Customer Reviews

Old Mother West Wind (Dover Children's Thrift Classics)

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"Old Mother West Wind", is the first of many stories by Burgess of his imagined world of The Green Forest, the Laughing Brook, and the Smiling Pond. Originally published in 1910, it is based upon a series of bedtime stories Burgess wrote for his son. The characters are inspired by the variety of wildlife Burgess was surrounded by as a child growing up in the yet-uncommercialized Cape Cod, Mass. His love of nature and his desire to instill that love in future generations is conveyed beautifully in these classic tales.

Old Mother West Wind comes down to the Green Meadows from her home in the Purple Hills daily to allow her children, the Merry Little Breezes, to frolic among the residents of the area. In "Old Mother West Wind", you are introduced to many of the characters upon which later books in this series are based. As the back of the book states, "[This book] combines gentle lessons about wildlife and the environment with the fun of a good story". In addition, most tales contain a basic moral lesson (ie. don't steal, don't lie, etc).

Any imaginative child will be captivated by this book. The chapters are short, with simple language that children will identify with, for the most part. Read aloud to pre-readers, or read by children themselves, this book will surely be a family favorite in no time.

This republication by Dover Children's Thrift Editions costs only a dollar. If you are looking to fill in your child's library a little whithout breaking the bank, I highly recommend starting here (and with the other Burgess books). You'll be glad you did.

Note: the next book in publication in this series is the Adventures of Johnny Chuck. While it is not necessary to read the books in order, I just wanted to add that info in case anyone wanted to know.

I read this book when I was in third grade. I have never lost my imaginative love of nature inspired by Old Mother West Wind and her Gentle Breezes. I was thrilled when I found that these books had been republished--and have bought them to read to my grandchildren one day. Now--if I could just get my children married. . . .

I love this book as much now as I did in the 40's and 50's when it was read to me! The author keeps the stories short enough for young attention spans, yet makes the characters spring to life. I have never forgotten the Merry Little Breezes and the Green Forest. Children today will love the stories, too.

My mother read me these stories as a child. My brother can still tell some of these stories by heart 30 years later. They tell all about how the animals of the forest got their tails, or stripes, or habits. The animals all have names and talk among themselves. And Old Mother West Wind always lets the little breezes out to play in the meadow in the morning and picks them up at night and puts them back in her bag. Very old fashioned, Wind in the Willows type of stories

I read Burgess as a child and have loved him ever since. These wonderful stories inspire a love of animals and a love of nature, but not at the expense of good, old-fashioned American story-telling, and those who dismiss them as "sentimental" are displaying an unbecoming pomposity, in my view. Old Mother West Wind is beautiful classic, a book that escapes the pushy realism of so much contemporary storytelling aimed at children, which is really the choice of the parent, and not the child. Let kids imagine! It'll last them all their lives. What a gift, indeed!

Thornton Burgess was a naturalist and the stories of animals in Old Mother West Wind are wonderful. The characters attitudes and behaviors are true to the animal portrayed. A wonderful way to get acquainted with nature. Perfect book for an adult to read to a younger child.

This is a publish on Demand book. No pictures and obviously scanned using a robot (as it states in the introduction of the book). Most of the charm is lost in robot translation let me tell ya.

I do, however, recommend you pick up any of the other Old Mother West Wind books still available on Amazon.
I also purchased Mother West Wind's Animal Friends, and it is a keeper. Mother West Wind's Animal Friends also includes the original illustrations.

My mother's collection of the Old Mother West Wind Stores are the books I learned to read on as a child and I intended to use the newer editions to read to my Grandchildren. But I'll pass on any more versions of the "generic, robot typed" books.

I read this book when I was in third grade. I have never lost my imaginative love of nature inspired by Old Mother West Wind and her Gentle Breezes. I was thrilled when I found that these books had been republished--and have bought them to read to my grandchildren one day. Now--if I could just get my children married. . . .

Ah, the book that started it all in Thornton Burgess' series on the animals of the Green Meadows and Green Forest areas. This book tells short humorous children's tales of characters such as Peter Rabbit, Reddy Fox, Jimmy Skunk and Sammy Jay. These stories are all tied together with the presence of any original entity: the merry little breezes, who are children of Mother West Wind. The merry little breezes fly around and observe all the fun and mischief that all the forest creatures get into during the day, and sometimes even help those that are in trouble.

Each chapter is only 2-5 pages long (perfect for bedtime reading), and has a valuable lesson that parents will appreciate. I, as an adult, find this book very appealing as it talks about nature in a fun and educating way. I'm sure children will like this too.

Darien Summers, author of The Mischievous Hare, a children's book.

This book, which my mother enjoyed as a child and passed on to me and my sister, held us in thrall. It's ideal for imaginative children; read it to younger ones, let the 9+ set read it themselves.