The Adventures of Peter Cottontail and His Green Forest Friends

A free copy of this book was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
The Adventures of Peter Cottontail and His Green Forest Friends is actually a collection of three books written by Thornton W. Burgess, about Reddy Fox, Peter Rabbit and Grandfather Frog, all of whom live in the Green Forest.
This is a fairly innocent collection of books (most of these stories were first published in the 1910-20s) which are reminiscent of the stories of Beatrix Potter. In each of these collections, the main character gets into some kind of scrape and finds out that not only do all of their animal friends step up to help them, but that none of them are as clever as they first thought. Out of all three stories, I liked the one exploring Reddy Fox's life the best. A naughty fox who lives with his wily, old grandmother, he gets into all kind of scrapes hunting for food or trying to catch the other animals to have for his dinner. As this was the first story in the volume, the other two characters seemed a little less interesting by comparison. I also (in another Potter reference, although I'm not sure it was deliberate) could not get over the fact that one of the characters is called Peter Rabbit. I just couldn't read about this new character and get involved with his character's trials and adventures without thinking about the Peter Rabbit I grew up with who hunted for carrots in Mr Mcgregor's garden. It kind of spoiled that story for me, especially as this story compares unfavorably to that one.
All in all though, I think this was a really sweet collection of stories that would be great for young readers, and it has some nice illustrations to match. 3 stars.

Given To Me For An Honest Review This book is a collaboration by Thornton W. Burgess and Harrison Cady. It has 3 stories included. They are Grandfather Frog, Reddy Fox, and Peter Cottontail. These stories teach children several behaviors which are forgiveness, friendship, honesty among many more. It is a very good book for any child's bookshelf whether at home or at school. The pictures are bright and colorful. It is a fun read. I wish I could give it more than 5 stars.

A beautiful reprint omnibus of three tales for children originally published in 1913 -15, complete with all the original illustrations by Harrison Cady. The books tell the adventures of Reddy Fox, Peter Cottontail and Grandfather Frog and are totally delightful, old-fashioned collections of short stories about each character with these and other animal characters playing tricks, misbehaving and generally having fun interrelating with other wildlife in the natural environment. They are written in a similar style to the Beatrix Potter tales and are just as enjoyable!

Highly recommended for reading to younger children or reading independently for more independent readers. Children may need some of the historical terms explaining to them but this is educational, not a negative!

This book is split into three sections, telling the tales of three characters: Peter Rabbit, Grandfather Frog and Reddy Fox. Burgess has written the stories in a style which is somewhat akin to that of Beatrix Potter. Each tale is wonderfully enchanting, with adventure, mischief and humour interspersed throughout. This would be a lovely book to read to children as a bedtime story as some of the language used is sometimes a bit old fashioned and would need explaining to them. Each story is short and well paced, making them enjoyable and relatively quick to read through. Each story also has a moral, with characters coming to value strengths such as loyalty, honesty, forgiveness, friendship and kindness. These would also be brilliant to use, from a teaching perspective, as a focus to use in PSHE lessons.

A lovely story well worth sharing with younger ones.

This new edition of Thorton W. Burgess' beloved tales is an unabridged republication of three books: The Adventures of Reddy Fox, The Adventures of Peter Cottontail, and The Adventures of Grandfather Frog. Originally published by Little, Brown, and Company in 1913-1915, these stories that have followed us through generations have been resurrected in a fresh compilation that you can read consecutively to your child or young class for maximum readability.

Thorton W. Burgess was born native of Massachusetts and began writing children's books in 1910. Ever since he was young, Burgess had a deep appreciation for nature and the endless possibilities it offered. This is reflected in his work and is shared across generations. He brought both children and adults to nature through an array of stories, especially his most famous character, Peter Rabbit. His legacy and philosophies live on through the Thorton W. Burgess Society, who operates the Green Briar Nature Center, Thorton W. Burgess Museum in Sandwich, MA, and inspires environmental education through several other mediums. I would highly suggest checking it out.

The Adventures of Peter Cottontail and His Green Forest Friends is the perfect book for any child's library. They will be entertained by the human-like critters and their many adventures. Any child will enjoy the many escapes into nature and the lives of Burgess' forest friends. The stories and chapters are short for the active reader, and there are plenty of pictures to help them visualize the stories and keep their attention.

One thing I love about this edition is that it includes all the original illustrations from Harrison Cady. They are very simple and clear so they are very easy on the young eye. There is also a list of the illustrations after the contents, so if you want to simply refer to the images, you have the opportunity to do that.

I would definitely recommend this as a staple piece to any children's library. If I were to change one thing about it, I would say that it would be beneficial to add some kind of educational tool like questions about the characters or nature at the end. Other than that, I really enjoyed this book!