#19 The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter (1902)
69 points
Potter never wrote down to children. The size is perfect for little ones to hold and pour over the detailed illustrations. – Natalie
Forever classic. – Rose Marie Moore
Introducing the oldest book to appear on the Top 100 picture book list. I’m a Potter fan myself. To my mind the charm of these books has to do with the fact that Beatrix Potter was a naturalist. She drew realistic animals who just happened to be wearing knickers, breeches, and shiny brass buttons. Somehow, when you draw a realistic animal wearing clothing, that image is infinitely cuter than however many eyelashes and big brown eyes you might choose to bedeck a critter with.
The description from my review reads: “Peter lives, as many of us know, in a large fir tree with his mother and his siblings Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cottontail. His father was baked in a pie (a fact that many parents have decried as too dark for children, and that many children have shrugged at without a second thought). Though instructed by his mother NOT to go digging in Mr. McGregor’s garden, he’s a naughty little thing. His tasty trip is brought up short, however, when he stumbles across the farmer himself. In the course of their chase Peter loses his little blue jacket with the shiny brass buttons and must return to his mother (after a series of close shaves) without it or his shoes. He is promptly put to bed with a cup of chamomile tea (a fate we non-chamomile tea drinkers must assume is harsh) while his siblings eat the tasty blackberries they picked that morning.”
Did Ms. Potter terrorize Roald Dahl and the siblings of Diana Wynne Jones when they were children? That’s the rumor anyway. In working on my Candlewick book (tentative working title: Wild Things: The True and Untold Stories Behind Children’s Books) alongside the wonderful Jules Danielson and late and amazing Peter Sieruta I determined to get to the root of the matter. Was Potter the meanie people desperately want to believe she was, or could it be that someone else was doing the yelling and Ms. Potter was taking the blame? Sorry, folks. I’m going to pull the old you’ll-have-to-read-the-book when it comes out in Fall 2013 card on you.
Considering how long she lived she has a somewhat limited roster. How to account for that? 100 Best Books for Children says of Potter’s later years (when she married and didn’t write) that “Her creative energies appear to have been sparked by unhappiness rather than the deep contentment that came in her later life.”
Of course the story goes that these books were printed small for little child hands. Like the Nutshell Library books, the titles were meant to be little. They’ve been expanded since then (there’s money to be made). In fact The Norton Anthology of Children’s Literature dedicates quite a bit of time to Peter, discussing his many incarnations over the years. They say, “But despite Peter Rabbit’s iconic status, an unauthorized edition was published in the United States in 1982 with new, distinctly American illustrations.” The illustrator in this case was one Allen Atkinson and the pictures are a weird mix of Potter’s color scheme and a more cartoonish take on the animals. Norton goes on to say, “In 1987, Ladybird Books published a new British edition, hoping to broaden the audience by using photographs of stuffed toys and softening the text, on the assumption that children could no longer relate to watercolors and would be upset by Potter’s attitudes toward puni
photo from www.peterrabbit.com
Over holiday break, I finally watched the movie Miss Potter, starring Renee Zellweger as Beatrix Potter. It was a sensational movie, and I watched it with awe and amazement. Mostly because it was fascinating to see how Beatrix Potter created her books and fought for her books and didn’t even know how much money she had made from her books! If you are a writer of children’s books, I highly recommend watching this movie (especially if you’re an author/illustrator).
Your children may have a treasury of Beatrix Potter books on their bedroom shelves. These are popular gifts to give when children are born or at their first birthdays. Some of the other volumes besides Peter Rabbit (1902) are:
#The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin (1903)
# The Tailor of Gloucester (1903)
# The Tale of Benjamin Bunny (1904)
# The Tale of Two Bad Mice (1904)
# The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle (1905)
# The Tale of the Pie and the Patty-Pan (1905)
# The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher (1906)
and many, many, many more!
Why do people still love the cautionary tale of Peter and his siblings: Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cottontail, over 100 years after Beatrix Potter wrote and illustrated it? In my opinion, her drawings are wonderful, timeless, and bring her characters to life. Everyone can relate to really wanting to do something naughty like Peter, and sometimes not being able to resist an adventure even when your parents warn you not to do it. Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cottontail provide the “good” example, which children often find themselves also following–thank goodness for their parents. Let’s face it: Peter Rabbit is fun. Beatrix Potter is a wonderful illustrator and storyteller. Those kinds of things are just not going to die.
Parents and teachers have been using Peter and his friends Jeremy Fisher, Benjamin Bunny, and Squirrel Nutkin to discuss right and wrong actions, childhood dilemmas, story elements, and illustration techniques for a century. Let’s hope that this trend continues for another century, at least, Beatrix sticks around! Make sure to check out this great website, The World of Beatrix Potter for more information with a special section for parents and teachers.
BTW, there’s still time to win a copy of Ellen Jensen Abbott’s book, Watersmeet, by leaving a comment on Tuesday or Wednesday’s post until 8:00 p.m. CST.
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