The Adventures of Peter Cottontail

Thornton W. Burgess

Courier Corporation, Mar 1, 2012 - Juvenile Fiction - 96 pages

One of the most beloved characters in children's literature, Peter Cottontail is up to his long-whiskered nose in rib-tickling escapades in this delightful classic. With gentle charm and humor, famed storyteller Thornton W. Burgess draws young readers into the timeless world of the Green Forest, the Smiling Pool and the Purple Mountains.
Warmth and whimsy are the order of the day as Peter discovers the folly of changing his name, outwits the ever-hungry Reddy Fox, manages a number of hare's-breadth escapes and finally makes an ill-advised decision to hibernate-as Johnny Chuck and other woodland creatures do. The silliness of trying to do what nature never intended is one of the gentle morals of these adventures that combine the fun of a good story with little lessons about wildlife, the environment and being true to one's self.
Newly reset in large easy-to-read type, this unabridged childhood classic will delight young readers today just as it did their parents and grandparents.

About the author

Thornton Waldo Burgess was born in Sandwich on January 14, 1874. Burgess graduated from Sandwich High School in 1891, and went on to attend a Business College in Boston from 1892-93. At the age of 17, Burgess briefly lived in Boston and then moved to Springfield, Massachusetts. He bought a place in Hampden, Massachusetts in 1925 and made it his permanent home in 1957. He published his first book, Old Mother West Wind, in 1910 Burgess was a naturalist and conservationist, and loved loved nature and its living creatures so much that he wrote about them for 50 years. By the time he retired, he had written more than 170 books and 15,000 stories for daily columns in newspapers. Burgess was also actively involved with conservation efforts. Some of his projects over his lifetime included: The Green Meadow Club for land conservation programs. The Bedtime Stories Club for wildlife protection programs, the Happy Jack Squirrel Saving Club for War Savings Stamps & Bonds, the Radio Nature League broadcast from WBZA Springfield, MA., as well as helping to pass laws protecting migrant wildlife. For his efforts, an Honorary Literary Degree was bestowed upon Burgess in 1938 from Northeastern University. The Boston Museum of Science awarded him a gold medal for "leading children down the path to the wide wonderful world of the outdoors." He was also awarded the distinguished Service Medal of the Permanent Wildlife Protection Fund. In 1960, Burgess published his last book, Now I Remember, an autobiography. That same year, Burgess at the age of 83, had published his 15,000th story. From 1912 to 1960, without interruption, Burgess wrote a syndicated daily newspaper column titled "Bedtime Stories". Thornton Burgess died June 5, 1965, at the age of 91. The Thornton W. Burgess Society was incorporated in 1976.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Adventures of Peter Cottontail; Dover children's thrift classics
• Author: Thornton W. Burgess
• Edition: revised
• Publisher: Courier Corporation, 2012
• ISBN: 0486111709, 9780486111704
• Length: 96 pages
• Subjects: Juvenile Fiction / Action & Adventure / General; Juvenile Fiction / Animals / Rabbits