Walter R. Brooks Exhibit

In honor of the Friends of Freddy fan club gathering in Fresno, the Arne Nixon Center will exhibit books and artifacts from the library of the late Walter R. Brooks, author of the Freddy the Pig series.Brooks wrote 25 Freddy books, which were published from 1927 to 1958. He also wrote some 200 short stories for adults, 20 of them featuring Ed the Talking Horse, whose adventures formed the basis of the kitsch classic TV show of the 1960s, “Mr. Ed.”

The exhibition includes two cases of books by Brooks and a third case showcasing books illustrated by Kurt Wiese, who provided pictures for all but the first Freddy book. Two pieces of original Freddy art are also included. Wiese became well-known for his illustrations in Felix Salten’s story of Bambi. He won two Caldecott Honor medals, one in 1946 for his book, You Can Write Chinese and another in 1949 for his book, Fish in the Air. He is also the illustrator of the picture book classic, The Story about Ping by Marjorie Flack.

Two additional cases offer biographical information about Walter R. Brooks, who was born in 1886 in Rome, New York. Orphaned at the age of fifteen, he was sent by his wealthy family to a military boarding school near Peekskill. Later he became a writer for magazines and one of America’s most beloved children’s authors. His Freddy books are still in print, with new paperback editions being published this spring.
The exhibition includes family photos, Brooks’s teenage journal, his scrapbook, beautiful books from his library (he was also a book dealer), and even his typewriter (pictured on the left). All of the exhibition materials were donated by Brooks’s biographer, Michael Cart, a well-known author, librarian, and columnist who is donating his own books and papers to the Center.

A brochure with selected quotes from Brooks’s journal is available for those who come to see this exhibition. The exhibition will run until March 31, located in the Shirley Brinker Gallery and the Arne Nixon Center Reading Room, is open to the public weekdays from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Registration information of Friends of Freddy Convention can be found here.