\u2019You know, they\u2019re just a lot of old portraits I bought because I thought it would be fun to name them and hang them up as my ancestors. I didn\u2019t want to fool anybody with them. But now\u2014well, I\u2019d be fooling people if I said they weren\u2019t my ancestors now. Why, look at the Reverend Wilberforce. Ha! Isn\u2019t that me to the life?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So the bottom line, I think, is that if you read this book critically you\u2019ll find a lot of problems with it. But if you read it just to enjoy, it\u2019s still a lot of fun<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Link to Friends of Freddy Bo<\/a>ok Club Meeting<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Back to the Bean Farm: Rereading the Freddy Books Freddy and Mr. Camphor by Kevin W. Parker WARNING: These articles are written with the assumption that the reader has already read the story in question. Don\u2019t read this article if you want any surprises to be preserved for you. I had to choose which one of the half-dozen novels have yet to be reviewed in this series, and given that it\u2019s the summer issue, the choice was pretty obvious. Our story actually begins in April, albeit a hot one, when Freddy is cranky from the heat and from the stress of his obligations. He wishes for a break and wonders how to when Weedly points out an ad for a caretaker in the Bean Home News. (How Freddy was unaware of an ad in his own newspaper remains unexplained.) Mr. Weezer, the banker, is given as the point of contact, and Freddy, Weedly, and Jinx go off to talk to him about it. Freddy gets his recommendation, and the next day the same trio make there way through the Big Woods to the Camphor estate, on the banks of Oteseraga Lake. After a brief misunderstanding with the very dignified butler<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3334","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\n
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Our story actually begins in April, albeit a hot one, when Freddy is cranky from the heat and from the stress of his obligations. He wishes for a break and wonders how to when Weedly points out an ad for a caretaker in the Bean Home News. (How Freddy was unaware of an ad in his own newspaper remains unexplained.) Mr. Weezer, the banker, is given as the point of contact, and Freddy, Weedly, and Jinx go off to talk to him about it. Freddy gets his recommendation, and the next day the same trio make there way through the Big Woods to the Camphor estate, on the banks of Oteseraga Lake. 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