My first chapter book ever was a Bedtime Stories from Thornton W. Burgess. So finding this book at a benefit sale was a delight. Even reading it as an adult, I still enjoyed it. The morals in these stories, as told by lovable forest animals, is wonderful. I hope to add more to my library.

When I was in Jr. High we had a raccoon. My dad found an injured, baby raccoon with no mama in sight and brought it home. He took care of it and it grew strong and healthy. We would feed the raccoon and it would sit on our shoulders or come when we called it. Soon, however, it was time for this little guy to go back to living like a raccoon (instead of a masked house cat). Well, my dad knew he couldn't just release him-- he had no true survival skills and no healthy fear of humans. What to do? Well, luckily a few years before this we had a falcon. This falcon had an injured wing and we didn't know if it would survive. My dad, like Farmer Brown's son, brought the bird home, set up a big pen in the cellar, and nursed it back to health. This falcon was loud, raucous, and generally not very happy to be in our cellar. When it healed, it still couldn't fly properly. My dad knew that he couldn't release the bird or it would die. So he called Laughing Brook. Yep, the Laughing Brook of Thornton Burgess fame. Located in the town of Hampden, Massachusetts, right next to Springfield, MA where we lived. They took in the falcon, since they had a bird sanctuary. I remember going to visit "our bird" later that summer, and seeing all the other injured and abandoned birds. So anyway, when it came time to release the raccoon, he knew just who to call. I remember that the raccoon was harder to place than the bird, but they did agree to take him in the end. So, for obvious reasons, The Adventures of Bobby Coon is a book near and dear to my heart.