Georgie The Ghost and the Robbers-The whimsical world of Robin Bright- Narrated by Chris Nersinger
Come and meet the Whittackers and a wonderful managerie of characters including Mrs Owl and the cow, a cosy cat and Georgie the Ghost.!? A friendly ghost.
I am sharing this for several reasons — one today is national Read A Book Day and we are getting closer to one of my favorite holidays aside from Christmas, Thanksgiving and New Years… Halloween and the other is that we are for most part back to school. I remember getting this book out of the library when I was a tyke and also having it read to me by my teacher in Kindergarten and in First grade as well.. so I hope you enjoy this as much as me…
Robin Bright was born in Cape Cod, MA. And this may explain the love of ghosts and the sea. Educated in Europe and attended Phillips Academy,Andover and Princeton University. He was a newspaper reporter while in Baltimore and Paris, a teacher in Boston, music & art critic in Sante Fe and more. A well rounded individual. A person of many talents. A learned man. But there was a curious imagination about Robert Bright as you will see and hear.
Robin Bright wrote these stories for his children and grandchildren. Hopefully giving them some fun entertainment. And in some cases weaving things that he had heard about or experienced for himself all along adding the charcater of Georgie the Ghost or did he. Maybe there was a Georgie the Ghost creaking the floor boards on the stairs and squeaking those old un-oiled hinges on the doors. Who knows.
But what I do know is that Robin created Georgie in 1944. Georgie was a hit not just here but internationally as well especially in England and the UK. Think about all those old house, cottages and catstles. Georgie had no problem fitting right in.
He wrote & illustrated 20 books. Me and the Bears, The Friendly Bear and The Travels of Ching were some of the non Georgie titles. They proved to be popular not as popular as the little “boy” who lived with the Whittackers. He would always come back that friendly ghost -Georgie.
In fact in 1983, which would one of his last years behind the type writer he turned out 4 ghostly adventures.
- **Trivia break- I don’t know if any of you are old enough to remember the schook book clubs like Scholastic Books(who are still around and doing book fairs. Well that is where I used to get alot of my books Georgie included. How bout those Caldecott Medal awarded stories. It was like a gauranteed seal of approval for good reading.That was a big deal back then. Paperback was the tradition. I count not wait from one month to another for my English teacher to hand out the book order forms and the flyer showing off the monthly titles. And don’t forget that teen mag -Dynamite. That was the hot one back in the day…
Here is another narration by yours truly-
and if you hear some pages turning I have this currently as a hard cover and hopefully it will add some charm to the story. This is a Children’s book from my childhood and have some fond memories of Georgie the Ghost… hopefully you and your family will enjoy this..it was fun recording it….see the pics below plus link from soundcloud- Georgie and The Robbers by Robert Bright…just in time for Halloween and a great way to introduce ghosts and owls and things that go bump in the night but maybe make those squeaks and creaks in the middle of the night a little easier to deal with when your not sure what it is.hey what’s a the harm in a boo every now and then..so good night for now.. and sleep tight.
P.S. The original Georie the Ghost is available as an audible book on Amazon’s Audible service. The version was actually taken from a filmstrip production that was shown in schools across the country when I was attending Elemenatry school. That was back in the ’60s. There also hatrd and paperpacks out there in the used book medium. Unfortubnately these stories have not been republished by any publishing firm for over 40 years at least. Too bad I say and maybe after this article is published it will it’s way to some firm that take an interest in this truly delightful adventures that “kids” of all ages can enjoy and appreciate.
So again good night for now … I have a few floors to creak and a couple of doors to creak…
Signed whimsically by -
Doc
