Books with author Maud and Miska Petersham Petersham

Originally published in 1923, the second volume of Carl Sandburg's beloved Rootabaga Stories includes tales about "Big People Now" and "Little People Long Ago." The Pulitzer Prize-winning poet wrote these American fairy tales for his children while they were growing up in the American Midwest. This paperback edition matches the first volume in size and format and contains the color and b&w illustrations of Maud and Miska Petersham.

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?

American author and poet Carl Sandburg (1878-1967), best known for the poetry that attributed to two of his three Pulitzer Prizes, also wrote histories, biographies, novels, and children's stories. Born in Illinois, Sandburg spent most of his life in the Midwest before moving to North Carolina in 1945, where he lived till his death. In the early 1920s Sandburg began writing children's stories for his three daughters, beginning with his "Rootabaga Stories", one of three collections of stories set in the small towns and farms of the American Midwest. The stories were widely read and enjoyed for their unique nonsensical style and distinctly American feeling. Sandburg wanted to create something different than the traditional European fairy tales, explaining that he was "tired of princes and princesses and I sought the American equivalent of elves and gnomes." He certainly succeeded with "Rootabaga Stories". The beautifully nonsensical writing, illogical grammar, and fantastical settings set the stage for such memorable characters as the Potato Face Blind Man, Hatrack the Horse, and Red Slippers.