Drawing from his wide-ranging career, a new collection features some of the humorist's work, including the title story, which is the basis for a feature film starring Maggie Smith.

Johnnie Wise was just fifteen years old when her mother sold her virginity to an unscrupulous white insurance man named Earl Shamus. Stunningly beautiful, with long naturally wavy black hair, she possessed the voluptuous body of a thirty-year-old woman. Her skin was the color of brown sugar. Johnnie had heard about Earl Shamus and his escapades among the poor black women in New Orleans. But what she didn't know was that Shamus had quietly made several...

Yet again Lucie loses her pocket handkerchief. In her search she meets Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle, a kindly, but strangely prickly washerwoman, and Mr. Jeremy Fisher who tells her of his eventful fishing trip. When seven little bunnies go missing Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny find themselves caught up in a terrible battle between Mr. Tod and his unwelcome guest. Tom Thumb and Hunca Munca create havoc in the doll's house while Johnny Town-Mouse entertains...