The National Review Treasury of Classic Bedtime Stories Books in Order

The National Review Treasury of Classic Bedtime Stories is a later collected edition rather than an original early Burgess sequence. That matters because these volumes are not trying to build a new corner of the Green Forest. Instead, they gather existing Burgess animal books into big, convenient anthologies that let readers step into his world without hunting down many separate books.

The first volume brings together the opening run of the Bedtime Story Books, including familiar leads like Reddy Fox, Johnny Chuck, Peter Cottontail, Unc' Billy Possum, Mr. Mocker, Jerry Muskrat, Danny Meadow Mouse, Grandfather Frog, Chatterer the Red Squirrel, and Sammy Jay. In practice, that makes it feel a bit like a guided tour of Burgess's best-known cast. You move from one animal's trouble to the next, but the larger setting remains the same: the Green Meadows, the Green Forest, the Old Briar-Patch, and the Smiling Pool.

The second volume continues that approach. It is still old-fashioned Burgess, still built around short chapters, recurring neighbors, and stories that end with a small lesson or a comic turn. What changes is the reading experience. Because the books are bundled together, the connections between characters become even easier to spot. A reader can meet Peter Rabbit in one tale, Jimmy Skunk in the next, and then see how the same world shifts when the spotlight moves to someone else.

That makes these collections especially useful for families and read-aloud use. You do not need to commit to one long plot. You can read a chapter or two at bedtime, pause, and come back without losing the thread. The old Harrison Cady illustrations, which are often included in these editions, help keep that warm, slightly bustling storybook feel.

It is also a good choice for readers who are curious about Burgess but unsure where to begin. A single hero book like The Adventures of Paddy the Beaver or The Adventures of Jimmy Skunk can certainly work on its own. But an omnibus lets you sample the full neighborhood. You quickly learn whether you prefer pond-side stories, trickster stories, or the gentler rabbit-and-breeze side of Burgess.

So this series is best thought of as a doorway and a sampler. It does not replace the original individual books for readers who enjoy seeing each title on its own. But it does offer one of the easiest ways into Burgess's world, especially for younger readers, parents, or anyone who wants the classic bedtime tone in a larger, browseable format.

If the original Burgess series feel like individual cottages scattered around the same woods, these treasury volumes feel like a map that helps you walk among them.