| Title | : | The Adventures of Peter Cottontail |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0486269299 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780486269290 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 96 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 1914 |
The Adventures of Peter Cottontail Reviews
-
4 stars & 4/10 hearts. This strikes me as a particularly funny Burgess book somehow. Particularly the incident with the hat! I expect it’s because I tend to find Peter humorous at any time. XP I read it aloud to my siblings and they all highly enjoyed it. Peter’s & Reddy’s escapades were enjoyable and funny, although they did remind us somewhat of
The Adventures of Reddy Fox. Sammy Jay & Blacky the Crow did bug me in this book because they kept siding with Reddy against Peter…
Content: A couple mentions of old Mother Nature.
A Favourite Quote: “‘There's nothing in a name except
Just what we choose to make it.
It lies with us and no one else
How other folks shall take it.
It's what we do and what we say
And how we live each passing day
That makes it big or makes it small
Or even worse than none at all.
A name just stands for what we are;
It's what we choose to make it.
And that's the way and only way
That other folks will take it.’”
A Favourite Humorous Quote: “The thought made Peter so indignant that he forgot that he was hiding, and he sat up on his hind legs. Of course, he lifted the straw hat with him. Then he remembered and sat down again in a hurry. Of course, the straw hat went down quite as quickly.” -
My favorite part was when Reddy Fox was giving Bobby Coon his plan. His plan was Reddy Fox was going to be behind a log and Bobby Coon would be showing him it. His plan was to catch Peter Cottontail. Reddy Fox missed and then Peter Cottontail skipped to something like clover.
-
See full review @
The Indigo Quill
A special thank you to NetGalley and Dover Publications for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This new edition of Thorton W. Burgess' beloved tales is an unabridged republication of three books: The Adventures of Reddy Fox, The Adventures of Peter Cottontail, and The Adventures of Grandfather Frog. Originally published by Little, Brown, and Company in 1913-1915, these stories that have followed us through generations have been resurrected in a fresh compilation that you can read consecutively to your child or young class for maximum readability.
Thorton W. Burgess was born native of Massachusetts and began writing children's books in 1910. Ever since he was young, Burgess had a deep appreciation for nature and the endless possibilities it offered. This is reflected in his work and is shared across generations. He brought both children and adults to nature through an array of stories, especially his most famous character, Peter Rabbit. His legacy and philosophies live on through the Thorton W. Burgess Society, who operates the Green Briar Nature Center, Thorton W. Burgess Museum in Sandwich, MA, and inspires environmental education through several other mediums. I would highly suggest checking it out.
The Adventures of Peter Cottontail and His Green Forest Friends is the perfect book for any child's library. They will be entertained by the human-like critters and their many adventures. Any child will enjoy the many escapes into nature and the lives of Burgess' forest friends. The stories and chapters are short for the active reader, and there are plenty of pictures to help them visualize the stories and keep their attention.
One thing I love about this edition is that it includes all the original illustrations from Harrison Cady. They are very simple and clear so they are very easy on the young eye. There is also a list of the illustrations after the contents, so if you want to simply refer to the images, you have the opportunity to do that.
I would definitely recommend this as a staple piece to any children's library. If I were to change one thing about it, I would say that it would be beneficial to add some kind of educational tool like questions about the characters or nature at the end. Other than that, I really enjoyed this book! -
I've seen movies and tv shows about Peter Cottontail, but admittedly, never read the books. Despite being an adult reading a children's book, I enjoyed the tales. They made me smile and even made me want to read more about the critters in this book. These are wonderful little stories that I think any child could enjoy and most adults would like for a quick light read.
-
This is one of several Thornton W. Burgess books that I remember my dad reading to me and my sister when we were little. Loved them. Later read it on my own.
-
Title: The Adventures of Peter Cottontail and His Green Forest Friends
Author: Thornton W Burgess
Publisher: Dover Publications
Published: 2-20-2014
Pages: 370
Genre: Children's Fictions
Sub-Genre: Classics; Animals
ISBN: 9780486492094
ASIN: B00IZLYHA0
Reviewed For NetGalley and Dover Publications
Reviewer: DelAnne
Rating: 5 Stars
This deluxe edition presents three of the most popular books by a beloved storyteller. Thornton W. Burgess's timeless tales of woodland whimsy recount the exploits of Reddy Fox, Peter Cottontail, and Grandfather Frog. Featuring the original art by Harrison Cady, the stories offer young readers examples of friendship, honesty, forgiveness, and other virtues.
Ilustrations that we knew as children ourselves along with the original text. We can now share this classic with our children and grandchildren. A favorite fable from our own childhood to carry on to generations to come.
My rating of "The Adventures of Peter Cottontail and His Green Forest Friends" is 5 out of 5 stars.
Amazon Link:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IZLYHA0/...
B&N Link:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-...
GoodReads Link:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
The Reading Room Link:
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.ph...
Twitter Link:
https://twitter.com/DelAnne531/status... -
My mom recently gave me a 50lb box of books from our childhood reading days. I am going to read them to the kids in an attempt to brainwash them into loving reading like I do. We started with Peter Cottontail. The chapters are short so I have been reading one or two at meal times. Peter Rabbit spends most of the book hippity-hopping around the Green Meadow looking for food and trying not to be food for Reddy Fox. The other animals in the Meadow come in and out of his adventures and usually get a good laugh at Peter or Reddy’s expense. Some of the adventures have a moral aspect; some are just for fun. The next book in the series is The Adventures of Johnny Chuck.
-
This vintage children’s story is well-written and entertaining, and I enjoyed the charming illustrations. But I can’t really recommend it, since the stories center so much around the mischief and malice of the animals toward each other. Peter’s “friends” are the epitome of the saying, “With friends like that, who needs enemies?” In my opinion, good children’s literature is that which causes the reader to contemplate and appreciate goodness and truth. Not much goodness or truth here.
-
I have a soft spot for Thornton Burgess-- My children went to Green Meadows and Thorton T. Burgess schools. When I was a child, my dad rescued an injured hawk and an abandoned racoon kit, both of whom were taken in by the Laughing Brook Wildlife Sanctuary. I can really picture the green meadow and green woods that these animals lived in. A great local author, and I love the illustrations.
-
"Just one more chapter mommy! Pleeease!" begged my kids every single time I started to close the book. My children adore Thornton Burgess' writing. I could read his tales out loud to my kids over and over again, and I don't think they would ever grow weary of listening to Peter's adventures.
-
I get that Burgess’ series has merit in teaching kids about the habits of animals, but I’ve just never really enjoyed reading their escapades or even something similar like “Wind in the Willows.” No complaints about the quality of the writing though.
-
Very cute, the kids liked it a lot.
-
Such a sweet book!
Just adore all the books in this series of stories about the animals that live in the green meadows and the green forest. -
Our favorite adventures yet! Great read aloud for our 4 and 5 year old boys. The chapters are short and have lots of fun adventures that also teach good lessons!
-
I love this old time tales written over a century ago. So creative and country.
-
We love reading aloud Burgess' books. This is an author my son really loves.
-
I have a few of these books, which are a happy childhood memory. There are several stories in this little volume. You will find a lesson in each.They definitely qualify as bedtime stories.
-
A great book to read to kids for bedtime. Lots of fun characters.
-
Love reading these books. They are such a joy.
-
The Burgess Books
This is a phrase that brings a smile to my face as often as I hear it. As a young child, I would lose myself for hours in the simple world of the wood and pond inhabited by Little Joe Otter, Buster Bear, Grandfather Frog, and terrorized by Farmer Brown's Boy. I can remember the very shelf, even the exact spot in the little library in Felton, CA where these books were kept. I would return practically every week with a new armload to last me until our next trip to the library. Often I would carry out stories that I read several times before, just so I could once again escape into this imaginary world of furry mischief.
I remember these books well in concept, though the specifics of most of the stories elude me. It was easily fifteen years ago when I began reading them and has been over a decade since I last picked up one of Burguess' stories to read it. That being said, this review is being written as a look back.
These stories are very simple and very fun. Of course, they are children's literature, so that's to be expected, but these stories strike me as especially so. Even still, I can remember some fascinating things I gleaned between the their covers.
For one thing, Burgess did a fantastic job of presenting the ideas of persepective and motivation in simplistic terms. For example, "The Adventures of Danny Field Mouse" would cast Old Man Coyote as a vicious, mean creature wishing to prey on Danny and his friends and family. Yet, pick up instead "The Adventures of Old Man Coyote" and you'll see that when the story is told with him as the protagonist, those pesky field mice are annoying and useful for little more than a snack. After reading both books, you're no more inclined to think of Old Man Coyote as a villian than you are to think of Danny Field Mouse as a pest that should be exterminated. (Note: This is a generic example. I do not recall if Old Man Coyote plays a role in Danny Field Mouse's story or the other way around, but this concept was presented several times. It made an impression on me.)
The only characters consistantly presented as antagonists were Farmer Brown and his boy. This would be one of the only things that I chalk up as odd, or maybe just a little "off" in these books. Humans and their influence on nature are presented as a negative influence on nature and animals - always. It's interesting to note though that while humans are seen as a negative, humanity is lauded and held up as virtuous. All of the animals take on not only human personalities but characteristics, traits, and mannerisms. From a frog with a monocle and an otter with a handkerchief tied to a stick, to a busy-body Jay and a reclusive owl who desires only to be left alone, humanity and it's traits keep cropping up.
Which would be another thing of value I feel that I saw in the Burgess books. These stories are full of social interaction and personality conflicts, even if they are charicatured more often than not. We see over and over again a working out of peace, if not harmony, between conflicting personalities. It may not always be easy to point out a scripture to reinforce the lesson implied, but social harmony is presented and more often than not, resolution is through reconciliation, forgiveness, or a similar method that is not only laudable, but distinctly Christian in action if not motivation.
All in all, the world created by Thornton W. Burgess is imaginative, innocent, fun, and educational. My reccomendation? Grab a handful from your local library, gather a group of kids as an excuse, and lose yourselves in childhood imaginations as you read aloud the stories that have captivated several generations of young readers with the antics of our furry, albiet elusively human, friends.
(Disclaimers: As I said, it has been over a decade since I actually read one of Burgess' books. As such, there may be a specific example that's a little off in this review or something that I would have noticed as an adult that my childhood memories are missing. Also, all of these books say I read them in 1998. While I'm certain I read several of them that year, I'm sure I read some before and after that date as well.) -
The Adventures of Peter Cottontail and His Green Forest Friends comprises three classic Thornton W. Burgess books from the early twentieth century:
The Adventures of Reddy Fox (1913),
The Adventures of Peter Cottontail (1914), and
The Adventures of Grandfather Frog (1915). Each of those books, in turn, is a collection of stories starring the animals of the Green Forest and its surrounding area. Although each book focuses on a different main character, the general cast of characters is the same throughout. The stories are accompanied by vintage black-and-white illustrations, six per character book for a total of 18 illustrations throughout the collection.
My digital copy had a page count of only 185, but that's a deceptive number that doesn't accurately reflect the true length of the book. It's more akin to a 300 page book, with each of the three segments equating to roughly 100 pages. The shorter format of the individual stories makes them ideal for bedtime reading; the heft of the collection ensures bedtime stories for at least a few weeks.
The animals' antics are amusing and will have kids wondering what the animals in their own gardens and woods might be up to. As with most classic stories, there are some lessons to be learned as well, including to be careful, to listen to your elders, and to not show off or be full of yourself.
Note: I received a digital copy of this book through NetGalley. -
A free copy of this book was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
The Adventures of Peter Cottontail and His Green Forest Friends is actually a collection of three books written by Thornton W. Burgess, about Reddy Fox, Peter Rabbit and Grandfather Frog, all of whom live in the Green Forest.
This is a fairly innocent collection of books (most of these stories were first published in the 1910-20s) which are reminiscent of the stories of Beatrix Potter. In each of these collections, the main character gets into some kind of scrape and finds out that not only do all of their animal friends step up to help them, but that none of them are as clever as they first thought. Out of all three stories, I liked the one exploring Reddy Fox's life the best. A naughty fox who lives with his wily, old grandmother, he gets into all kind of scrapes hunting for food or trying to catch the other animals to have for his dinner. As this was the first story in the volume, the other two characters seemed a little less interesting by comparison. I also (in another Potter reference, although I'm not sure it was deliberate) could not get over the fact that one of the characters is called Peter Rabbit. I just couldn't read about this new character and get involved with his character's trials and adventures without thinking about the Peter Rabbit I grew up with who hunted for carrots in Mr Mcgregor's garden. It kind of spoiled that story for me, especially as this story compares unfavorably to that one.
All in all though, I think this was a really sweet collection of stories that would be great for young readers, and it has some nice illustrations to match. 3 stars. -
I received a copy of 'The Adventures of Peter Cottontail and His Green Forest Friends' by the publishers via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This book is split into three sections, telling the tales of three characters: Peter Rabbit, Grandfather Frog and Reddy Fox. Burgess has written the stories in a style which is somewhat akin to that of Beatrix Potter. Each tale is wonderfully enchanting, with adventure, mischief and humour interspersed throughout. This would be a lovely book to read to children as a bedtime story as some of the language used is sometimes a bit old fashioned and would need explaining to them. Each story is short and well paced, making them enjoyable and relatively quick to read through. Each story also has a moral, with characters coming to value strengths such as loyalty, honesty, forgiveness, friendship and kindness. These would also be brilliant to use, from a teaching perspective, as a focus to use in PSHE lessons.
A lovely story well worth sharing with younger ones. -
This is one of the books I remember enjoying the most as a child. I think I was read this when I was about 4 or 5 (before I went to school).
I tried to read it to my 3-year old daughter, but I guess she's not quite ready for a chapter book, and she lost interest after the first 2 or 3 chapters. She prefers books with pictures on every page. I finished reading it myself for nostalgia's sake, and enjoyed the chance to remember my thrill as a young reader.
Plot summary - there's really 3 different story-lines that this book works its way through.
First, the plot centers on how Peter Rabbit wants to change his name, and the funny results that leads to.
Next, the book deals with the various attempts by Reddy Fox to catch Peter Rabbit, and how Peter is able to outsmart him.
Finally, the book ends with Peter's attempts to hibernate for the winter, and once again the events are resolved in a humorous way. -
The Thornton Burgess books are all great kids stories, about semi-anthropomorphized animals. They were written in the early 20th century, but aside from the writing style being just a bit old-fashioned, the stories are still great. In this case, I have no idea whether Burgess created his "Peter Rabbit/Cottontail" before or after Beatrix Potter created hers, whether one of them was influenced by the other, or whether "Peter Rabbit" was simply a culturally familiar name before either of them started writing. This is not the absolute best of Burgess's stories, but it is still an amusing tale with some information about animals that would be good for a child, some worthwhile themes, and written in a style that is easy for early readers to navigate. And for an adult who is willing to regress for an hour or so, it can still be a fun read, too.
-
I mostly just bought this book because I found it as a 1941 clothbound edition, and I love collecting old books, even though this one was in only OK shape. It's cute, but rather repetitive. If I end up reading this to my daughter (which would not be for a while yet anyway, seeing as she's not even here yet...) I'm not entirely sure if I should read it as is, or maybe slightly sanitize the speech of characters like Ol' Mistah Buzzard and Unc' Billy Possum. Then again, I suppose it would make for a good time to explain some of humanity's past and racial stereotyping....
