The Sandman: His Farm Stories

by William John Hopkins

Twenty-one stories of the everyday doings of Little John around the fetching water, grinding corn, making cider, growing wheat, boiling maple syrup, and so on. Numerous black and white illustrations enliven the text. First volume in a series of a stories created by a father to induce a certain little boy to go to sleep. For nearly three years his one listener heard them repeated many times, and his interest never flagged. As the farm stories slowly grew in number, eventually to fill two volumes, they entirely displaced the other stories, and that farm became as real in the mind of his listener as it was in fact when little John was driving the cows or planting the corn in the early part of the nineteenth century. Later came two more volumes about a ship and its voyages at sea, and a final volume on house building. Ideal for ages 5 to 7.

132 pages, Paperback

First published January 23, 2009

About the author

Hopkins, William John 1863-1926
Hopkins, John, 1863-1926
Hopkins, William J.

Reviews

[Angela Bergeron · Rating 4 out of 5]

My 5 year old loved these stories. She loved the predictable nature of the starting paragraph describing the farm and memorized. She liked how a lot of the stories ended the same with and that's all or the oxen went into the barn and went to sleep. Some may think that nothing really happens, but the story of life is delightful to this age group. I've read this book to my daughter twice and she enjoyed the next in the series just as much.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nothing much happens and yet my kids loved this book as a final story while laying in bed.