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MY GRADE: A
SYNOPSIS: Ten of Beatrix Potter's most popular tales are brought together in this beautiful jacketed hardcover treasury. The tales trace the life of Beatrix Potter from her first publication of The Tale of Peter Rabbit 1902 to her later tales set around her farm, Hill Top. A wonderful illustrated introduction provides background on Beatrix Potter and the people and places that inspired her writing.
MY THOUGHTS: This hardcover book includes ten of Beatrix's 24 stories. Printed on the book itself are the same images found on the dust jacket. The book is 10.25"x8 x.75". Here's the table of contents, back cover. The front and back of the inside is light blue with white outlines of various animals, which you can't see in the photo.
There's a 17-page biography of Beatrix at the very beginning that's filled with photos of her and some of her early drawings. There's information about the origins of each of these ten stories but at the beginning of each story is a similar telling of those facts.
Fourteen of her stories were made into nine short animated films and shown in the UK and US from 1992-1998. They've been put on DVD many times and some DVDs have all nine episodes.
The Tale of Peter Rabbit- Peter and his three sisters, Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cotton-tail live under the root of a fig tree with their mother. He eats vegetables from Mr. McGregor's garden and loses his jacket trying to escape. He gets sick from overeating so that's his punishment for stealing.
According to information in this book, this story originated as an illustrated story in a letter Beatrix wrote to her ex-governess' son. She asked to borrow the letters so she could write the story. See the letter here and here.
The Tale of Benjamin Bunny- Benjamin and cousin Peter are out looking for Peter's coat and shoes, which are in Mr. McGregor's garden. They take some vegetables. The saw a female cat so they hid under a basket. The cat laid on the basket. Benjamin's father, old Mr. Benjamin Bunny, was out looking for his son. He was smoking a pipe and was carrying a switch. He jumped down on the cat, hit her and kicked her into the greenhouse and locked her in. He whipped Benjamin with the switch.
I don't like the violence in this story but I like the illustrations very much. Benjamin's outfit, because of Mr. McGregor's hat, is my favorite of all the outfits from any of her stories.
This story was inspired by a rabbit Beatrix had years before who liked hot buttered toast and sweets.
The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies- Mr. McGregory found the Flopsy bunnies, the children of Peter's sister Flopsy and their cousin Benjamin, sleeping in his yard so he put them in a paper bag without waking them and sat the bag aside. Their parents couldn't find them and suspected they may be in the bag so they told Mrs. Tittlemouse about it. She nibbled a hole in the bottom corner of the bag so they could be rescued. They were pulled out and pinched! to wake them up. They filled the bag with rotting vegetables so fool Mr. McGregor. They watched him take the bag home and "throw" it down "in a way that would have been extremely painful" to the rabbits had they been in the bag. Mrs. Tittlemouse was rewarded with rabbit fur to make winter clothes with.
This story is set in the garden of Beatrix's uncle's house in Wales.
The Tale of Mr. Tod- I didn't care for this story at all and it was her longest one. It was like two different stories thrown together with abducted bunnies to tie them together. Benjamin Bunny's father, "old" Mr. Benjamin Bunny, his name is changed in this story to old Mr. Bouncer. Tommy is a badger who's a nuisance who smells something awful. Mr. Tod, the fox, finds him sleeping in his bed so he plays a water prank on him then they get into a physical fight that ends up outside. Mr. Bouncer is in charge of watching the seven twin Flopsy rabbits but loses site of them. Flopsy smacks him for that. They figure out they've been stashed in Mr. Tod's oven by Tommy so when Tommy and Mr. Tod are outside fighting, Peter and Benjamin sneak in and take the bunnies home.
This story features real-life landscapes of villages in Near Sawrey.
The Story of a Fierce Bad Rabbit- This may be the shortest story of all of Beatrix's. A mean rabbit is picking on another one and gets what he had coming to him.
This was written for Beatrix's editor's daughter who wanted her to write about a bad rabbit.
The Tale of Tom Kitten- Tom has two sisters, Moppet and Mittens. His mother is Tabitha Twitchit. The three kittens get very dirty playing outside and Tom loses some buttons from his coat. Their mom finds them sitting on a wall outside and smacks them and takes them home. While they're out there before their mom shows up, Jemima Puddle-duck and her family show up.
Beatrix borrowed a real kitten for this story so she could use it for the drawings.
The Tale of Jemima Puddle-duck- She encounters a sly fox while she's out searching for a nesting place. He offers her the use of his woodshed. He plans to eat her and her eggs but a collie dog named Kep and his canine friends rescue her. Now this is a story I like! I like the predator fox and what he's up to. This story sounds more like a Grimm's fairy tale.
This was inspired by ducks Beatrix saw in Putney Park in London while she was there visiting a cousin.
The Tale of Samuel Whiskers or the Roly-Poly Pudding- Tabitha Twitchit has her cousin and neighbor Ribby over. They can't find Tom and his sisters. The sisters are hiding from two rats who were stealing from the kitchen. Tom finds them in the attic and gets trussed up by them. They wrap him in dough to make a dumpling out of him but a dog named John shows up and rescues him. The two rats get away with stolen goods. Moppet and Mittens become professional rat catchers.
Samuel was inspired by a real pet rat Beatrix had named Sammy. When she bought her farm, Top Hill, it was infested with rats and I guess Sammy was one of them.
The Pie and the Patty Pan- Ribby the cat from The Tale of Samuel Whiskers invites a female dog friend named Duchess over for tea. Duchess is worried that Ribby will serve her a mouse pie so she brings another pie over and sneaks it onto the second rack in her oven. The plan backfires. Kind of a strange tale because of how terrified she is at the thought of eating mouse pie.
The dog was inspired by two Pomeranians that belonged to the wife of a gardener Beatrix knew.
The Tale of Ginger and Pickles- Another strange story. Ginger is an orange cat and Pickles is a brown terrier dog. They run a shop called Ginger and Pickles but make no money because they allow everyone to put things on credit but the customers never pay their bills. So they close shop. That's it, folks.
The story is based on a real shop in Near Sawrey.
Thanks to Jason for gifting this to me!
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