How Reddy Fox Was Surprised

From Old Mother West Wind, by Thornton W. Burgess

This story comes from Old Mother West Wind (1910), a collection by American author Thornton W. Burgess, who wrote hundreds of animal tales for children. Johnny Chuck (a woodchuck) wanders too far from home, falls asleep, and wakes up lost—until Reddy Fox tries to scare him and gets a surprise of his own. The story teaches that even small creatures can be brave, and that bullies sometimes meet their match. This text reflects its era; a few period terms have been modernised.

Band

Purple · Pre-readers and first readers, about 4 to 5

Length

short · about 357 words in 5 sections · 4 pictures

Source

Old Mother West Wind, Thornton W. Burgess · Project Gutenberg

First published

see the About page in the reader

Regions

Canada · United States

Included formats

• · Web reader and PDF
• · EPUB for e-readers
• · Home-print sheet
• · Folded booklet
• · Binder edition (8.5 × 11)
• · Worksheet
• · Quick Check (6 questions) with answer key
• · Read-aloud script

Readers are engineered from the original public-domain text with AI under HummingRead’s published canon and Content Philosophy, checked by automated audit and sampled by a person. Pictures are made with AI to HummingRead’s brief for each story. How a reader is made.