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The Tale of Peter Rabbit. Beatrix Potter. 1902. [Source: Bought]

First sentence: Once upon a time there were four little Rabbits, and their names were Flopsy, Mopsy, Cotton-tail, and Peter.

Premise/plot: Will Peter Rabbit follow in his father's footsteps? Will Peter Rabbit end up being PUT IN A PIE by Mrs. McGregor? He just might if he can't control himself and stay out of Mr. McGregor's garden. This naughty little rabbit has quite an adventure!

My thoughts: I love The Tale of Peter Rabbit. I do. I love, love, love, LOVE the original illustrations. The story itself is just great fun.

Have you read this one? Have you read it recently? I'd love to know what YOU think of Beatrix Potter's stories for children. 

Text: 5 out of 5
Illustrations: 5 out of 5
Total: 10 out of 10

© 2015 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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The Virginian. Owen Wister. 1902. Penguin Classics. 370 pages.

Some notable sight was drawing the passengers, both men and women, to the window; and therefore I rose and crossed the car to see what it was. I saw near the track an enclosure, and round it some laughing men, and inside it some whirling dust, and amid the dust some horses, plunging, huddling, and dodging. They were cow ponies in a corral, and one of them would not be caught, no matter who threw the rope.

I do not read many westerns. (If I remember correctly, this is only my second or third western. Depending on if you count These is My Words by Nancy E. Turner. My first western was Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey.) In fact, I have always believed myself to be completely allergic to the genre. Me? Like a western?! Really?! Well, I did more than like this one. I loved it. I maybe even loved, loved, loved it. While I'm not sure that I can echo what Dolce Bellezza said in her review: "It will definitely be in my top ten list for the year, and quite possibly for my life." I definitely agree that it is worth reading. I was very happy to be so surprised!

The Virginian is a collection of interconnected stories. Some are more "connected" than others. Some of the stories are told through a first person account, a first person narrator, whom we come to know simply as Tenderfoot or The Tenderfoot. He's an Eastern man that has come west to Wyoming territory. And The Virginian, our real hero, is his protector as this newbie is learning his way.

When Judge Henry ascertained that nothing could prevent me from losing myself, that it was not uncommon for me to saunter out after breakfast with a gun and in thirty minutes cease to know north from south, he arranged for my protection. He detailed an escort for me; and the escort was once more the trustworthy man! The poor Virginian was taken from his work and his comrades and set to playing nurse for me. And for a while this humiliation ate into his untamed soul. It was his lugubrious lost to accompany me in my rambles, preside over my blunders, and save me from calamitously passing into the next world. He bore it in courteous silence, except when speaking was necessary. He would show me the lower ford, which I could never find for myself, generally mistaking a quicksand for it. He would tie my horse properly. He would recommend me not to shoot my rifle at a white-tailed deer in the particular moment that the outfit wagon was passing behind the animal on the further side of the brush. There was seldom a day that he was not obliged to hasten and save me from sudden death or from ridicule, which is worse. Yet never once did he lose his patience; and his gentle, slow voice, and apparently lazy manner remained the same, whether we were sitting at lunch together, or up in the mountains during a hunt, or whether he was bringing me back my horse, which had run away again because I had again forgotten to throw the reins over his head and let them trail. (45)

But other stories are told in third person. Through a series of adventures, we get to know The Virginian; we get to know the people close to The Virginian. The men he works

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Nesbit, Edith. 1902. Five Children and It. Puffin Classics. 237 pages.

The house was three miles from the station, but before the dusty hired fly had rattled along for five minutes the children began to put their heads out of the carriage window and to say, 'Aren't we nearly there?' And every time they passed a house, which was not very often, they all said, 'Oh, is this it?' But it never was, till they reached the very top of the hill, just past the chalk-quarry and before you come to the gravel-pit. And then there was a white house with a green garden and an orchard beyond, and mother said, 'Here we are!'

Robert, Anthea (Panther), Jane, Cyril, and Baby (Lamb) have come (along with their parents, of course) to spend some time in the country. But circumstances being what they are--parents in general being more a nuisance in a children's adventure story than anything else--the children are often all on their own except for some slight interference by Martha their nurse-maid. It is while they are exploring the gravel-pit that the children--much to their surprise--discover a sand fairy, a Psammead. (He is quite a character!) The children are granted a wish a day (thereabouts)...and thus the adventures begin.

I daresay you have often thought what you would do if you had three wishes given you, and have despised the old man and his wife in the black-pudding story, and felt certain that if you had the chance you could think of three really useful wishes without a moment's hesitation. These children had often talked this matter over, but, now the chance had come suddenly to them, they could not make up their minds. (17)

They may have their wish a day, but their wish ends at sunset. And as they discover, this is a VERY good thing!

This one is a funny adventure novel starring brothers and sisters who know how to get in and out of trouble and then some! I'm so happy I finally read this one. It was such a joy to read.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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