Walter R. Brooks (1886-1958) was an American children's author best known for his Freddy the Pig Series and his short stories about a talking horse called Mr.Ed (posthumously turned into a television show in the 1960's). The Freddy series is arguably one of the most subversive children’s works of the time. Freddy is a complex character who is alternately lazy and driven, insecure and confident, a daydreamer and a doer; in other words, all too human. Freddy the Politician (1939) has been likened to George Orwell’s Animal Farm, as it shrewdly explores everything from voter fraud to dictatorship to a citizen’s rights and responsibilities. In Freddy and the Bean Home News, Freddy starts a local newspaper which, due to its popularity, threatens the existing local newspaper. The editors of the local paper retaliate with fake news stories about Freddy, and threaten to shut down his paper with their formidable fortune and power. Readers must determine which account—Freddy’s or his opponent’s—most accurately represents the truth, a process which teaches children the critical art of discernment when reading any news story. This work cuts to the heart of questions regarding freedom of speech and the role of the press in a democracy.The University of Oregon holds a small number of unique Freddy the Pig drawings, held within the Kurt Wiese collection, who illustrated the series.