Shelf Control #280: Little Joe Otter by Thornton Burgess

Wednesday, the 22nd of May, 2024, and time for Shelf Control once again! Shelf Control is a weekly feature created by Lisa at Bookshelf Fantasies, and celebrates the books waiting to be read on your TBR piles/mountains. Since early January 2023, Shelf Control has moved base here to Literary Potpourri. To participate, all you do is pick a book from your TBR pile, and write a post about it–what it’s about, when/where you got it, why you want to read it and such. If you participate, don’t forget to share your links in the comments. I’ll check out your picks of course, and also add you to the list of participants in this post.

Today’s pick like last week‘s is a little book but in a very different genre, though one I read and feature in these posts often–children’s literature. Thornton Burgess (1874-1965) was an American author of children’s books I came upon quite by accident some years ago when browsing for some quick reads. Known for his newspaper column bedtime stories which gave him the name ‘Bedtime Story Man’, Burgess was a prolific writer with over 170 books and 15,000 short stories to his credit. But when I read a couple of his books some years ago, I was surprised that he wasn’t better known (at least not in my part of the world) as his work was in much the same vein as that of Beatrix Potter (except he didn’t do his own illustrations; they were by Harrison Cady). He also seems to have used Potter’s Peter Rabbit as a character, though he had him behave more rabbit-like, but also created several of his own animal characters. In each of the books, we meet some of these as they get up to small adventures and bits of trouble, all of which is of course resolved at the end.

I didn’t however end up reading more after those initial few and one such which is on my shelves is my pick today, Little Joe Otter (1925). This one follows the Otter family as Joe Otter surprises his friends when he invites them to meet his wife. As the animals observe Mrs Joe and her two babies, so does Farmer Brown’s young boy. But it seems trouble for the young otters doesn’t come from the latter, but from other quarters, a coyote, in fact. Is the little otter rescued in time? What other adventures befall the otter family?

The sounds and looks a lovely read, and from a flip through of the book, I find Harrison Cady has made some lovely illustrations for it too (in my e copy, these are black and white). Especially since it’s been a while since I read one of these, I do want to read it soon both because I think I’ll enjoy it and also so see how it actually compares with Potter.

Have you read any books by Burgess? How did you like them?

In case you’re joining in with Shelf Control this week, do leave your links so I can add you to the participants’ list!

Author info from Wikipedia and Cape Cod Life; cover image Goodreads