Collections

What Virginia Work's children remember most is that she read stories to them, stories that helped mold them into adults. When one of her children became an award-winning author and editor, it became Virginia's ambition to collect her stories and have him shape them into a book for other mothers and fathers to read to their kids. Here are thirty-two of those stories, ranging from "The Little Engine That Could" and "Three Little Pigs" to "The Fisherman and His Wife" and "The Tinderbox." Each and every story carries an unforgettable lesson about living, about getting along with others, about hope and persistence and positive living. And for each and every story, the editor has written a new introduction in which he recalls his mother's quiet lessons and narrates how each story came to be part of his own life story. Parents or grandparents of children from pre-school to sixth grade will enjoy these stories, especially if they have ever wanted to turn off the television and the games and share some quality story time with the family. (Dr. Work is the editor and author of fourteen books, including two anthologies of Western American literature, westerns, mysteries, a collection of personal essays and his latest, a memoir entitled Don't Shoot the Gentile [University of Oklahoma Press, 2011])