Old Mother West Wind

A racoon awakes from his winter nap to find his tree being chopped down. An old frog decides that now is the time to see more of the world. A mouse gets upset because his tail is short – and because an owl wants to eat him for dinner. With his love and respect for nature and animals at his fingertips, Thornton W. Burgess’ created some of the world’s best children’s stories with his first collection, ‘Old Mother West Wind’ (1910). Each story has relatable characters and a subtle moral that is not at all preachy. This collection introduces some of Burgess’ famous characters that would pop up in his later books, like Peter Rabbit and Bobby Raccoon.


Thornton W. Burgess (1874-1965) was an American children’s book author and naturalist. He wrote more than a hundred books and thousands of short stories until his death at 91 years old.