Rootabaga Stories facts for kids

Cover of the first edition (1922) of what is sometimes called Book One; illustrated by Maud and Miska Petersham

Rootabaga Stories (1922) is a children's book of interrelated short stories by Carl Sandburg. The whimsical, sometimes melancholy stories, which often use nonsense language, were originally created for his own daughters. Sandburg had three daughters, Margaret, Janet and Helga, whom he nicknamed "Spink", "Skabootch" and "Swipes", and those nicknames occur in some of his Rootabaga stories.

Sequels

Frontispiece of the 1922 first edition of Rootabaga Stories. Illustration by Maud and Miska Petersham.

Rootabaga Stories was followed by a sequel, Rootabaga Pigeons, published in 1923. A little known volume of Rootabaga stories called Potato Face was published in 1930 by Harcourt, Brace and Company. It was not illustrated. A collection of previously unpublished stories was published as More Rootabagas in 1993 with illustrations by Paul O. Zelinsky.

Recordings

• TC 1089

A vinyl LP of Carl Sandburg reading some of the stories, Rootabaga Stories as told by Carl Sandburg was released on Caedmon (TC 1089) in 1958; the cassette version is Caedmon CDL 51089.

Description: 2s. : 331⁄3 rpm, monaural. ; 12in.

Read by the author.

CONTENTS. - How they broke away to go to the Rootabaga country.-How they bring back the village of cream puffs.-How the five rusty rats helped find a new village.-How six pigeons came back to hatrack the horse.-How the three wild Babylonian baboons went away in the rain.-How six umbrellas took off their straw hats to show respect.-How Googler and Gaggler, the two Christmas babies, came home.

• TC 1159 - Carl Sandburg - How to tell Corn Fairies when You see ‘Em and Others of His Rootabaga Stories
• TC 1306 - Carl Sandburg - Rootabaga Stories Vol. 3

Illustrated editions

• Never Kick a Slipper at the Moon at Google Books, illustrated by Rosanne Litzinger, 2008.