Books

The gentle, old-fashioned animal stories of Thornton W. Burgess, told with great warmth and charm, draw young readers into the timeless world of the creatures who live in the Green Forest and around the Smiling Pool. In this engaging episode, Bobby Raccoon suffers a series of mishaps. Following a bad dream, he bites his own tail, is given a dreadful fright, survives an encounter with Buster Bear, gets a terrible shaking and more, but, happily, is rescued by Peter Rabbit and eventually finds a new home. Reset in easy-to-read type and enhanced with six new illustrations adapted from originals by Harrison Cady, The Adventures of Bobby Raccoon will delight today's young readers while offering gentle lessons about nature and wildlife.

When Buster Bear comes to live in the Green Forest, the amiable bully stirs up quite a commotion, for bears haven't lived in the forest for years. And sure enough, before long Buster has a series of run-ins with Little Joe Otter, Chatterer the Red Squirrel, Farmer Brown's Boy, and even a stubborn metal pail!

Determined to see the Great World beyond the familiar vistas of the Smiling Pool, Laughing Brook, Green Meadows, and Green Forest, Grandfather Frog leaps forth to tumble haplessly into the pitfalls of greed, boastfulness, and carelessness. In this time-honored classic, Thornton W. Burgess mixes exciting adventure and good-natured humor with gentle homily to spin a wholesome tale of animal characters that children have found irresistible for generations. Woven into Grandfather Frog's adventures are the daring pranks of Jerry Muskrat, Little Joe Otter, and Billy Mink, the hunting exploits of Longlegs the Blue Heron and Whitetail the Marsh Hawk, and the brave deeds of Danny Meadow Mouse and Striped Chipmunk. Their interwoven stories, newly reset here in large, easy-to-read type, will delight children as they discover, one by one, the many good reasons why Grandfather Frog came to wish he had never, never thought of leaving the Smiling Pool to see the Great World.

Even in the peaceful, sun-splashed world of the Green Forest, the Laughing Brook, and the Smiling Pool, trouble sometimes makes an appearance and disturbs the lives of the animals living there. And so it is in this charming story about Jerry Muskrat and his friends Little Joe Otter, Spotty the Turtle, Grandfather Frog, and Billy Mink. First, Farmer Brown's boy has set nasty traps all around the Smiling Pool and that spells trouble for Jerry and the other creatures who live in and around the Pool. Wise old Grandfather Frog must think long and hard to come up with a solution for that problem. Then, suddenly, the water in the Laughing Brook stops flowing and before long, the Smiling Pool drops to alarming levels. Something must be done, but what? Children will love finding out as they read or listen to this classic Thornton W. Burgess fable, which combines the fun of a good story with important lessons about kindness, stick-to-itiveness, cooperation, and other virtues. Six full-page illustrations, based on originals by Harrison Cady, enhance the text, newly reset in large, easy-to-read type.

When Jimmy Skunk curls up to take a nap in an old barrel, the imp of mischief gets the better of Peter Rabbit. Tons of trouble plague the long-eared prankster after he decides it'd be great fun to see the barrel — with Jimmy inside — roll down from its resting point high on a hill. Reddy Fox gets the blame for Jimmy's wild ride (as well as a dose of the skunk's "perfume"); Peter gets his comeuppance for playing nasty tricks; and before the day is out, Jimmy Skunk and Unc' Billy Possum go egg-hunting and wind up in a pretty pickle in Farmer Brown's henhouse. Children will delight in these warm, whimsical adventures that combine all the interest and excitement of a good story with gentle lessons about nature, wildlife and such virtues as courtesy, kindness, and preparedness. Newly reset in large, easy-to-read type, the text is enhanced by six black-and-white illustrations by Thea Kliros, based on Harrison Cady's originals.