"The Adventures Of Chatterer The Red Squirrel" BY Thornton W. BurgessDove Children's Thrift Classics, New York, 1992.Thornton Burgess (1874-1965) wrote over 170 books, largely dealing with the assignment of human traits to animals (anthropomorphism). When we were looking for the next step books for one of our granddaughters, his name and his books were recommended. This is the story of Chatterer the Squirrel, who, in the course of the story, encounters a weasel, a red-tailed hawk, a jay, a rabbit and a porcupine. The squirrel is caught by Farmer Brown's boy and begins to pine away in the cage. So sad. Chatterer is released by the Boy and becomes friendly with Farmer Brown's Boy.Our granddaughter, Sophie, had conquered easy-to-read picture books, and was ready to move on to so-called "chapter books". Many, many words and few pictures. The books by Thornton W. Burgess fit this description nicely. Sophie would sit and read until she came to a "big" word, where she needed help. We would go on and on, and be relieved when the next page showed a picture. Nice resting place. The capture of Chatterer The Squirrel in the cage in the barn made Sophie squirm and she was disappointed that Prickly Porky could not chew through the metal bars of the cage. Relief came when the Boy released the squirrel.The book is of a handy size, a paperback about 5 inches by 8 inches. Just right for little hands. Each chapter is numbered with Roman numerals, which can be confusing to a child who has worked so hard to learn "1,2,3...". To me, the drawings of the animals seemed the same as those I recall from my childhood, many years ago.We reinforced the reading experience by visiting the Thornton W. Burgess Room at the Green Briar Nature Center in Sandwich, Massachusetts. Unfortunately, the Thornton W. Burgess Museum, in the Deacon Eldred House, was closed to the public in October 2012. So, we saw natural setting in the Green Briar Center, Sandwich, in much the same way that Thornton Burgess might have a century or so ago. There are many more of his books that our granddaughter can enjoy as she continues her reading progress.