If the Friends of Freddy can be said to have a master plan, it has two stages: first, get the books back into print, and, second, introduce them to a new generation.
The good news is that we have finally succeeded at the first stage. The bad news is that that was the easy part. Now we need to get today's children exposed to and interested in the books that we have enjoyed and appreciated so much.
The Friends of Freddy have taken a major step by pledging to buy at least a hundred sets of the first two reprints for needy schools and libraries around the country. This is an enormous investment on the part of our club, but unfortunately it is a tiny one in terms of the total number of schools and libraries out there that could use these books.
Now it's your turn. Enclosed with this newsletter is a form that you can use to make a general donation to this effort. Or, if you prefer, you may earmark your donation for a library of particular interest to you. (I for one intend to make sure that the libraries that first exposed me to the Freddy books have copies.) We have negotiated for a trade discount with Overlook Press so that your money will go as far as it possibly can. So please give generously.
Overlook update
Overlook's second two books in the Freddy series, Freddy and the Flying Saucer Plans and Freddy and the Ignormus (yay!), are now available. The third pair will be Freddy the Pilot and Freddy and the Baseball Team From Mars, which they expect to have out in early summer 1999.
Members should have received or will shortly receive a special mailing from Overlook publicizing the second pair of books and providing an order form for the four books and for the unabridged audio version of the first two books.
Dan Josslin to coordinate auction acquisitions
Our 1998 book auction did not go quite as well as we had hoped. After some thought, we decided that the main reason for this was that Connie Arnold, our secretary-treasurer, was doing most of the book acquisitions for the auction, and Connie is no expert in the used-book market. As many of you know, picking up Freddy books at fair prices is becoming harder all the time. (And before you worry that we're insulting Connie, let me mention that she's the one who first came up with this issue.)
Therefore, we asked immediate past president and part-time used book dealer Dan Josslin to work on gathering reasonably-priced but good value Freddy books for the auction in 2000. He immediately said that he would focus on picking up non-exlibrary copies in good condition and recently reported that he had already picked up three books that met this description.
So, if you see a good candidate for the auction, please let Dan know at: Dan Josslin, 59 La Perla, Foothill Ranch, CA 92610, or DJosslin@aol.com. Please note, by the way, that Dan is the only member authorized to collect books on behalf of the Friends of Freddy, and he is doing so exclusively for the year 2000 convention auction.