I loved all of these books when I was a kid. My mother read them to us. I bought a bunch, intending to read them to my kids, but they didn't really ever like them. Oh well. I have always enjoyed the stories of how the animals interact with each other, and the tricks they play on each other, and how they play out the roles of predator and prey but in a fun, child-safe way.

3.5. My 6 year old liked this, and I thought it was a pleasant book with little to be concerned about. The moral is taught without being overbearing, and the animal characters are a lot of fun. I, however, could have done with some more imaginative names. This is an old book and one we received from a grandparent. I think my 4 year old might enjoy it more, though my 6 year old liked learning (and explaining what he already knew) about the habits of animals.

I picked up this cute little book from a used book store while on vacation last year in North Carolina. It was mostly enjoyable and a great way to teach some moral lessons to children while also teaching about the forest and animals. Although full of great information, it was a little boring at times and actually fairly lengthy (68 pages and reads like a novella) for a children’s book. This was written in 1917, and I wonder how much we regressed in reading skills if this was the standard for children then. It’s interesting to think how children responded to this back in 1917 as opposed to how they would respond now.

This was one of my Mum's childhood books

With winter approaching, Paddy Beaver must locate a place for his dam. He chooses to build it deep in the Green Forest. He cuts down trees with his sharp teeth and piles the logs in an intricate pattern. Soon the other creatures living in and near Laughing Brook know that something unusual is happening, because the water in the brook is drying up. The minnows in Smiling Pond are afraid that soon there won't be enough water to cover their backs. A big group of woodland creatures gather each day to watch Paddy. When the dam is finished, the brook begins again to flow on its merry way just as Paddy promised it would. Now, it’s time for Paddy to build his house. Jeremy Muskrat, Paddy’s cousin, takes a great interest in how Paddy does it. He doesn’t think Paddy knows what he’s doing and shares his doubts with Peter Rabbit who promptly tells anyone who will listen. However, Paddy shows that he does indeed know how to build a nice water tight home with three underground entrances. Meanwhile, Old Man Coyote wonders why the forest seems so deserted. As he searches for the woodland creatures, he discovers Paddy Beaver’s new dam and home. Having heard that beaver meat is a rare delicacy, Old Man Coyote decides that Paddy would make a delicious meal and decides to catch him one night while he cuts aspen trees (which are his favorite type of bark) for his winter food supply. However, Old Man Coyote leaves a footprint in the muddy bank which alerts Paddy. He determines to outsmart the old coyote by cutting his food logs during the day. Then at night, when Old Man Coyote comes to catch him, Paddy never has to go ashore. He spends his night moving the logs he left floating in the brook to his underwater storage area. While the coyote watches Paddy, he figures out that Paddy is working during the day. So the next morning, Old Man Coyote comes back to grab the beaver, but Sammy Jay raises the alarm just in time for Paddy to slip into the water. After this, Paddy and Sammy Jay form a partnership. Sammy watches for Old Man Coyote while Paddy builds a canal to float logs from the upper meadow to the brook. Paddy is able to lay in enough aspen logs for the winter, and Sammy Jay enjoys outsmarting the coyote.
©2024 Kathy Maxwell at https://bookskidslike.com

A classic children’s story. My kindergartener enjoyed it. Fairly slow moving.

I must have read 15 Thornton Burgess books on animals that had adventures. I read them as I walked from school. I looked up only at the street corners. Otherwise, I read as I walked home every day.

I've really enjoyed rereading these stories that my father used to read to my brother and I when we were kids. My boys (now men) never really took to these books. However, I undertook to read all of these books before I eliminated them from my Kindle. There are 19 books in the Bedtime Storybook collection written by Thornton W. Burgess and illustrated wonderfully by Harrison Cady. This is book #15.

Paddy Beaver is a new resident of the Green Forest, Green Meadow milieu choosing to make his home in the Smiling Pool, Laughing Brook area. Paddy is a diligent and conscientious worker, who works hard at constructing a dam that doubles as his home. He is careful not to cut down more trees than he needs to fortify his constructs, knowing that if he thins the forest too much by his home, he is harming not only his surroundings but other critters indigenous to the forest.

Despite the similarity to the other adventures, Paddy is unique in the sense of making deliberate, moral choices that impact not just his own existence, but his environment as well -- consisting of flora and fauna. I love how he outsmarts Old Man Coyote, befriends Sammy Jay (a potential enemy), and assists other beasties. Definitely a really good book in my opinion. Highly recommended.

I learned things I did not know about beavers!

We have actually read a number of these little stories about the creatures in the Green Forest, Green Meadows, Smiling Pond and Farmer Brown’s farm, pastures, and orchard. They are all very cute and good re-alouds.

The Burgess Books

This is a phrase that brings a smile to my face as often as I hear it. As a young child, I would lose myself for hours in the simple world of the wood and pond inhabited by Little Joe Otter, Buster Bear, Grandfather Frog, and terrorized by Farmer Brown's Boy. I can remember the very shelf, even the exact spot in the little library in Felton, CA where these books were kept. I would return practically every week with a new armload to last me until our next trip to the library. Often I would carry out stories that I read several times before, just so I could once again escape into this imaginary world of furry mischief.

I remember these books well in concept, though the specifics of most of the stories elude me. It was easily fifteen years ago when I began reading them and has been over a decade since I last picked up one of Burguess' stories to read it. That being said, this review is being written as a look back.

These stories are very simple and very fun. Of course, they are children's literature, so that's to be expected, but these stories strike me as especially so. Even still, I can remember some fascinating things I gleaned between the their covers.

For one thing, Burgess did a fantastic job of presenting the ideas of persepective and motivation in simplistic terms. For example, "The Adventures of Danny Field Mouse" would cast Old Man Coyote as a vicious, mean creature wishing to prey on Danny and his friends and family. Yet, pick up instead "The Adventures of Old Man Coyote" and you'll see that when the story is told with him as the protagonist, those pesky field mice are annoying and useful for little more than a snack. After reading both books, you're no more inclined to think of Old Man Coyote as a villian than you are to think of Danny Field Mouse as a pest that should be exterminated. (Note: This is a generic example. I do not recall if Old Man Coyote plays a role in Danny Field Mouse's story or the other way around, but this concept was presented several times. It made an impression on me.)

The only characters consistantly presented as antagonists were Farmer Brown and his boy. This would be one of the only things that I chalk up as odd, or maybe just a little "off" in these books. Humans and their influence on nature are presented as a negative influence on nature and animals - always. It's interesting to note though that while humans are seen as a negative, humanity is lauded and held up as virtuous. All of the animals take on not only human personalities but characteristics, traits, and mannerisms. From a frog with a monocle and an otter with a handkerchief tied to a stick, to a busy-body Jay and a reclusive owl who desires only to be left alone, humanity and it's traits keep cropping up.

Which would be another thing of value I feel that I saw in the Burgess books. These stories are full of social interaction and personality conflicts, even if they are charicatured more often than not. We see over and over again a working out of peace, if not harmony, between conflicting personalities. It may not always be easy to point out a scripture to reinforce the lesson implied, but social harmony is presented and more often than not, resolution is through reconciliation, forgiveness, or a similar method that is not only laudable, but distinctly Christian in action if not motivation.

All in all, the world created by Thornton W. Burgess is imaginative, innocent, fun, and educational. My reccomendation? Grab a handful from your local library, gather a group of kids as an excuse, and lose yourselves in childhood imaginations as you read aloud the stories that have captivated several generations of young readers with the antics of our furry, albiet elusively human, friends.

(Disclaimers: As I said, it has been over a decade since I actually read one of Burgess' books. As such, there may be a specific example that's a little off in this review or something that I would have noticed as an adult that my childhood memories are missing. Also, all of these books say I read them in 1998. While I'm certain I read several of them that year, I'm sure I read some before and after that date as well.)

'Work, work all night/While the stars are shining bright;/Work, work, all the day;/I have got no time to play' was a little rhyme that Paddy the Beaver sang as he toiled at building the dam which was to make the pond that he so much desired deep in the Green Forest. The rhyme wasn't quite true because, of course, he had to rest and sleep as well. Even so of all the workers in the Green Forest, in the Green Meadow and in the Smiling Pool none of the other animals could compare with Paddy the Beaver. Even though his cousin Jerry Muskrat was a diligent worker he did not compare to Paddy!

He worked hard on the aspen trees and making those he felled into strips for his dam. He dragged them from the wood to the stream and then set about building. While he was doing this Sammy Jay continually shouted 'Thief, thief! You're stealing our trees' at him but Paddy told him that he had as much right to them as Sammy did to eat the acorns that fell in the autumn. Jerry told Paddy to ignore Sammy as he was the greatest mischief maker in the Green Forest.

Other of Paddy's friends came to watch his endeavour but there was one mischief maker who wanted to wreck the whole project and in the process feast himself on Paddy. And that was Old Man Coyote, who did everything he could to catch Paddy when he was collecting the wood for the dam and then for the house he was to build in the pond that he created.

But Old Man Coyote did not work out Paddy's work schedule as well as he could have done and Paddy out-foxed him! And even though at one point Sammy and Jerry were wondering if what Paddy was building in the pond would meet his requirements, Paddy knew exactly what he was doing. And with overhead help from Sammy, who kept watch for him his plans eventually cameto fruition.

Lovely coloured illustrations from Harrison Cady accompany the text.