Potter, Beatrix "The Tale of Peter Rabbit"

Potter, Beatrix "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" - 1902

I absolutely love the Beatrix Potter Stories. "Peter Rabbit" is probably the best known one but there are also many many other animals we get to know through this talented artist.

Her stories are delightful, her pictures bright and beautiful, the most lovely illustrations throughout the whole book. Throughout all of the books. You can tell she studied animals, loved nature. You just have to love the drawings as well as the cute names she gives her creations, Flopsy, Mopsy and Cottontail, just too cute.

The story itself has a message to always listen to your parents, something we can find in many children's books, especially of that time.

The stories make us feel at home, make us remember cozy winter nights in front of a fireplace, sitting on mum's or dad's lap and listening to a story. Although I am sure this didn't happen to me in childhood, not growing up with English as my mother tongue, I only learned about Beatrix Potter in later life, more or less through my own children. But I still seem to "recall" those moments just when looking into those books. Beautifully made.

From the back cover: "The quintessential cautionary tale, Peter Rabbit warns naughty children about the grave consequences of misbehaving. When Mrs. Rabbit beseeches her four furry children not to go into Mr. McGregor's garden, the impish Peter naturally takes this as an open invitation to create mischief. He quickly gets in over his head, when he is spotted by farmer McGregor himself. Any child with a spark of sass will find Peter's adventures remarkably familiar. And they'll see in Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cotton-tail that bane of their existence: the 'good' sibling who always does the right thing. One earns bread and milk and blackberries for supper, while the obstinate folly of the other warrants medicine and an early bedtime."