Children Burgess, Thornton W: Mother West Wind How Stories. V1. 3 Aug 2009

[crutledge]

Thornton Waldo Burgess (January 14, 1874 – June 5, 1965). Born in Sandwich, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, he was a conservationist and author of children's stories. Thornton Waldo Burgess loved the beauty of nature and its living creatures so much that he wrote about them for 50 years. By the time he retired, he had written more than 170 books and 15,000 stories for daily columns in newspapers.

Excerpt
Peter Rabbit sat on the edge of the dear Old Briar-patch, staring up into the sky with his head tipped back until it made his neck ache. Way, way up in the sky was a black speck sailing across the snowy white face of a cloud. It didn’t seem possible that it could be alive way up there. But it was. Peter knew that it was, and he knew who it was. It was King Eagle. By and by it disappeared over towards the Great Mountain. Peter rubbed the back of his neck, which ached because he had tipped his head back so long. Then he gave a little sigh.
“I wonder what it seems like to be able to fly like that,” said he out loud, a

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[Timoleon]

Boy, does this bring back memories!

The Mother West Wind books, and a bunch of other Thornton W. Burgess animal books, were among the first "non-picture" books that I ever read. In second grade I remember we had a "read-aloud" contest to see who could finish a page of his the quickest. I remember the page began: "Danny Meadow Mouse sat on the..." Forty-eight years later, I have a hard time remembering the characters in the novel I read two weeks ago, but I have absolutely no problem in remembering the Burgess menagerie: Johnny Chuck, Sammy Jay, Blacky the Crow, Grandfather Frog, Old Mister Toad, and a host of others.

It's amazing that the little boy who loved to read these stories grew up to enjoy reading, say, the adventures of Takeshi Kovacs in "Altered Carbon."

[crutledge]

It's amazing what books can do. I'm pleased that you had a good experience,