The Adventures of Mr. Mocker by Thornton Burgess, Fiction, Animals, Fantasy & Magic

The Bedtime Story Books

by Thornton W. Burgess

"If you please, Mistah Buzzard, you can tell me if there is anybody way down South where you come from who can make his voice sound just like the voices of other people. Is there?" Bobby was using his very politest manner. "Cert'nly! Cert'nly!" chuckled Ol' Mistah Buzzard. "It's Mistah Mockah the Mocking-bird. Why, that bird just likes to go around making trouble; he just naturally likes to." "He is right here in the Green Forest now," replied Bobby Coon. "What's that yo' am a-saying, Brer Coon? What's that?" cried Ol' Mistah Buzzard, growing very excited.

Genres: Classics, Childrens, Animals, Fiction, Fantasy

108 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1914

About the author

Thornton W. (Waldo) Burgess (1874-1965), American author, naturalist and conservationist, wrote popular children's stories including the Old Mother West Wind (1910) series. He would go on to write more than 100 books and thousands of short-stories during his lifetime.

Thornton Burgess loved the beauty of nature and its living creatures so much that he wrote about them for 50 years in books and his newspaper column, "Bedtime Stories". He was sometimes known as the Bedtime Story-Man. By the time he retired, he had written more than 170 books and 15,000 stories for the daily newspaper column.

Born in Sandwich, Massachusetts, Burgess was the son of Caroline F. Haywood and Thornton W. Burgess Sr., a direct descendant of Thomas Burgess, one of the first Sandwich settlers in 1637. Thornton W. Burgess, Sr., died the same year his son was born, and the young Thornton Burgess was brought up by his mother in Sandwich. They both lived in humble circumstances with relatives or paying rent. As a youth, he worked year round in order to earn money. Some of his jobs included tending cows, picking trailing arbutus or berries, shipping water lilies from local ponds, selling candy and trapping muskrats. William C. Chipman, one of his employers, lived on Discovery Hill Road, a wildlife habitat of woodland and wetland. This habitat became the setting of many stories in which Burgess refers to Smiling Pool and the Old Briar Patch.

Graduating from Sandwich High School in 1891, Burgess briefly attended a business college in Boston from 1892 to 1893, living in Somerville, Massachusetts, at that time. But he disliked studying business and wanted to write. He moved to Springfield, Massachusetts, where he took a job as an editorial assistant at the Phelps Publishing Company. His first stories were written under the pen name W. B. Thornton.

Burgess married Nina Osborne in 1905, but she died only a year later, leaving him to raise their son alone. It is said that he began writing bedtime stories to entertain his young son, Thornton III. Burgess remarried in 1911; his wife Fannie had two children by a previous marriage. The couple later bought a home in Hampden, Massachusetts, in 1925 that became Burgess' permanent residence in 1957. His second wife died in August 1950. Burgess returned frequently to Sandwich, which he always claimed as his birthplace and spiritual home.

In 1960, Burgess published his last book, "Now I Remember, Autobiography of an Amateur Naturalist," depicting memories of his early life in Sandwich, as well as his career highlights. That same year, Burgess, at the age of 86, had published his 15,000th story. He died on June 5, 1965, at the age of 91 in Hampden, Massachusetts.

Reviews

[Emma Filbrun · Rating 4 out of 5]

One morning, Unc Billy Possum thinks he hears the voice of an old friend of his. Forgetting all about finding food for his family, he spends the entire day searching, without success, for the owner of the voice. Sadly, he gives up the search. Soon, though, Sammy Jay is being accused of shrieking at odd hours of the night, when he is sure he is asleep. After that, Sticky-toes the Tree Toad is also accused of making noise when he is asleep. Eventually they solve the mystery, but then all the animals in the Green Forest start hearing their friends talking about them behind their backs, saying things that are not at all nice, and no one knows who he can trust anymore. Then, one day, Bobby Coon makes a discovery and Unc Billy Possum learns that he must treat others the way he wants to be treated.

Read my full review here.

[Jimyanni · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Thornton Burgess series in general is quite an endearing series of children's books, which do a fine job of being readable by young readers and having interesting plots and introducing young people to a variety of animals in a semi-anthropomorphized way. This particular entry, "The Adventures of Mr. Mocker" is a fine entry in the series; I dock it a star only because the title character is seen so little in the book. He is basically a background character, with the book focusing almost exclusively on the actions and thoughts of OTHER characters to what Mr. Mocker does while "offstage", so to speak. Still, it's fun, and it's a delightful read for a youngster, or for an older person who is willing to be a child again for the hour or so that it would take to read it.

[Noella · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sinds zijn vriend Billy Possum verhuisde naar het Groene Woud, heeft Mr. Mocker, de spotvogel, ook zin om dat te doen. Dus als Mr. Buzzard ook daarheen vertrekt, besluit de spotvogel om hem te volgen.
Sammy Jay denkt dat hij gek aan het worden is, want hoewel hij 's nachts slaapt, klagen alle dieren dat hij hen elke nacht wakker houdt met zin geroep. Ook de boomkikker kampt met hetzelfde probleem. Op een keer hoort Billy Possum dat de boomkikker zijn beklag hierover doet bij iemand anders, en hij beseft meteen dat zijn oude vriend Mr. Mocker zich in het groene woud bevindt. Hij gaat naar hem op zoek, en samen beramen ze een plannetje om de dieren nog meer voor de gek te houden. Maar hun grap loopt uit de hand, en uiteindelijk is Billy genoodzaakt om zich te verontschuldigen bij zijn vrienden. Hij houdt een groot feest waarop hij Mr. Mocker voorstelt aan iedereen. De dieren kunnen niet kwaad blijven als ze horen hoe mooi Mr. Mocker kan zingen, en spoedig is hij met iedereen bevriend en meer dan welkom om in het Groene Woud te blijven.

Weer een leuk verhaaltje over de dieren van het Groene Woud en de Groene Weide.

[Katja Labonté · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars & 3/10 hearts. This is an other humorous, entertaining read. It’s one of the very few Burgess books to have only one lesson—the moral—but its a good one. 

A Favourite Quote: “It was great fun to fool everybody so. They never once stopped to think how very, very uncomfortable it kept everybody feeling.”
A Favourite Beautiful Quote: “[H]he saw the little stars come out one by one. They seemed to be looking right down at him and winking at him in the jolliest way. Somehow, he didn't feel quite so lonely then[.]”
A Favourite Humorous Quote: “‘What's the matter with you?’ asked Jimmy Skunk, meeting Unc' Billy on the Crooked Little Path near the top of the hill. 
“‘Nuffin, nuffin, Sah! Ah'm just walking fo' mah health,’ replied Unc' Billy over his shoulder, as he hurried on. You see he didn't like to tell any one what he thought he had heard, for fear that it might not be true, and then they would laugh at him. 
“‘Didn't suppose Unc' Billy ever worried about his health,’ muttered Jimmy Skunk with a puzzled look[.]”

[Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another children's book for another reading challenge: a children's book I had not read. Burgess's tale seems to be a mash-up of the worlds of Peter Rabbit and Brer Rabbit, heavy on the Brer Rabbit with the southern accents of these animal characters. It's entertaining, and the mockingbird learns a lesson.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another gem! This one was different though as my six year old was not very interested. Maybe it was all the Southern accents that made it hard to understand what was going on? Or the long play farce - not enough action? Regardless, I ended up finishing this one by myself and I loved it! These characters are so amusing if you enjoy dry humor, which I absolutely do!

[Boyschool · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely

These books are so sweet,and my little girls just love them so much! We read 3 chapters every night at bedtime, and it’s just a perfect way to send them off to dreamland!

[Jon E · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked when everyone found out that it was Mister Mocker's voice that was calling "thief thief thief" and Sticky Toes and Sammy Jay wasn't doing it.

[Jannia González · Rating 5 out of 5]

The fact that there's this mysterious animal no one know how it looks made me feel scared. I was truly scared but it was very entertaining.

[Jonathan Marshall · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.)

[Louie the Mustache Matos · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really love the Bedtime Story books by Thornton Burgess, but I remember not liking this one for the very logical reason that Mr. Mocker, a completely new character, is introduced, but is apparently not present until the last couple of chapters. I remember Dad reading this one with all the requisite voices, but telling him that this one was a "gyp." I meant that it was a cheat. I won't give the plot point away, but I don't feel that way any more. I also understand why I felt the way that I did.

In this short novel, there are odd noises that are echoing through the Green Forest and Green Meadows all through the very darkest parts of the night. The animal denizens get frightened so deeply that they decide to investigate. Jerry Muskrat claims that it is Sammy Jay disturbing everyone, but Sammy Jay knows that the sounds have not been made by him. This is really a silly little children's story, classic.

Just like all the other Bedtime stories, there are animals behaving like people. Very fine story telling with some very nice black and white, pen and ink drawings. Recommended despite giving my caveats.

[Gemma Fasheun · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's a very good book for kids that likes animal stories.

[Nathaniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked it. It didn't really talk about him that much til the very end.

[Caleb · Rating 4 out of 5]

i liked it