Freddy and the Men from Mars
First edition cover showing Freddy in detective disguise and the phony Martians
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| Author | Walter R. Brooks |
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| Illustrator | Kurt Wiese |
| Country | U.S. |
| Language | American English |
| Series | Freddy the Pig |
| Genre | Children's novel, Comic novel |
| Published | 1954 Knopf 2002 The Overlook Press |
| Media type | Print (hardback, paperback) |
| Pages | 244 (pp. 3-246) |
| ISBN | (Overlook Press hardback) |
| OCLC | 50174198 |
| LC Class | PZ7.B7994 Fqm 2002 |
| Preceded by | 'The Collected Poems of Freddy the Pig' |
| Followed by | 'Freddy and the Baseball Team From Mars' |
| LCCN 54-10330 (1954 hardback) | |
Freddy and the Men from Mars (1954) is the 22nd book in the humorous children's series Freddy the Pig, written by American author Walter R. Brooks and illustrated by Kurt Wiese. It tells the story of the confrontation between Freddy and his friends, phony Martians, real Martians, and a circus con artist.
Freddy reads an article announcing that Mr. Garble encountered a flying saucer and that Martians are displayed at Mr. Boomschmidt's circus. Since Garble is an old enemy, while Mr. Boom is a friend, Freddy visits the circus to warn him. Garble allows limited viewing of the Martians, so he must be lured away while Freddy's cohort Mrs. Peppercorn sneaks in. She finds the bearded Martians dressed in red costumes with gloves, and oddly "like a dog walking on its hind legs". The Martian introduces himself, spelling his name S-i-m-g-h-k (with a silent "i"). Inexplicably, Simghk is familiar with Freddy's poetry. He flatters Peppercorn, who eagerly explains she can do better:
She recites her several thousand line poem, starting, "Some stars are large, some stars are small / And some are quite invisiball". The Martians are bored asleep. Later, Freddy is successful investigating: in getting the "Martians" to agree that Mars is nearer the sun than the Earth, he realizes they must be fakes. However, as the reputation of Boom's circus would be at risk, Freddy does not tell the owner what they discovered.
Willy, the circus boa constrictor, is sleeping over at Freddy's. They are awoken by the chickens Charles and Henrietta, who accuse the snake of abducting their chicks. This sends Freddy into detective mode. In confirming that the revolving chicken house door cannot be entered by the large snake, he is stuck, squeals loudly, and rouses the barnyard. Dogs, tracking rat smell, find a hole. Willy slithers in, retrieving Simon the rat, Freddy's longstanding foe. Shortly after they hold Simon captive, Garble announces that one of his Martians is missing. Garble reveals that he purchased the Grimsby property next to the Bean farm, and is demanding Uncle Ben Bean remove his space ship (built in Freddy and the Space Ship). Freddy deduces that Garble's false Martians are actually rats and threatens to reveal Garble's hoax unless the space ship is allowed to remain. Besides, they cannot expose the fake Martians without embarrassing the circus. However Freddy's philosophy is "When everything seems hopeless, the thing to do is stir it up good."
Freddy devises a plan to use a rabbit to replace the fake Martian rat that was captured. The rats remaining in the circus are not fooled, but Jinx the cat remains in their cage, forcing them to cooperate. When the crowd does not notice the difference, Freddy has all the "Martian" rats replaced with his "Martian" rabbits. Freddy investigates the Grimsby property with the help of an ex-burglar, however they are confined by Garble in his cellar.
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