Green Meadow Stories by Thornton W. Burgess (good short books .txt) đź“•
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Thornton W. Burgess was an American naturalist and the author of dozens of books for children, the most enduring of which are Old Mother West Wind and The Burgess Bird Book for Children. Burgess was a passionate twentieth-century conservationist who dedicated his life to teaching children and their families about the importance of the natural life of the northern North American forest.
The Green Meadow Stories compilation is made up of four distinct but entwined tales: those of Happy Jack Squirrel, Mrs. Peter Rabbit, Bowser the Hound, and Old Granny Fox. Through the adventures of these focal characters readers are introduced to the wider territory of the Green Meadows, the Green Forest, and the Smiling Pond as well as to the animals’ Great World.
The animals of Burgess’s stories are anthropomorphized, undoubtedly, but not caricatured: these are not the twee creatures of Disney cartoons. Their behaviour is explained in ways that would be understandable to a human child—this is fiction, after all—but Burgess’s “little people of the forest” are not simply humans dressed in fur and feathers. The original illustrations in Burgess’s books (by Harrison Cady, not reproduced in this edition) show the animals wearing clothes, but Burgess’s own descriptions of animals are more natural and metaphorical, and less fantastic. For example, he describes Chatterer the Red Squirrel, “who always wears a red coat with vest of white,” a compact way of communicating the look of a squirrel that many of today’s children will never have seen with their own eyes. Less pleasantly, it is Peter Rabbit’s fur and flesh that is rent when Hooty the Owl tears Peter’s “coat” one night on the Old Pasture.
Burgess has tremendous respect for the creatures he depicts, as well as for their natural home. While the presentation of the Green Meadow is hardly “Nature, red in tooth and claw,” it is surprisingly unsentimental. Peter Rabbit, for example, lives a highly anxious life under threat from the many predators who would enjoy having him for dinner; similarly, Happy Jack Squirrel experiences days and nights of terror when Shadow the Weasel discovers Happy Jack’s home and hunts him relentlessly. During a long, hard winter, Granny Fox and Reddy Fox come close to starving, and Old Man Coyote leads Bowser the Hound on a dangerous chase that may result in one or the other dying. Despite other fanciful, sentimental elements of storytelling, Burgess does not sugarcoat prey/predator relationships or the precarity of wild animals’ lives.
Burgess is a clear conservationist in his representations of hunting. The animals are highly aware of hunters and their “dreadful guns.” It is a notable moment in this collection when Farmer Brown’s Boy decides he will no longer use his gun to harm the little people of the Green Meadow and the Green Forest. The stories are also notable in their detailed representation of a largely intact forest, something few children in the twenty-first century will experience.
On the other hand, these are books for children, and they contain plenty of sweetness and light. Animal pairings—such as when Peter Rabbit meets the dainty Little Miss Fuzzytail, the future Mrs. Rabbit—are vague but sentimental and soon lead to proud new families of Rabbits, Ducks, Deer, and Owls. The “little people” celebrate the arrival of each spring’s babies, mark each other’s new relationships and homes, play together, and even help each other survive. They laugh, tease, and trick each other—a fanciful interpretation of animal behaviour that could lead to a reader’s life-long fascination with, and respect for, forest creatures—and for generations of readers, they did just that.
The stories are also more didactic than most twenty-first-century authors would dare to be. There are morals associated with most stories, often attributed to the animal about whom the story is being told. Through this practical teaching, Burgess suggests a correspondence between how animals and humans live; but he consistently clarifies that animal intelligence is different from, but certainly no less than, human intelligence.
Unlike the bouncy rhyming verses of many of today’s children’s books, Burgess’s sentences have a somewhat old-fashioned cadence, creating the distinct and appealing music of traditional storytelling. Burgess’s episodic chapters are eminently readable and particularly come to life when they are voiced by animated reading-aloud. For older readers looking for something different to share with children, or for new readers beginning to tackle “chapter books,” the tales of the Green Meadow Stories collection are a delightful place to discover Burgess and his animal friends.
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- Author: Thornton W. Burgess
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By Thornton W. Burgess.
Table of Contents Titlepage Imprint Happy Jack I: Happy Jack Drops a Nut II: The Quarrel III: Striped Chipmunk Is Kept Very Busy IV: Happy Jack and Chatterer Feel Foolish V: Happy Jack Suspects Striped Chipmunk VI: Happy Jack Spies on Striped Chipmunk VII: Striped Chipmunk Has Fun with Happy Jack VIII: Happy Jack Turns Burglar IX: Happy Jack Squirrel’s Sad Mistake X: Striped Chipmunk’s Happy Thought XI: Striped Chipmunk’s Thanksgiving Dinner XII: Happy Jack Does Some Thinking XIII: Happy Jack Gets a Warning XIV: Happy Jack’s Run for Life XV: Who Saved Happy Jack Squirrel? XVI: Happy Jack Misses Farmer Brown’s Boy XVII: Tommy Tit Brings News XVIII: Happy Jack Decides to Make a Call XIX: Tommy Tit and Happy Jack Pay a Visit XX: What Was the Matter with Farmer Brown’s Boy? XXI: Happy Jack Squirrel Grows Very Bold XXII: Happy Jack Dares Tommy Tit XXIII: Sammy Jay Is Quite Upset XXIV: A Dream Comes True XXV: Happy Jack Has a Happy Thought XXVI: Farmer Brown’s Boy Wakes with a Start XXVII: Happy Jack Is Afraid to Go Home XXVIII: Happy Jack Finds a New Home XXIX: Farmer Brown’s Boy Takes a Prisoner XXX: A Prisoner Without Fear XXXI: What Farmer Brown’s Boy Did with Shadow XXXII: Happy Jack Is Perfectly Happy XXXIII: Sammy Jay Upsets Happy Jack Mrs. Peter Rabbit I: Peter Rabbit Loses His Appetite II: Peter Rabbit Plans a Journey III: Hooty the Owl Changes His Hunting Grounds IV: The Shadow with Sharp Claws V: In the Old Pasture VI: Peter Rabbit Is Still Lonesome VII: Peter Finds Tracks VIII: The Strange Tracks in the Old Pasture IX: An Unpleasant Surprise X: Peter Rabbit Almost Decides to Return Home XI: Peter Rabbit Has a Sudden Change of Mind XII: Peter Learns Something from Tommy Tit XIII: Little Miss Fuzzytail XIV: Someone Fools Old Jed Thumper XV: A Pleasant Surprise for Peter XVI: Peter Rabbit’s Looking-Glass XVII: Peter Meets Miss Fuzzytail XVIII: Tommy Tit Proves a Friend Indeed XIX: Old Man Coyote Pays a Debt XX: Little Miss Fuzzytail Whispers “Yes” XXI: Peter and Little Miss Fuzzytail Leave the Old Pasture XXII: Sammy Jay Becomes Curious XXIII: Peter Introduces Mrs. Peter XXIV: Danny Meadow Mouse Warns Peter Rabbit XXV: Peter Rabbit’s Heedlessness XXVI: Peter Rabbit Listens to Mrs. Peter XXVII: Mistah Mocker Plays a Joke on Mrs. Peter XXVIII: News from the Old Briar-Patch XXIX: Jimmy Skunk Visits Peter Rabbit XXX: Reddy Fox Learns the Secret XXXI: Blacky the Crow Has Sharp Eyes XXXII: Peter Rabbit’s Nursery Bowser the Hound I: Old Man Coyote Leads Bowser Away II: Old Man Coyote Plays a Trick III: What Happened to Bowser IV: Poor Bowser V: Bowser Spends a Bad Night VI: The Surprise of Blacky the Crow VII: Blacky the Crow Takes Pity on Bowser VIII: How Blacky the Crow Helped Bowser IX: Old Man Coyote Gives Out Dark Hints X: How Reddy Fox Investigated XI: A Little Unpleasantness XII: The Cleverness of Old Man Coyote XIII: The Mischievous Little Night Breeze XIV: The Difference Between Being Inside and Outside XV: Reddy’s Forlorn Chance XVI: Why Reddy Went Without a Chicken Dinner XVII: Farmer Brown’s Boy Drops a Pan of Corn XVIII: Mutual Relief XIX: Where Was Bowser the Hound? XX: Where Bowser Was XXI: Bowser Becomes a Prisoner XXII: Farmer Brown’s Boy Looks in Vain XXIII: Bowser’s Great Voice XXIV: Blacky Tries to Get Help XXV: Blacky Calls on Reddy Fox XXVI: Red Wits and Black Wits XXVII: The Artfulness of Blacky XXVIII: Reddy Fox Dreams of Chickens XXIX: Reddy Tries to Arouse Blacky’s Pity XXX: Blacky the Crow Is All Pity XXXI: Blacky Is Much Pleased with Himself XXXII: Blacky Waits for Reddy XXXIII: Reddy Watches the Fat Hens XXXIV: Patience and Impatience XXXV: Things Happen All at Once XXXVI: Reddy Hides the Fat Hen XXXVII: Farmer Brown’s Boy Has a Glad Surprise XXXVIII: Reddy Goes Back for His Fat Hen XXXIX: A Vanished Dinner XL: Where Was Reddy’s Dinner? XLI: What Blacky the Crow Saw XLII: All Is Well That Ends Well Old Granny Fox I: Reddy Fox Brings Granny News II: Granny and Reddy Fox Go Hunting III: Reddy Is Sure Granny Has Lost Her Senses IV: Quacker the Duck Grows Curious V: Reddy Fox Is Afraid to Go Home VI: Old Granny Fox Is Caught Napping VII: Granny Fox Has a Bad Dream VIII: What Farmer Brown’s Boy Did IX: Reddy Fox Hears About Granny Fox X: Reddy Fox Is Impudent XI: After the Storm XII: Granny and Reddy Fox Hunt in Vain XIII: Granny Fox Admits Growing Old XIV: Three Vain and Foolish Wishes XV: Reddy Fights a Battle XVI: Reddy Is Made Truly Happy XVII: Granny Fox Promises Reddy Bowser’s Dinner XVIII: Why Bowser the Hound Didn’t Eat His Dinner XIX: Old Man Coyote Does a Little Thinking XX: A Twice Stolen Dinner XXI: Granny and Reddy Talk Things Over XXII: Granny Fox Plans to Get a Fat Hen XXIII: Farmer Brown’s Boy Forgets to Close the Gate XXIV: A Midnight Visit XXV: A Dinner for Two XXVI: Farmer Brown’s Boy
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