Rootabaga Stories [Paperback]

Carl Sandburg (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1998 | Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 3 and up

Originally published in 1922, Rootabaga Stories was written by one of America's most beloved folk chroniclers. He wrote these stories for "people from 5 to 105. This reproduction of the first edition includes the illustrations of Maud and Miska Petersham.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Takes the home-bred American fantasy of The Wizard of Oz even further." (School Library Journal )

"Glorious for reading aloud." (The New York Times Book Review ) --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

From the Back Cover

Joyous, humorous, poetic, and always uniquely American, Carl Sandburg's Rootabaga Stories are an important part of our children's literary legacy. In inimitable prose, Sandburg created Rootabaga Country-where the railroad tracks go from straight to zigzag, where the pigs have bibs on, and where the Village of Cream Puffs floats in the wind-and populated it with baby balloon pickers, flummywisters, Poker Face the Baboon and Hot Dog the Tiger, the White Horse Girl and the Blue Wind Boy, corn fairies, blue foxes, and many more fanciful characters. Rootabaga Stories, Part One is irrepressible, zany Americana-an anthology to delight admirers of Sandburg's genius.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Applewood Books (October 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 155709490X
• ISBN-13: 978-1557094902
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,832,586 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars American Fairy Tales, April 4, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Rootabaga Stories, Part Two (Hardcover)

Carl Sandburg, winner of Pulitzer Prizes both for his biography of Abraham Lincoln and for his COMPLETE POEMS, explores another genre in ROOTABAGA STORIES, fairy tales that he wrote for his daughters. When asked how he wrote the stories, Sandburg replied, "The children asked questions, and I answered them."

The ROOTABAGA STORIES are unconventional in almost every way. Unlike traditional fairy tales, they have no perfect princesses and evil witches. They are American fairy tales with a rural flavor and, in fact, they have no evil characters. The settings, though fanciful, include images that defined America in the 1920s, when the stories were published: the railroad, which "ran across the prairie, to the mountains, to the sea," and the skyscraper.

In Rootabaga Country the railroad tracks go from straight to zigzag, the pigs wear bibs (some checked, some striped, some polka-dotted), and the biggest city is the Village of Liver-and-Onions. Characters in this fanciful world are equally peculiar: Please Gimme, Blixie Blimber, Eeta Peeca Pie, and dozens of others. Children and literary critics alike would be hard-pressed to explain (even symbolically) the events that occur in the stories. Nevertheless, meaning comes through and truth is revealed. For example, in "Three Boys with Jugs of Molasses and Secret Ambitions," ambition is defined as "a little creeper that creeps and creeps in your heart night and day, singing a little song, 'Come and find me, come and find me.'" Who would expect that "The Two Skyscrapers Who Decided to Have a Child" would have an absolutely poignant ending?

Although the events of the stories may not be explainable, the stories are replete with concrete images. Sandburg provides both visual and auditory description with musical, repetitious phrases and novel juxtaposition of words ("a daughter who is a dancing shaft of light on the ax handles of morning"). Occasionally he invents words, such as "pfisty-pfoost," the sound of the train's steam engine, and "bickerjiggers," the buttons on an accordion.

ROOTABAGA STORIES are wonderful for reading aloud. They provide an opportunity for readers and listeners to delight in language and revel in truths revealed in a fanciful world.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rootabaga Stories, August 23, 2000

By 

Michele Rhodes (Washington, DC USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rootabaga Stories (Paperback)

Sometimes it is late and you want to read your child something short so you naturally will reach for this book - where most of the stories are 4 pages or less and they are not really connected - the problem is: you can seldom stop at one and if you are not careful you will read the whole book! My 10 year old is just as mesmerized by Sandberg's words as my 8 year old was 2 years ago, mostly because Sandberg's choice of words and fantastic plots and settings are continually unexpected and surprising. I'm mesmerized too, but I won't reveal my age.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful fantasy of a book., May 20, 2000

By 

Julie Lovisa (Indiana USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rootabaga Stories, Part Two (Hardcover)

I wish I could give this book 10 stars...what can you say about an author that gives his characters such wacky and fitting names? The "Potato Face Blind Man," "Bozo the Button Blaster," "Ragbag Mammy," and "Spink and Skabootch" leave their marks on your memory as perfect children's fairy tale characters. The imagery in this book is unbelievable and I have to believe that this is the prose equivalent of e.e. cummings poetry because Carl Sandburg enables you to see the fantastic worlds he has created almost as if you had created them yourself. If you can get your hands on a copy of "More Rootabagas," which is out-of-print, buy it, if only for the two stories, "A Girl Named Silver Pitchers Tells a Story About Egypt, Jesse James, and Spanish Onions," and "The Story of Peter Potato Blossom Wishes and How She Went Down into Rootabaga Country and Came Back with Five Sky Blue Whispering Cats." I can't think of any more lyrical and imaginative writings for children than the words you will find in these, or any of the Rootabaga Stories.