Lovely animal stories, these are sometimes just right for a soothing bedtime. My 5 year old is not excited to read more, but enjoys them when we do sit down for a quiet story or two. ( )

Read these books constantly as a child. Lent one to who I thought a friend and never got it back. ( )

Not quite as compelling as his "How" stories for my kids; my daughter said that she preferred the stories about why animals got certain traits, while many of these are more Beatrix Potter-style cute animal stories. Still definitely a quality read-aloud for kids in the 4-8 age range. ( )

The style of this book is a little different from the later stories I've been reading. For one thing, this one is a collection of many short stories that can easily stand alone; they often contain the same characters but the events don't depend on each other. Also, a few of the stories in Mother West Wind are like the Just So Stories in nature; they explain why an animal has a certain feature.

It was another amusing, quick little read that tells about charming animal characters while teaching some morality lessons and also about nature. The how-and-why stories tell about why the skunk has white stripes on his black coat, and why frogs don't have tails. The other stories usually have a moral, which is subtly presented, or teach about how animals live in nature. Reddy Fox tries to play a trick on Johnny Woodchuck but gets surprised himself how bold a woodchuck can be. The fox and owl plan to pounce on and eat a family of bobwhites, but the merry little breeze warns them in time to move their hiding place. The fox tries to go fishing like he's seen Billy Mink do, but all he gets is a thorough soaking. Jimmy Skunk goes looking for beetles and inadvertently keeps destroying other animals' homes; when Peter Rabbit sees what he's doing and prompts him to unwittingly pull a snake's tail, the plan backfires on Peter. Jerry Muskrat invites a bunch of animals to a party, but forgets that lots of them don't like swimming; however he manages to find a way for everyone to have a good time. Sammy Jay steals someone's cache of nuts and the other animals come together to figure out who was the culprit. Spotty the turtle enters a race and patiently finds a way to win even though he's slow.

I haven't mentioned them all here, but each story is delightful and I could imagine how they would be wonderful picture books for children. Lessons about being fair, not teasing your friends or playing tricks on people, having patience, showing compassion, and being honest are well-embedded in these tales that are sure to charm.

from the Dogear Diary ( )

I devoured this series by Mr. Burgess. It featured different animals solving problems together and learning to live with each other. What a metaphor! I remember being saddened by his passing in 1963 as young child. ( )