The Tale of Ginger and Pickles

By Beatrix Potter

When a dog and a cat open the doors of a general store, money goes out the window, in this classic children’s story from the author of The Tale of Peter Rabbit.
 
The Tale of Ginger and Pickles is a cautionary tale for children about how not to run a business. Ginger, an orange tomcat, and Pickles, a terrier, want to make their village store a success. Selling pocket-handkerchiefs, sugar, snuff, and galoshes seems like a good plan, and the local animals are happy to shop there, even though the mice are rather afraid of Ginger and the rabbits are always a bit frightened of Pickles. But all goes well until the proprietors start extending unlimited credit to their customers—and find themselves over their whiskers in debt . . .
 
“Potter’s tales have been consistently popular with adults, as well as children, since The Tale of Peter Rabbit was published in 1902 when she was 36 years old. This is not just because they feature adorable creatures in harrowing situations; her talking-animal stories also comment on the era’s class politics, gender roles, economics and domestic life. . . . In the celebration of laissez faire capitalism that is The Tale of Ginger and Pickles, she approves of the market forces that ruin the title characters’ shop, because they didn’t run their business with intelligence . . . Potter’s vision is that nature may be Darwinian chaos but one can survive through hard work and good sense.” —BBC.com

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Media
• Release date: Mar 3, 2020
• ISBN: 9781504061117

Beatrix Potter

Helen Beatrix Potter was an English writer, illustrator, natural scientist and conservationist; she was best known for her children's books featuring animals, such as The Tale of Peter Rabbit.

Book preview

Reviews for The Tale of Ginger and Pickles

[dukefan86 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This tale has surprising relevence in today's economy, as Pickles and Ginger run a store that fails--because they give an open credit line to anyone and everyone. Trying to bill the other animals doesn't work, so they close their store and have to find other work. Meanwhile, the other little stores in the story that take cash only survive. Huh.

[lisa211_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The story is about a Ginger and Pickles (hence the title), a cat and a dog who run a dry good store. They have great services and great sales but too great that they actually let their customers goes on credit till their business just went bankcrupt because nobody actually pays for their goods when they buys them. Eventually, their store reopens, bringing greater profits.This book has wonderful illustrations for the kids to enjoy. But I must admit, I don't really quite enjoy this book, and just reading it through to check it out. But of course, I can't speak for others.

[t1bclasslibrary · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Ginger and Pickles open a shop, but they offer unlimited credit, and the customers never pay them. Eventually the are forced to close, and everyone has poor selection at various places or high prices at Tabitha Twitchit’s until Sally Henny Penny finally opens a shop.

[mrslee_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Cute little tale about setting up shop, commerce, credit and other such worthy topics. Mostly though, it is fun.

[cheryl_in_cc_nv · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Well I'm charmed. Just the play on words encapsulated by the title is all I needed to check it out.

But anyway, as the mixed reviews here note, it raises questions of the relative values of socialism and capitalism. What the other reviewers seem to think, though, is that the story should present a lesson - the question being which economic system is promoted here and which should be promoted to children.

I disagree. I say, use the ambiguity of the story's lesson to engage the children in discussion. How could Ginger and Pickles have kept their shop if they wanted to be compassionate enough to offer credit?

[sealford_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Poor little Ginger and Pickles! They were once very prosperous, but others took advantage of them once they started offering credit. It is their generosity that ultimately leads them to their downfall.