Uncle Wiggily's Fortune

Garis, Howard Roger, 1873-1962Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.3

Word count: 225K words
Chapters: 23

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Uncle Wiggily's Fortune by Howard Roger GarisAuthor: Garis, Howard Roger, 1873-1962,Language: English, Class: PZ: Language and Literatures: Juvenile belles lettres, Release Date: Jun 28, 2017

Editor's review

Uncle Wiggily's Fortune, by American children's author Howard Roger Garis, is one volume in the Uncle Wiggily series. Garis is known for his anthropomorphic animal stories; this series features a gentleman rabbit with long ears, and the tales are short and humorous, often ending on a gentle twist, with a clear bedtime-story quality. This book follows the thread of "fortune," linking its plot through a series of small adventures; the language is plain, with much dialogue and short paragraphs, making it well suited to reading aloud or to learners of English reading in short sections. As a public-domain e-book, it preserves the look of early twentieth-century American children's books and is also useful for studying popular children's publishing of the period. Readers need not look for tight, suspenseful plotting; it is better to read one or two tales a day and enjoy the gentle, witty manner of telling. For shared parent-child reading, the book is friendly in length and harmless in content, making it a relatively effortless choice in the original; for adult readers, it is light reading with a strong nostalgic flavor.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Parents looking for English-language bedtime stories in the original for shared reading with children
Beginner to intermediate English learners who want to start with short stories
Readers interested in early twentieth-century American children's literature and anthropomorphic animal stories
Adults who enjoy light, humorous, short reading material

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking complex plots, long narratives, and character growth
Those hoping for serious literature or profound social themes
Readers uninterested in anthropomorphic animal stories who prefer realistic subjects

Reading tips

Read one or two tales a day, divided by chapter, for bedtime reading or spare moments.
For shared reading, read the English first and then briefly summarize the plot orally to help children grasp the humor.
English learners can choose one tale, listen and read first, then retell it to practice short sentences and the feel of dialogue.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

How is this book related to the other books in the Uncle Wiggily series?

This book is one volume in the series; the protagonist and narrative style are consistent with the other volumes, but the stories are relatively independent, so reading them out of order does not hinder understanding. If you like the tone of this volume, you can look for other public-domain works in the series and continue reading.

My child is just starting English; can they read this book directly?

Shared parent-child reading is worth trying. The sentences are short, there is much dialogue, and the vocabulary is plain, making it easier to start than most chapter books, but parents will still need to help explain unfamiliar words and background. If the child is a complete beginner, it is better to start with listening and picture books.

What does the "fortune" theme in the book refer to?

The word "fortune" in the title means both luck and wealth; the stories unfold around a series of Uncle Wiggily's small adventures, and the plots are light and humorous. For specifics, rely on the original text; no speculation beyond the text is offered here—just note how each tale ends as you read.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Garis, Howard Roger, 1873-1962 Author

Howard Roger Garis (1873–1962) was an American author of children's literature. Little is publicly documented about his life, and reliable biographical information remains limited. The library holds 39 of his works, mainly animal stories and adventure novels for young readers. He is best known for the Uncle Wiggily series, including Uncle Wiggily's Adventures, Uncle Wiggily in the Woods, Uncle Wiggily's Travels, Uncle Wiggily's Auto Sled, and Uncle Wiggily's Squirt Gun, which feature an anthropomorphic rabbit and are marked by light, humorous plots suited to younger children. Other works, such as Dick Hamilton's Touring Car, tell lively stories of a young millionaire's motoring adventures. His sizable output gave him a modest place in early twentieth-century American children's publishing.