Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: Rootabaga Stories, Part Two by Carl Sandburg, Michael Hague ISBN: 0-15-269063-8 Publisher: Odyssey Classics Pub. Date: 15 March, 1990 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $7.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.86 (7 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: For A Childhood of Broad Shoulders
Comment: Carl Sandburg's *Rootabaga Stories* (once collected in a rather hefty volume, now available serially as they were originally released) are well-enough known that many may find it puzzling that these stories -- which seemed so wonderful to them as children -- are not more widely read and spoken of. I certainly do: but I wonder if the salient quality of the *Rootabagas*, the "vividness" emphasized by Maud and Miska Petersham's clean-line expressionist illustrations, make them something of the juvenile counterpart to Sandburg's multi-volume biography of Lincoln (a memento of an American past not fondly remembered by many). In other words, we might perhaps conjecture (quietly if necessary) that these stories were intended to 'equilibrate' children in an industrialized present, something like Walter Benjamin's cinema, and that the flavor of the monumental (which intimated to the post-war reader that they were in the presence of greatness) may not be to the taste of those not prepared to shoulder the burden of social control. But for those of us with sympathy for Robert Capa and suchlike, it is pleasing that we have a new "friend" in Libros Viajeros, who are making this book available as the imposing lump it ought to be; and perhaps it is still the case, even in this era of shorter school hours and an unfriendlier public sphere, that every child ought to have a hardback book. If so, this would not be the worst one.
Rating: 5
Summary: Childhood memories
Comment: I must have had my dad read these stories a million times at bed time. I remember always bugging him to read one more story. It has been so many years since then and I can't wait to read them to my own children, although i don't think I can do the voices quit so well. The illustrations in the hardcover edition were beautiful and i would spend so much time pretending with my little sister that we lived in rootabaga country. It will be a pleasure to reread all the stories of my childhood. When i would pick rootabaga stories at bedtime even over everybodies all time favorite Winnie-the-pooh.
Rating: 5
Summary: American Fairy Tales
Comment: Carl Sandburg, winner of Pulitzer Prizes both for his biography of Abraham Lincoln and for his COMPLETE POEMS, explores another genre in ROOTABAGA STORIES, fairy tales that he wrote for his daughters. When asked how he wrote the stories, Sandburg replied, "The children asked questions, and I answered them."
The ROOTABAGA STORIES are unconventional in almost every way. Unlike traditional fairy tales, they have no perfect princesses and evil witches. They are American fairy tales with a rural flavor and, in fact, they have no evil characters. The settings, though fanciful, include images that defined America in the 1920s, when the stories were published: the railroad, which "ran across the prairie, to the mountains, to the sea," and the skyscraper.
In Rootabaga Country the railroad tracks go from straight to zigzag, the pigs wear bibs (some checked, some striped, some polka-dotted), and the biggest city is the Village of Liver-and-Onions. Characters in this fanciful world are equally peculiar: Please Gimme, Blixie Blimber, Eeta Peeca Pie, and dozens of others. Children and literary critics alike would be hard-pressed to explain (even symbolically) the events that occur in the stories. Nevertheless, meaning comes through and truth is revealed. For example, in "Three Boys with Jugs of Molasses and Secret Ambitions," ambition is defined as "a little creeper that creeps and creeps in your heart night and day, singing a little song, 'Come and find me, come and find me.'" Who would expect that "The Two Skyscrapers Who Decided to Have a Child" would have an absolutely poignant ending?
Although the events of the stories may not be explainable, the stories are replete with concrete images. Sandburg provides both visual and auditory description with musical, repetitious phrases and novel juxtaposition of words ("a daughter who is a dancing shaft of light on the ax handles of morning"). Occasionally he invents words, such as "pfisty-pfoost," the sound of the train's steam engine, and "bickerjiggers," the buttons on an accordion.
ROOTABAGA STORIES are wonderful for reading aloud. They provide an opportunity for readers and listeners to delight in language and revel in truths revealed in a fanciful world.
 |
Title: More Rootabaga Stories by Carl Sandburg, Maud and Miska Petersham ISBN: 0152047069 Publisher: Odyssey Classics Pub. Date: 01 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $5.95 |
 |
Title: The Huckabuck Family : and How They Raised Popcorn in Nebraska and Quit and Came Back by Carl Sandburg, David Small ISBN: 0374335117 Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux Pub. Date: 07 September, 1999 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
 |
Title: Sandburg Out Loud: A Selection of Carl Sandburg's Rootabaga Stories, Poetry, and Folksongs Collected in the American Songbag by Carl Sandburg, Carol Birch, Angela Lloyd, Bill Harley ISBN: 087483676X Publisher: August House Audio Pub. Date: January, 2003 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
 |
Title: The Wedding Procession of the Rag Doll and the Broom Handle and Who Was in It by Carl Sandburg, Harriet Pincus ISBN: 0156954877 Publisher: Voyager Books Pub. Date: September, 1987 List Price(USD): $6.00 |
 |
Title: The Trumpet of the Swan by E. B. White ISBN: 0064408671 Publisher: HarperTrophy Pub. Date: 31 October, 2000 List Price(USD): $6.50 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
