Rootabaga Stories, Part Two

by Carl Sandburg, Michael Hague (Illustrator)

This second volume of unique fairy tales includes stories originally published in 1923. Each reflects the warmth of a midwestern childhood, a zest for life, and a love of the American language that has never been equaled.

Genres: Fiction, Childrens, Humor

179 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1923

About the author

Free verse poems of known American writer Carl August Sandburg celebrated American people, geography, and industry; alongside his six-volume biography Abraham Lincoln (1926-1939), his collections of poetry include Smoke and Steel (1920).

This best editor won Pulitzer Prizes. Henry Louis Mencken called Carl Sandburg "indubitably an American in every pulse-beat."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_San...

Reviews

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

More of the same. Good nighttime reading if you have a little one to read to. Apparently Sandberg thought the usual fairy tales were too full of castles and princes and princesses -- stuff that his midwestern practicality didn't cotton to. Perhaps we can embrace both. These stories read much more strangely today than Grimm's fairy tales, with the princes and princesses, because pre-electrification midwestern rural America has disappeared in many ways more absolutely than the castles of the fairy tales.

[Jordan Booth · Rating 5 out of 5]

My father read this to me when I was young and the unique tales and characters have been in our family lexicon ever since. I’ve recently had the joy of being the bedtime reader of this and my enjoyment surprisingly increased. This is absolutely a book of linguistic poetry. Even if you’re only reading to yourself it is designed to be read aloud. The lyrical phonetics and repetition demand it.
There are some outdated words that have fallen out of use. Please keep an open mind when reading this hundred year old book.

[Grason Poling · Rating 4 out of 5]

a great time. imaginative and pliable

[Sal · Rating 5 out of 5]

So cute and silly and witty and imaginative

[Vanessa Dargain · Rating 3 out of 5]

The potato face bind man and his amusing Midwestern tall-tales are
comparable to those of the Southern tales told by Uncle Remus .
Both storytellers use a lot of ethnic idiosyncracy to convey their humourous messages .
"Dippy the Wisp and Slip Me Liz came in the Moonshine " and "Why the big ball game between Hot Grounders and the Grandstanders was a hot game" are my favorite yarns . An excellent bedtime read-aloud for lovers of the absurd .

[Larry Bassett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Carl Sandburg’s Rootabaga Stories, Part Two was © 1922, 1923. They are portrayed as children’s stories and are best experienced when read out loud. My eight year old daughter loved them in all their incomprehensibleistness.

Here are a couple of chapter titles:

How Dippy the Wisp and Slip Me Liz Came to the Moonshine Where the Potato Face Blind Man Sat with His Accordion

The Huckabuck Family and How They Raised Pop Corn in Nebraska and Quit and Came Back

And several paragraphs so you can get the non-gist of the story:

And after singing the left foot song the shadow of the goose walked around in a long circle, came back where it started from, stopped and stood still with the proud standstill of a goose, and then stretched its neck sticking up straight and long, longer than any time yet, and then bended its neck bent and twisted in longer bends than any time yet.

Then the shadow took itself off the wall, fluttered and flickered along the ceiling and over the bed, flew out of the window and then was gone, leaving Hoo Hoo all alone sitting up in bed counting her pink toes.

Out of the corners of her eyes she looked up at the wall of the room, at the place where the shadow of the goose put itself like a picture. And there she saw a shadow spot. She looked and saw it was a left foot, the same left foot that had been singing the left foot song.

Soon Yang Yang came yang-yanging into the room holding her mother’s apron. Hoo Hoo told her mother all the happenings that happened. The mother wouldn’t believe it. Then Hoo Hoo pointed up to the wall, to the left foot, the shadow spot left behind by the shadow of the goose when it took itself off the wall.

Please leave a comment if you know what is going on here! Or would that just spoil the fun?

[Jordan Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Rootabaga Stories" reminded me of Dr. Seuss, without as many illustrations and written for children a bit older. I can see it as being a wonderful read aloud, as the story skips along in melodious wording and words that sound good put side by side.
The author uses repetition, well, repeatedly. Most likely, the book would be nearly half its size if Carl Sandburg had decided that repeating everything is annoying. And yes, I did find it irritating, but that is beside the point. This book is for children, not for adults, and the repeating of sentences does lend a very "fairytale-esque" element to the book.
Here is an example: "There was a corner house with corners every way it looked. And up in the corners were bugs with little bug houses, bug doors to open, bug windows to look out of."
Rootabaga Stories is perfect for reading to children as a bedtime story. The chapters are short enough to hold their attention, and also not related save for being set in the same imaginary world (Rootabaga Country). Though not related, some of the characters re-appear in later stories, giving children something recognizable.
This is a great book for children.

[Kat(i)e · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this book. One of my all-time favorites. Especially with Hague's illustrations.