Talking tea kettles and raccoons and bears and a boy named Toto. It’s all so much fun in the woods at home with family. Even in Winter…especially with Granny’s stories! ONCE upon a time, long ago and long ago, there lived in Pekin, which, as you all know, is the chief city of the Chinese Empire, a boy whose name was Chop-Chin. He was the son of Ly-Chee, a sweeper of the Imperial court-yard, whose duty it was to keep the pavement of the court-yard always absolutely clean, in case His Celestial Majesty, the Emperor, should feel inclined to put his celestial and majestic nose out-of-doors. Laura Elizabeth Howe Richards wrote over 90 books, including children’s, biographies, poetry, and others. Laura’s mother, Julia Ward Howe, was famous for writing the words to The Battle Hymn of the Republic. Laura won a Pulitzer Prize for Julia Ward Howe, a biography, which she co-authored with her sister, Maud Howe Elliott. Her children’s book Tirra Lirra won the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award.