Orphant Annie Storybook

By Johnny Gruelle

Book Overview

Written in dedication to James Whitcomb Riley after the Hoosier poet's death, his most famous poem starts off this colorful book filled with charming tales of good-natured goblins, ponies that fly, and ladybugs that talk. Originally published in 1921, this reissue, faithfully reproduced with beautiful full-color illustrations, teaches young readers lessons of courtesy, honesty, and kind behavior.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0961736798
• ISBN13: 9780961736798
• Release Date: March 2000
• Publisher: Clerisy Press
• Length: 28 Pages
• Weight: 0.86 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.5" x 0.5" x 6.3"
• Age Range: 4 to 8 years
• Grade Range: Kindergarten to Grade 5

Customer Reviews

This Book Inspired My Own Series

This is a wonderful collection of unique fairy tales with lovely illustrations. It was written by Johnny Gruelle as a tribute to his friend, James Whitcomb Riley, the creator of Orphant Annie, and is basically a continuation, though in prose, of the poem Little Orphant Annie. This book relates the stories Annie told to the children she cared for while cooking and cleaning for a family to earn her board and keep. The lessons, values, and morals in this book are similar to those in the Little House series but told in fairy tale fashion. Many of my own fairy tales include stories within stories, and the Orphant Annie Storybook inspired several of these mini-stories. Why the Ladybug is Red motivated me to write What the Grasshopper Uses Buttons For, Why the Flamingo Stands on One Foot, and Why the Roly-Poly Pill Bug Always Curls Up When He is Touched. My favorite story in this book is The Gnome in the Peanut. And each time I eat a peanut, I carefully split it open to see the little gnome, trapped forever by his own selfishness. The stories in this book are clever, endearing, meaningful, classic, timeless, and completely delightful. I can't come up with enough words to describe the value of this book. Annie is brilliant, and her enchanting stories are full of wisdom for the ages. I have read the stories in this book many times each and will likely never tire of my favorite fairy tales. J.H. Sweet, author of The Fairy Chronicles