Customer Reviews

Old Mother West Wind and 6 Other Stories (Sets)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I just bought both boxed sets to give to my brother for his children. We both remember the books fondly from when Mom would read them to us when we were young.

My boxed set contained these books: Old Mother West Wind, Old Man Coyote, Prickly Porky, Bobby Raccoon, Johnny Chuck, Jimmy Skunk, and Jerry Muskrat.

As a child I read and loved the Burgess Book of Nature Lore. I wanted to give some of the same love of nature to my own daughter and found that Thornton W. Burgess had written many nature books for children. This particular set is a great starting off point for your young child. I love the way the author incorporates the description, habitat, and sound of many of the animals he is talking about. When your child hears these stories over and over they will be well on their way to discovering the natural world. When I read ""Mrs. Redwings Speckled Egg" to my daughter I have her hold her stuffed replica of a red wing black bird which actually makes the sound of the red wing black bird. It all comes to life for her. She is not quite three and she already is starting to identify different bird calls because these books give us the opportunity to talk about them. If you love nature and you have children you will love these books. Heck even if you don't have kids and are a kid at heart you will love these books.

Any of Thorton W. Burgess's books are great reading for children. The stories are simple enough for children to relate to and will stimulate their imaginations as well as their appetite for books that are fun to read.

The downside of these books is that your children are probably going to want to read as many in the series as possible. Fortunately the prices at Amazon are reasonable and if you need to save some money you can take your children to the library where they will quickly memorize the location of books by Thorton W. Burgess.

We have a very active 2 year old daughter who sits in rapt attention listening to the adventures of these woodland inhabitants. There are few illustrations but she doesn't mind a bit. The characters and their stories are of everyday life and gently rendered. There is a quiet almost meditative quality to the story-telling. If you are looking for Post-Modern Children's Literature, this is not it! These stories recall a bygone era through sweetly humanized forest animals where fox and rabbit co-exist in complete acceptance of their roles and responsibilities in a web of life.

I loved these stories when I was a child. I would go to the library to get book after book. Now I am happy to give them to children I know and to discover that I still enjoy them. The author knew nature and he gave to all his animal characters the qualities that he found in nature. The blue jay is, of course, very loud and boisterous. Without really knowing it, I was learning to love and appreciate a variety of animals as I laughed at their antics in the stories.

The stories are timeless and are fun to read. Seller delivered very promptly and in good condition. I would recommend the book series and the seller.

I gave this series as a gift for my newborn great grand daughter. I love everything Burgess and when she gets older I hope she will to.
I've been to his museum in Sandwich, Ma. and it is a tranquil place with a pond behind it with swans to watch and wile away the time.

These are great stories...nice short chapters which made it easy for my five year old to follow...and easy for me to comply when she asked for more (without giving so much more that it bored her)...I like the box for storage and display (nice to keep these all in one place). The books aren't the highest quality, but not poor either (they'll handle many readings). My children have all liked the black and white illustrations, which are fairly detailed drawings every couple of pages that match the plot. The morals are good and not dumbed down or made so obvious as to force the point. I enjoy reading these stories too as an adult, and the quality is more than worth the price. I'd make this purchase again.

It wasn't quite what I expected, was thinking that it would be 1 book. I am satified however. The stores came in a storage case, so perhaps we'll be able to deep thrack of them. Thanks.

Gentle Lessons in Nature

Published in 1910 these 16 short animal tales were written for the author's son. A dedicated conservationist from Cape Cod Burgess introduces young children to a rogues' gallery of critters, who learn lessons the hard way. Mother West Wind brings her own children, the merry little breezes, down to play each morning; what they watch the various critters do and say provides human children with simple, sometimes humorous advice on moral behavior without being preachy. Hopefully future generations will appreciate and respect Nature the sooner for having been introduced to these amusing woodland characters with their all-too-human foibles. The choice of illustrator makes these tales come alive, for they stimulate a childlike imagination in an age when too much is pre-programmed for kids. I also recommend a sweet little book of animal stories called Hedgerow Tales by Enid Blyton.