Originally, the stories were serialized in newspapers so parents could read them to children. The stories were popular enough that they were gathered into books and preserved. Each story still ends with "If this improbable situation doesn't happen, I'll tell you the story of" with the title of the next story. Once upon a time, when I was young, my grandmother read these stories (she had them in books) to my brother and me. My mother also shared her books with me when I was old enough to read them on my own.

This collection focuses on Uncle Wiggily and his search to find his fortune. Uncle Wiggily happens to be a rabbit who had served in the Great War (back when there was only one) and now has rheumatism and gets along with a walking stick. Uncle Wiggily makes many friends as he travels and helps those who need them. And those good deeds done unselfishly often result in help when he needs it: not a bad lesson to learn.

Suggested as stories read to children or as a trip down nostalgia lane. ( )

Children's books of the Uncle Wiggily series compile stories that appeared in daily newspapers between 1910 and the late 1930s. They star an "elderly gentleman" rabbit with rheumatism who travels around with a crutch and a valise. As kids, my siblings and I had at least two of the Uncle Wiggily series.

In Uncle Wiggily's Travels the lagomorph is out seeking his fortune. In each chapter, he encounters other talking animals as well as talking plants, such as Sammie and Susie Littletail (Uncle Wiggily's young nephew and niece); Lulu, Alice, and Jimmie Wibblewobble (the duck children), and the Skillery Skallery Alligator. In a common theme, he or one of his new friends is hunted by a predator -- fox, bears, and the aforementioned alligator among them. As is common in children's tales, carnivores are wicked, dangerous critters who must be outwitted.

For fun, I picked up a copy of Uncle Wiggily's Travels published in 1939, and frankly, I found it awfully lame. The stories all have similar plots, and the author's attempts at humor are not successful. The rabbit never does find his fortune, and while I expected a trite ending end in which he realized that good friends were worth more than the money he sought, the last story just ended like the others. C'est la vie; it's kid stuff after all. ( )

I had all the Wiggily books as a kid. This is the only one that has survived. I read it to my daughter and she found it still amusing. ( )