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UNFINISHED STORIES |
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HOME_____BOOKS_____FILMS_____BIOGRAPHY_____CONTACT_____BACK
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| BILL PEET worked on several stories at once. He always carried a small notepad in which he made sketches and wrote story notes. Although each note pad was mostly devoted to one story, he usually included sketches for other stories. These notes were reminders of ideas that came to him throughout each day and were not meant to be seen by anyone else. He would probably not approve of them being posted on this web site or anywhere else. These works-in-progress are published here to hopefully provide some insight into his creative process. Below are brief descriptions of stories that were never finished. However, some parts of these stories, such as the characters and plot lines were included in other stories that eventually became books. Sections in quotes are directly from Bill Peet's notes.* |
The notes and sketches for another unfinished Bill Peet story can be found by clicking the link to THE TINY SPIDER.
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| ABOUT A TROUT tells of the friendship of a young trout and a frog who teaches the little fish about life. |
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| After he leaves the farm and joins the circus, the circus is repeatedly rained out, and he is considered THE BAD LUCK DUCK. He leaves the circus with clown and a donkey. Another farm animal leaves the farm to join the circus in CHESTER THE WORLDLY PIG. |
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BRUCE THE BLUE BEARDED BEAR always laughed at the troubles of others until he grew a very long beard which became a big problem for him. A similar creature was included in the NO SUCH THINGS book. |
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THE BICYCLE TREE not only wrote messages to a young boy, but also produced toys and a bicycle. |
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While reading in the attic, a young boy is amazed to find a wingback chair talking to him. It said "I once belonged to a witch. She found riding an old broom awkward and uncomfortable." THE WITCHE'S WINGBACK CHAIR takes a young boy on trips around the world. |
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| Tubby, a tramp steamer takes a load of elephants or African animals on an ocean voyage. After the ship wrecks, the animals are stranded on an island. At some point the animals are rescued by a whale. |
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| PEGASUS III is a horse with very short legs. He cannot run very fast, but eventually sprouts a pair of wings which allow him to fly. |
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GEORGE THE GIANT was one of two giant stories. George, because of his inconsiderate ways, shrank to the size of an insect. The other giant was even larger and lived in ancient times. The shrinking of a big brute became part of the story BIG BAD BRUCE. |
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| JINGO the gibbon was the main character of this story set in a tropical Asian rainforest.
One of his friends was a young orangutan. |
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| GILROY THE ALLIGATOR BOY leaves the side show at the circus because "He hated to be made fun of and most of all he hated to have his tail yanked; no one believed it was real". Gilroy tries many jobs, but his tail always becomes a problem. |
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| There were two versions of the frog story: GREENY and JUMPIN' JEHOSSEPHAT. A leopard frog is captured by a boy and imprisoned in a jar. He escapes but finds himself in the unfamiliar territory; the city. An old tin can serves as a protective coat of armor for him. |
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"Chester took big bites and filled his mouth so full he could hardly chew. 'Chester, please don't eat like a pig' pleaded his mother. Chester had lots of nice toys, but he never shared them when his friends came to play. Chester would keep them all to himself." One day, while playing in the mud, Chester turned into a pig. "Chester was so busy, he didn't notice his nose pop suddenly into a pink snout and his ears grow big and flat till they hung down." When his mother saw a pig in the back yard, she called a local pig farmer, who hauled Chester away. Bill Peet eventually wrote a pig story called CHESTER THE WORLDLY PIG. |
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| NOAH THE BOA saw his own tail and thinking it was a meal, swallowed it. Eventually he swallowed most of his body. An animal collector found him, rolled him away and sold him to a circus. |
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ONE FOOT SLOOP is the story of a field mouse who builds as boat out of an old shoe, with a pencil for a mast and an old spelling test for a sail. A safety pin and a piece of string act as an anchor and chain. In another version of the story, the field mouse's burrow is unearthed by a plow. He makes his new home in a hay bale which ends up on a pickup truck headed for the city. |
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| THE TIGER KITTEN story describes the fantasy of an orange kitten who imagines what it would be like to be a big tiger. " 'It's not fair' said the little orange cat, 'Why do they always put me to bed when I'm not sleepy? I wish I was a tiger, a big, full grown Bengal tiger. Then I could do just what I pleased. And when I did get sleepy, I wouldn't end up in a basket on the back porch. I'd sleep upstairs with Jerry whether he liked it or not' " |
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| THE TINY TURTLE was purchased at a pet shop for a mean little boy named Melvin. Melvin's mother saw Melvin in the yard. "'Melvin! What are you doing with your father's tools?! Try in' to git this dumb ole turtle out.' said Melvin". When Melvin became preoccupied, it provided the tiny turtle with a chance to escape. Later that evening, Melvin's father helped him look for the tiny turtle. |
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| A WHALE'S TALE relates the misfortune of a whale who swims up a river and gets stuck in a farmer's pond. In one version of the story, a tent is erected over him and he becomes a local attraction. During a massive flood, he saves the farm animals. The flood also allows him to make it back to the river and return to the sea. |
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| The notes and sketches for another unfinished Bill Peet story can be found by clicking the link to THE TINY SPIDER. |
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*Notes in italics by Bill Peet, Jr. |
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