Frederick Richardson's Book for Children
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Authors
Richardson, Frederick
Issue Date
1938
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Type
Book, Whole
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Abstract
The introduction describes this as a book of folk tales. Perhaps I am extending the sense of fable too far and pushing the book into the collection. Why? Because I find it such a classic and because I find Richardson's work so distinctive. I am surprised to find an apparent first edition available and inexpensive. That same introduction has several other worthwhile contributions. This was Richardson's last book. These stories appeal to all ages, but they have become known as children's stories because they introduce the very young to the wonderland of romance and high adventure. I find it significant, finally, that the introduction speaks of the stories as transcending frontier lines of nationality, race, or creed. In 1938 that point would have a special impact, I think. Of the ten stories, The Cat and the Mouse (67), Johnny and the Three Goats (75), and The Wolf and the Fox (83) may qualify as fables. Colored full-page and black-and-white partial-page illustrations alternate. The latter are complemented by dramatic initials. I find the colored illustrations especially attractive. The Cat and the Mouse is a progressive story. To get her tail back from the cat, the mouse has to go to the cow, the farmer, the butcher, and the baker, because each wants or needs something that the next has. Neither Johnny, nor the fox, nor the rabbit can get the goats out of the turnip field, but the lowly bee can, by buzzing around the ears of one goat after another. In The Wolf and the Fox, the fox on either of two occasions gets the wolf half of some food that has been prepared, but the greedy wolf wants more, and gets into trouble grabbing more. On the third occasion, the fox leads him into a cellar, but the fox keeps checking himself against the hole through which they came. The greedy wolf eats too much and can no longer fit through the hole. He gets at least a thorough beating out of it! By the way, Titty Mouse and Tatty Mouse (91) is more gruesome than I had known!
Description
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Publisher
M.A. Donohue & Company
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Journal
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Identifier
4621 (Access ID)