Mother West Wind's Children

Old Mother West Wind #2

by Thornton W. Burgess

Thornton Burgess was born in 1874 in Sandwich, Massachusetts. While growing up he explored the fields, woods, and salt marshes of Cape Cod, where he came to know the birds, animals, and plant life well. Later, as a grown man, he told stories to his young son about the animals and wildlife he knew and loved. These stories were collected in Old Mother West Wind, the first of more than seventy books by Mr. Burgess. A companion to that perennial favorite, Mother West Wind's Children is a collection of fifteen "Why" stories: Why are Peter Rabbit's ears so long? Why does Reddy Fox have no friends? Harrison Cady's classic illustrations bring these beloved characters to life and help make this time-honored title perfect for generations of children to enjoy.

Genres: Animals, Fiction, Fantasy, Childrens, Nature, Classics, Juvenile

243 pages, Hardcover

About the author

Thornton W. (Waldo) Burgess (1874-1965), American author, naturalist and conservationist, wrote popular children's stories including the Old Mother West Wind (1910) series. He would go on to write more than 100 books and thousands of short-stories during his lifetime.

Thornton Burgess loved the beauty of nature and its living creatures so much that he wrote about them for 50 years in books and his newspaper column, "Bedtime Stories". He was sometimes known as the Bedtime Story-Man. By the time he retired, he had written more than 170 books and 15,000 stories for the daily newspaper column.

Born in Sandwich, Massachusetts, Burgess was the son of Caroline F. Haywood and Thornton W. Burgess Sr., a direct descendant of Thomas Burgess, one of the first Sandwich settlers in 1637. Thornton W. Burgess, Sr., died the same year his son was born, and the young Thornton Burgess was brought up by his mother in Sandwich. They both lived in humble circumstances with relatives or paying rent. As a youth, he worked year round in order to earn money. Some of his jobs included tending cows, picking trailing arbutus or berries, shipping water lilies from local ponds, selling candy and trapping muskrats. William C. Chipman, one of his employers, lived on Discovery Hill Road, a wildlife habitat of woodland and wetland. This habitat became the setting of many stories in which Burgess refers to Smiling Pool and the Old Briar Patch.

Graduating from Sandwich High School in 1891, Burgess briefly attended a business college in Boston from 1892 to 1893, living in Somerville, Massachusetts, at that time. But he disliked studying business and wanted to write. He moved to Springfield, Massachusetts, where he took a job as an editorial assistant at the Phelps Publishing Company. His first stories were written under the pen name W. B. Thornton.

Burgess married Nina Osborne in 1905, but she died only a year later, leaving him to raise their son alone. It is said that he began writing bedtime stories to entertain his young son, Thornton III. Burgess remarried in 1911; his wife Fannie had two children by a previous marriage. The couple later bought a home in Hampden, Massachusetts, in 1925 that became Burgess' permanent residence in 1957. His second wife died in August 1950. Burgess returned frequently to Sandwich, which he always claimed as his birthplace and spiritual home.

In 1960, Burgess published his last book, "Now I Remember, Autobiography of an Amateur Naturalist," depicting memories of his early life in Sandwich, as well as his career highlights. That same year, Burgess, at the age of 86, had published his 15,000th story. He died on June 5, 1965, at the age of 91 in Hampden, Massachusetts.

Reviews

[Louie the Mustache Matos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mother West Wind's Children by Thornton W. Burgess is a classic children's collection of stories featuring the animals of the Green Forest, Green Meadow, Smiling Pool, and Laughing Brook milieu. Such loveable characters as Peter Rabbit, Reddy Fox, Jimmy Skunk, Hooty the Owl, Danny Meadow Mouse, and Grandfather Frog were truly memorable back then and remind me of a time when my father would read these stories to my brother and I.

Before Harrison Cady there was George Kerr to illustrate these stories, and even an introduction by John Richmond of the Burgess Nature Society to place the author's contributions in context. These fifteen chapters in particular take intellectual queries disguised as chapter titles to explain physical nuances between similar animals.

One example would be "Danny Meadow Mouse Learns Why His Tail Was Short." The story involves a proud ancestor that went about displaying his tail proudly until Hooty the Owl came along and mistook the Meadow Mouse for a wharf rat. The wharf rat's longer tail was a dinner bell for Hooty. Hence the ancestor forcibly trimmed his tail to differentiate himself from his cousin.

There's an explanation as to why Reddy Fox has no friends, which is explained by his predatory behavior toward the denizens of the Green Meadow. Other explanations involve Peter Rabbit's too long ears, Striped Chipmunk's pockets, and Grandfather Frog's love for fat, foolish green flies. Johnny Chuck has a big fight, and he finds it hard to keep a secret. We learn what Mr. Toad does with his old clothes, and why Bobby Coon washes his food.

A nice, classic piece of literature.

[Karin · Rating 5 out of 5]

My 7 yr old gave these books a 5. I agree. "His books are awesome' she says.I liked the way morals were told in an entertaining way. I bet my daughter didn't feel she was being moralized at because she wanted to hear the whole book. I've tried others that had a distinct 'moral' or 'value' and she hates it.(Books that go ... is thankful or ... learns to be honest. blah.

Burgess books are interesting entertaining and a good read. Hopefully the little lessons learned by the animals were also learned and put away in the back of my daughter's mind!

But if not, that's ok. A book is meant to entertain and if it did that, that works for me.

They are a little 'old-fashioned' meaning the sun is called: Mr. round red jolly sun, the wind is Old Mother West Wind, a breeze is One of Mother West Wind's Children, the Merry Little Breezes etc. Quaint and not exactly science but endearing nonetheless. But other than that these books are science in story form. The stories are about real life things that frogs or bears or skunks do or could do. Unlike most books with animals as main characters where they learn to ride bikes, win the spelling bee at school etc. Beginning animal lore for young children. Or budding animal lovers.

If you miss any of these from your local library many are also on Gutenberg's free books site.

Personally I think that these should be re-released with new covers and realistic pictures so kids will read them again. After looking up Amazon, it seems they have been re-released in paperback form.

The books themselves:

Mother West Wind's Children: The Merry Little Breezes are a curious group. They keep asking Grandfather Frog to tell them stories about why things are the way they are. Grandfather explains to them why Hooty the Owl doesn't come out during the day, why Bobby Coon washes his food, why Striped Chipmunk has pockets in his cheeks.

Morals/ values/ lessons intertwined in the book: Cheaters & thieves don't win, don't tell false tales, industry & hard work are rewarded, laugh at self- don't be a cry baby.


The Dear Old Briar Patch: The story of goings-on in the Briar Patch of Peter Rabbit. Mrs. Peter has babies but doesn't tell Peter. Why not?

Bob White: The story of Bob White (aka quail) and his family as they try to keep hidden from their many predators. One day little bob white is shot by a hunter. What will happen to him after his family flies away from the hunter?

Morals/ values/ lessons intertwined in the book: Cheerfulness, wise planning, keeping secrets, anti-hunting for fun sentiments.

Bobby Coon: Poor Bobby awakes from his winter nap to find his tree being chopped down! He is injured in the fall but taken good care of by Farmer Brown' Boy His trial are not yet over. Bobby must find a new home but that is harder than he thinks.

Morals/ values/ lessons intertwined in the book: helping others, not worrying needlessly, losing your temper.

Old Mother West Wind: A group of stories with Mother West Wind or her Little Breezes helping the animals of the Meadow and forest. A couple of 'how the xxx got/ lost zzz' stories also that were quite entertaining.

Morals/ values/ lessons intertwined in the book: vanity, friendship, contentment, helpfulness.

Buster Bear: Buster moves to the Green Woods. This doesn't please the other animals because he takes 'their' fish, and they are frightened of him. But when the animals find out that Farmer Brown's Boy is afraid of Buster, they look at him with new eyes...until they find out the next personality trait Buster shows.

Morals/ values/ lessons intertwined in the book: temper, new friends come to the neighborhood.



Danny Meadow Mouse: Danny gets upset because he has a short tail. He also gets caught by Hooty the Owl, who wants him for dinner.

Morals/ values/ lessons intertwined in the book: greed, anger, envy, kindness, friendship, look before you leap.


Grandfather Frog: He decides it's time for him to see more of the world. A little risk keeps life exciting. He has some exciting adventures before discovering 'there's no place like home'.

Morals/ values/ lessons intertwined in the book: greed, mischieviousness, thoughtlessness, patience.

Old Man Coyote: Something is making a new sound in the Green Meadows/ Green Forest. The animals don't know what it could be. When it is discovered who has moved in, Granny Fox is determined to oust them from HER feeding grounds. Granny is in for a surprise because this stranger isn't easy to fool.

Morals/ values/ lessons intertwined in the book: courage, resisting temptation, good planning(less) (less)

[Haley · Rating 4 out of 5]

My daughter asked to do more animal stories by Burgess, so we chose this one and read it aloud. It took several weeks as it comes in around 150 pages (?) but we enjoyed every minute together. The stories are broken into very doable chapters for young attention spans. Even my son, who is two, will sit and listen to these for a time. Impressive, especially as pictures in these editions are scarce.

[Omdog · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had to justify that it was really my 3 year-old self that wanted to put the 5 star rating on this book. Also, took forever looking through the 8 pages my search returned of Thornton Burgess related material, to find even one copy of the editions I have.

I need to read these stories again- actually for the first time really, since they were read to me when I was between the ages of 2 and 5.

I will say this, picking them up and reading through the chapter titles, I found myself squealing over familiar names like Jerry Muskrat, Grandfather Frog, and *especially* The Merry Little Breezes.

[Ketutar Jensen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is, of course, very nice. But not the best "how did" books I've read. I prefer Just So Stories as that, and The Tales of Uncle Remus: The Adventures of Brer Rabbit as Americana folk tales. (Now, I read that as an excellent Finnish translation, I don't like the style of writing, as I'm not very good with... I don't know if that is Ebonics or something else, but I like to read my English as proper as possible. After all, it's a foreign language to me.)
This is not written with any kind of accent or slang, but it is a bit... too "educational" to my taste. I keep thinking about Animal Farm, and that is not something one should be thinking about when reading a children's book :-D So, only 4 stars.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think that very young children might like the stories in this classic in which Thornton W. Burgess introduces animal behavior, more or less, through a colony of local field and pond characters dressed up in human clothes. I have always been impatient with children's wildlife tales that have been overly anthropomorphisized but there are some charming things in the book. The MERRY LITTLE BREEZES and their curiosity about the past are my favorites. Mother West Wind dumps them out of a bag each morning to play among the trees and flowers and off they go for the day. Grandfather Frog is a wealth of local family history among the animals. I liked the story of the Disappointed Bush, and Johnny Chuck's Great Fight gave me a new perspective on the dreaded wood chuck, aka ground hog, which tends to eat a garden bare. Reddy Fox gets very bad press, and they are all in dreadful need of a smart new tailor.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thornton Burgess really does write some of the best read-alouds. Whereas most of his other books that I've read focus on one particular character for the length of the book, this one jumps around, telling origin fables for many of his animal characters. Why do owls only come out at night? Why do toads eat the skin they shed? Why does a rabbit have long ears? These questions are answered while also teaching simple moral lessons for kids in each chapter. Great stuff, just as I've come to expect. (And, yes, my daughter is a fan as well.)

[Cognatious Thunk · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm pretty sure I read one of Thornton Burgess' books when I was younger, although when and which one is hazy. Perhaps, his writings merely feel familiar because they echo the Peter Rabbit stories, that formed from the old Briar Rabbit tales, that developed when the legends of Anansi melded with European animal tales, all of which I read smatterings of as a child. Perhaps I hadn't read one of Burgess' works as a child at all and his work is instead connecting with my collective unconscious. Either way, reading this felt nostalgic.

[Mark Rabideau · Rating 5 out of 5]

My oldest grandson (age 7) and I just finished this wonderful classic. He thoroughly enjoyed the fables;and, found them interesting and fun. He, also, especially enjoyed the poems in the final chapter. We both eagerly await the next volume (for our breakfast reading time).

[Debra · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved Mother West Wind stories as a child. Nice to revisit a classic from time to time courtesy of a summer reading challenge.

[Ariane · Rating 3 out of 5]

reading classics from my youth. not as good as I remembered, especially the illustrations, sigh.

[Briana Cho · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun read-aloud with the kiddos.
The last chapter was our least favorite but we enjoyed everything else!

[Ruth · Rating 5 out of 5]

My primary reason for reading this book was nostalgia. Books by this author in this series were read to us in elementary school. They are children's books, but I read what I enjoy. Mr. Burgess wrote over 70 books, I haven't researched them all. The stories grew out of his love for nature and began as stories to his son. Animals and even nature itself become characters. This volume is a collection of "why" stories. For an adult, I would consider them a sweet escape, and as I remembered, this would be an excellent "read-out-loud" book.

[Jeanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not the delightful romp through childhood I had been hoping for. It was cute, but terribly repetitive, and I imagine that would make it fun for small children.
Still it was pleasant and charming in its old-fashioned style of telling fables of the meadow and forest.
I did feel it picked on certain members of the wild creature world, making them villains, while it incredibly favorably anthropomorphized so many of the others.
Mother Nature loves all her children, but Thornton obviously did not.
And you know, it's not nice to fool Mother Nature.

[Terri Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't know how I missed these books as a child but as a homeschool mom, they were recommended to me and we just thoroughly loved them. Thornton Burgess was a naturalist and it shows in these fun tales about a variety of animals who live in the most enchanting places- forests, meadows, and ponds! The stories are so charming! I love the trouble the animals get into and their adventures.

[Boyschool · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love these books!

All of them are very sweet and innocent and include lovely moral lessons and character lessons. It's so hard to find beautiful reading for children these days, and these books are beautiful indeed!

[Cheryl Hendricks · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is full of lovely stories about the animals who live around the Green Meadow. Each story has a moral to teach children. I loved these books as a child and recommend them to the children of today.

[Ursula · Rating 4 out of 5]

10YO girl enjoyed.

[Nancy Boyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved reading this while series to my children; great read-alouds!

[Bryan Spahr]

read for school in 3rd grade