[The Bedtime Story Books 01] • Lost (Lost Series Book 1)

Jerry Muskrat had been looking very sharply at the bank on which Little Joe Otter was sitting. “I think Paddy the Beaver has begun work on the dam he warned us about,” said Jerry.

“What makes you think so?” asked Billy Mink. Jerry just pointed to the bank. Everybody looked and they could hardly believe their eyes when they saw a wet line running all the way along the bank which showed that the water was not as high as it had been. They just stared and stared with eyes and mouths wide open, and even while they looked the water dropped ever so little.

Thornton W. Burgess originally wrote the chapters that would become "The Adventures of Paddy the Beaver" for newspaper serialization. They appeared in newspapers November 1st through December 8th, 1913. There were 32 daily installments, Sundays excluded.

When they were published as a book over three years later, in March 1917, ten chapters were removed, probably due to space constraints. This edition is the first time those deleted chapters have been in front of readers since Americans opened their newspapers in the winter of 1913.

The 10 deleted chapters follow the animals as they worry about the effect of Paddy's new pond on the Smiling Pool and learn more about how Paddy builds his house, and finish the subplot about Farmer Brown's Boy discovering Paddy's Pool.

“Thief! thief! thief!” screamed Sammy Jay, hopping up and down, he was so angry. Paddy the Beaver kept right on working, paying no attention to Sammy. This made Sammy more angry than ever. He kept coming nearer and nearer until at last he was in the very tree that Paddy happened to be cutting. Paddy’s eyes twinkled.

Thornton W. Burgess was immensely popular in the 1910s and 1920s, and remained very popular for generations afterward. It isn’t just that his stories are very entertaining. Burgess was also a very knowledgeable naturalist, and almost every chapter describes real wild animal behavior. His books are as educational as they are entertaining.

But wait, there’s more. Burgess’ books also gently convey wonderful little moral and practical lessons. Children love those lessons because of the delightful way the stories are told. If you find that hard to believe, just try reading this book to a child.

This Coal Creek Curios Express Edition of "The Adventures of Paddy the Beaver: With 10 Lost Chapters Restored" is the same as the full-featured Coal Creek Curios restored edition except:

-- The Introduction is shortened.

-- The “Bedtime Stories Story” is removed.

-- The 1913 newspaper illustrations are removed.

-- The illustration of the first edition’s front board is removed.

-- The Grosset Dunlap first edition endpapers are removed.

-- The example newspaper microfilm scan is removed.

-- The table of restored items is removed.

-- The table of Grosset Dunlap spot illustrations is removed.

-- The bonus chapter with Burgess’ early Bedtime Story, “Old Roughleg the Hawk”, is removed.

This Coal Creek Curios Express Edition DOES include from the full-featured Coal Creek Curios restored edition:

-- All 32 chapters, including the 10 restored chapters.

-- The 6 full-page illustrations made by Harrison Cady for the 1917 Little, Brown first edition.

-- The 14 full-page illustrations made by Harrison Cady for the Grosset Dunlap edition

-- 38 spot illustrations taken from the full-page Harrison Cady illustrations, some of them taken from other titles in the series.