13 h 17 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 13 h 17 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the smallest animal has the sharpest wits—and no intention of playing fair?
In a cabin on a Georgia plantation after the Civil War, Uncle Remus tells animal tales to a curious little boy. Brer Rabbit faces hungry Brer Fox and fierce Brer Wolf, whose traps make quick thinking a matter of survival. These short stories turn on schemes, narrow escapes, and the struggle against stronger neighbors.
Nights With Uncle Remus by Joel Chandler Harris is a collection of African-American folk tales where talking animals scheme, compete, and survive by their wits. Alongside the rabbit’s rivalries come Brer Terrapin’s patient plans, Daddy Jake’s tales, and stories about how the world comes to be as it is. Spelled-out dialect gives the telling its distinctive rhythm, though it can demand patience.
What you’ll discover
- A trickster under pressure Follow Brer Rabbit as cunning helps him face animals bigger and fiercer than himself.
- Traps and rivalries Meet Brer Fox and Brer Wolf, whose schemes keep the rabbit’s wits at work.
- The strength of patience Watch stubborn Brer Terrapin make slow movement no barrier to careful, winning plans.
- Evenings in the cabin Join the little boy as questions draw more stories from Uncle Remus.
- Voices with their own rhythms Explore dry humor, repeated phrases, and sayings that give these tales their spoken character.
Who will love it
You will love this if you enjoy fables with a sly hero, talk around a warm fire, and folk tales full of rhythm, rhyme and song.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A small question opens a story
- Rabbit reads what his enemies want
- Caution protects the smallest creature
- Terrapin makes patience a strength
- Daddy Jack adds another storytelling voice
- The listeners become storytellers too
- Cleverness does not always mean kindness
- Stories bind the old to the young
- Survival takes more than one shape
Who’s who
- Uncle RemusAn old storyteller and shoemaker who tells the tales by his fire, scolds and teases the boy, and loves Brer Rabbit best.
- The little boyThe curious child who slips down to the cabin each night with questions and wants one more story.
- Brer RabbitThe small, quick, cheeky hero who uses wit to dodge every trap set for him.
- Brer FoxA cunning but unlucky creature who keeps trying to catch Brer Rabbit and keeps getting fooled.
- Brer WolfA greedy, boastful creature who plots against Brer Rabbit and others and often pays for it.
- Brer TerrapinThe slowest creature in the settlement, who wins with patience, nerve and sharp wit.
- Daddy JackA withered old man brought from Africa, who tells tales in his own voice and courts Tildy.
- Aunt Tempy and TildyA stout, authoritative woman and a lively house girl, both of whom join the circle with tales of their own.
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- Large print hardcover
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Nights With Uncle Remus
by Joel Chandler Harris · 1883
On rainy nights in a Georgia cabin, Uncle Remus tells a boy how Brer Rabbit outwits Brer Fox.
Medium level5–10 hours to read2 languages
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In short
Why would an old man on a Georgia plantation tell a small boy that a goose once took in washing, or that a rabbit once tied a fox to a horse's tail? On rainy nights, by a pine-knot fire, that is how Uncle Remus keeps a child close.
Nights With Uncle Remus at a glance
- Reading time
- About 7 h 5 min5 h 40 min fast, 8 h 30 min slow
- Length
- 101,500 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1883by Joel Chandler Harris
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A rainy night and a question about geese
The book opens on a day of steady rain, with Uncle Remus stuck indoors. The house girl Tildy brings his supper, and the little boy begs to go along. He watches the old man eat by the fire.
Then comes the question that starts everything. Do geese sleep sitting down, or balanced on one leg? Uncle Remus answers that geese were once big people in the neighborhood. Old Miss Goose gave grand dinners, yet she took in washing too. Brer Fox hears her beating clothes at the spring and says he will call on her soon. Brer Rabbit slips off to warn her first.
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- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1883
- Language
- English
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Harris, Joel Chandler. Nights With Uncle Remus. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/nights-with-uncle-remus.
Harris, J. C. (2026). Nights with Uncle Remus. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/nights-with-uncle-remus (Original work published 1883)
Harris, Joel Chandler. Nights With Uncle Remus. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/nights-with-uncle-remus.
@book{harris2026nights,
author = {Harris, Joel Chandler},
title = {Nights With Uncle Remus},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/nights-with-uncle-remus},
note = {First published 1883}
}
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What is Nights With Uncle Remus about?
It is a collection of animal tales told by Uncle Remus to a little boy in his cabin on a Georgia plantation. Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox, Brer Wolf and Brer Terrapin star, while other storytellers add tales of their own.
Who is Brer Rabbit?
Brer Rabbit is a small, quick creature who survives bigger enemies by tricking them. He is the hero of most tales, and the other animals constantly try to catch him and fail.
Who is Daddy Jack in the book?
Daddy Jack, also called African Jack, is a withered old man brought to Georgia from Africa. He visits Uncle Remus, tells tales in his own voice, and spends the book chasing the house girl Tildy.
The author
Joel Chandler Harris
1848–1908 · American journalist and folklorist
Joel Chandler Harris (1848–1908) was an American journalist and children's writer. He was born in Eatonton, Georgia, and later lived in Atlanta, where he worked for the Atlanta Constitution. He published Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings in 1880 and Nights with Uncle Remus in 1883. He died in Atlanta.
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