Written by a real conservationist who understood the outdoors, May 16, 2017

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This review is from: Blacky the Crow (Kindle Edition)

Blacky was my second favorite Burgess character (#1 was Reddy Fox) when I was growing up. A rascal, a trouble maker, a thief and very sly, Burgess somehow makes Blacky likeable and fills his book with life lessons. I think that one reason I like Blacky was my experiences with real crows on my grandfather's farm. They were thieves who spoiled more than they ate, which was no small matter to a poor farmer. They were still interesting and difficult opponents. Sly, cautious, seldom taken by surprise, not fooled for long by scarecrows or decoys and hard to hunt, the real crows were every bit as clever as Blacky.

Some may object to an apparent anti-hunting message in this book. A closer read will reveal that Burgess is objecting to unethical hunting practices. True, Blacky and the others do not like hunters or their "terrible" guns. This did not bother me as a child who loved nature and hunting. I understood that of course the anthropomorphic prey animals would not like hunters, human or other animals. Burgess was a hunter and a naturalist who understood and loved the outdoors and communicated that in his stories. If you haven't already done so, introduce a child to Burgess to help begin a love affair with the outdoors.

As usual, there are no illustrations in the free Kindle edition.

Written by a real conservationist who understood the outdoors, May 16, 2017

Verified Purchase(What's this?)

This review is from: Blacky the Crow (Kindle Edition)

Blacky was my second favorite Burgess character when I was growing up. A rascal, a trouble maker, a thief and very sly, Burgess somehow makes Blacky likeable and fills his book with life lessons. I think that one reason I like Blacky was my experiences with real crows on my grandfather's farm. They were thieves who spoiled more than they ate, which was no small matter to a poor farmer. They were still interesting and difficult opponents. Sly, cautious, seldom taken by surprise, not fooled for long by scarecrows or decoys and hard to hunt, the real crows were every bit as clever as Blacky.

Some may object to an apparent anti-hunting message in this book. A closer read will reveal that Burgess is objecting to unethical hunting practices. True, Blacky and the others do not like hunters or their "terrible" guns. This did not bother me as a child who loved nature and hunting. Of course the anthropomorphic prey animals would not like hunters, human or other animals. Burgess was a hunter and a naturalist who understood and loved the outdoors and communicated that in his stories. If you haven't already done so, introduce a child to Burgess to help begin a love affair with the outdoors.

As usual, there are no illustrations in the free Kindle edition.

Repetitive and nauseatingly moralistic. The author apparently believes that kids won't catch the moral of his story unless he explicitly tells them, over and over, in every chapter, what he's getting at. I can't imagine that I would have enjoyed this a child.

Charming in a nostalgic way

I have a distinct bias for the fables of the green Forrest as my Grandma read them to me. I like the natural accuracy but they are really not the well written. There is more passion then skill here.

I’ve tried reading them to my boys around age 8 but they weren’t interested. Maybe it’s nostalgia or nothing

I would say Thornton Burgess is one of my children's favorite authors. Black the Crow is an excellent addition to their collection. My son really enjoyed that Blacky was always planning mischief but it never turned out well. My daughter's favorite part was where Farmer Brown's Boy was fooling the hunter. Both of my children enjoy learning about and reading anything that involves nature, so Black the Crow was perfect for them.

2020 read aloud with W age 6.

Blacky the Crow loves eggs. He is very surprised one morning, as he flies over the Green Forest, to see an egg in Redtail the Hawk’s abandoned nest. Who could be laying eggs in the winter? Does Blacky dare to try to get the egg? He investigates for several days, and then develops a plan to steal that egg, and maybe even the other one that appears. Does he succeed? Even though this story is fairly juvenile for my boys, they begged for more and more chapters.

Read my full review here.

could read it, the writing was so poor. was able to skim only. despite that it may work as a read aloud for first graders?

Bedtime story for my boys. They didn't want me to stop reading each night.

Why does Blacky the Crow have yellow legs, sclera, and beak? Does he have jaundice? Did he get jaundice from too much crowberry wine? Why is he wearing clothes? Does he have mad crow disease? If Blacky isn't mad, why is Sammy Jay naked? Is this where the expression "naked as a jaybird" comes from?

Good book

Was a little concerned about the title of this one, but excellent writing. Only second chapter book I’ve read aloud to Leo. We both enjoyed. Nice short chapters. Loved the chapter about Farmer Brown’s boy debating on taking the egg. Eager to read some more of these.