The Tales of Peter Rabbit & Friends Series

The Tale of Peter Rabbit, written and superbly illustrated by Beatrix Potter. It follows a mischievous and disobedient young Peter Rabbit as he is chased about the garden of Mr. McGregor after eating vegetables he wasn’t supposed to. After a few tight scrapes he escapes but loses his shoes and jacket in his scramble for freedom. He returns home to his mother, who puts him to bed after giving him some camomile tea. The tale was written and exquisitely illustrated by Potter for five-year-old Noel Moore, son of Potter's former governess Annie Carter Moore, in 1893. It was revised and privately printed by Potter in 1901, but was printed in a trade edition by Frederick Warne & Co. in 1902. The book was a success, and multiple reprints were issued in the years immediately following its debut. It has been translated into 36 languages, and with 45 million copies sold it is one of the best-selling books of all time. ------------------- Helen Beatrix Potter was an English writer, illustrator, natural scientist, and conservationist best known for her children's books featuring animals, such as those in The Tale of Peter Rabbit. Born into a privileged household, Potter was educated by governesses and grew up isolated from other children. She had numerous pets and spent holidays in Scotland and the Lake District, developing a love of landscape, flora, and fauna, all of which she closely observed and painted. Though Potter was typical of women of her generation in having limited opportunities for higher education, her study and watercolours of fungi led to her being widely respected in the field of mycology. In her thirties, Potter self-published the highly successful children's book, The Tale of Peter Rabbit. Potter began writing and illustrating children's books full-time. In all Potter wrote about 30 books; the best known being her 23 children's tales. With the proceeds from the books and a legacy from an aunt, in 1905 Potter bought Hill Top Farm in Near Sawrey, a village in the Lake District. She died of pneumonia and heart disease on 22 December 1943 at her home in Near Sawrey at the age of 77, leaving almost all her property to the National Trust. She is credited with preserving much of the land that now constitutes the Lake District National Park. Potter's books continue to sell throughout the world in many languages with her stories being retold in song, film, ballet, and animation, and her life depicted in a feature film and television film. --------------------- Keywords: Peter Rabbit, Beatrix Potter, children’s stories, lake district, England, bedtime stories, mischievous, animals, Flopsy, Mopsy, Peter, Cotton-tail, Mr McGregor, Mrs. Rabbit, blackberries, naughty, French beans, radish, parsley, cucumber, 'Stop thief, run, fast, watering can, cabbages, robins, lost, sneeze, jump, dash, vegetable garden, cat, fish, outside, free, home, hoe, gate, scarecrow, camomile tea, bread, milk, blackberries, sleep

The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin is a children's book written and illustrated by Beatrix Potter and first published by Frederick Warne & Co. in August 1903. The story is about an impertinent red squirrel named Nutkin and his narrow escape from an owl called Old Brown. The book followed Potter's hugely successful The Tale of Peter Rabbit, and was an instant hit. The now familiar endpapers of the Peter Rabbit series were introduced in the book. One commentator has likened Squirrel Nutkin's impertinent behaviour to that of the rebellious working-class of Potter's own day, and another commentator has noted the tale's similarities to pourquoi tales and folk tales in its explanations of Squirrel Nutkin's short tail and characteristics of squirrel behaviour. An abbreviated version of the tale appeared as a segment in the 1971 ballet film, The Tales of Beatrix Potter. Squirrel Nutkin had its origins in a story and picture letter Potter sent Norah Moore, the daughter of her former governess, Annie Carter Moore. The background illustrations were modelled on Derwentwater and St. Herbert's Island in the Lake District. 10% of the profit from the sale of this book will be donated to charities by the publisher. ============= TAGS: Squirrel Nutkin, Beatrix Potter, children’s stories, lake district, Derwentwater, England, bedtime stories, mischievous, animals, Owl, brother, Twinkleberry, wood, lake, trees, nut bushes, Old Brown Owl, hazel, raft of twigs, Owl Island, Rhyme, riddles, asleep, sacks, nuts, fat mole, Mr Brown, Hitty Pitty, oak-apples, scarlet, yellow, paddle, fat minnow, six fat beetles, dock-leaf, pine-needle pin, Flour of England, fruit of Spain, robin, pincushion, hill, tippitty top, bonniest swine, Tipple-tine, impertinence, honey, big flat rock, ninepins, laughing, shouting, Humpty Dumpty, beck, Hickamore, sunbeam, King of Scots, Arthur of the Bower, waistcoat, staircase,

The Tale of Two Bad Mice is a children's book written and illustrated by Beatrix Potter, and published by Frederick Warne & Co. in September 1904. The tale is about two mice who vandalize a dollhouse. After finding the food on the dining room table made of plaster, they smash the dishes, throw the doll clothing out the window, tear the bolster, and carry off a number of articles to their mouse-hole. When the little girl who owns the dollhouse discovers the destruction, she positions a policeman doll outside the front door to ward off any future depredation. The two mice atone for their crime spree by putting a crooked sixpence in the doll's stocking on Christmas Eve and sweeping the house every morning with a dust-pan and broom. Potter took inspiration for the tale from two mice caught in a cage-trap in her cousin's home and a dollhouse being constructed by her editor and publisher Norman Warne as a Christmas gift for his niece Winifred. While the tale was being developed, Potter and Warne fell in love and became engaged, much to the annoyance of Potter's parents, who were grooming their daughter to be a permanent resident and housekeeper in their London home. The tale's themes of rebellion, insurrection, and individualism reflect not only Potter's desire to free herself of her domineering parents and build a home of her own, but her fears about independence and her frustrations with Victorian domesticity. The book was critically well received and brought Potter her first fan letter from America. The tale was adapted to a segment in the 1971 Royal Ballet film The Tales of Beatrix Potter and to an animated episode in the BBC series The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends. Merchandise inspired by the tale includes Beswick Pottery porcelain figurines and Schmid music boxes. ============= TAGS: Tale of Two Bad Mice, Mouse, Beatrix Potter, children’s stories, doll’s house, theft, destruction, atonement, Christmas, Gift, love, engagement, policeman doll, front door, depredation, crooked sixpence, stocking, clean house, keep house, sweep,

The Tailor of Gloucester is a children's story about a tailor whose work on a waistcoat is finished by the grateful mice he rescues from his cat. It was based on a real world incident involving a tailor and his assistants. The third book in the series, for years Potter declared that of all her books it was her personal favourite. A tailor in Gloucester sends his cat Simpkin to buy food and a twist of cherry-coloured silk to complete a waistcoat commissioned by the mayor for his wedding on Christmas morning. Whilst Simpkin is gone, the tailor finds mice the cat has imprisoned under teacups. The mice are released and scamper away. When Simpkin returns and finds his mice gone, he hides the twist in anger. The tailor falls ill and is unable to complete the waistcoat, but, upon returning to his shop, he is surprised to find the waistcoat finished which has been completed by the grateful mice. However, one buttonhole remains unfinished because there was "no more twist!" Simpkin gives the tailor the twist to complete the work and the success and beauty of the waistcoat makes the tailor's fortune. ============= TAGS: Tailor, Gloucester, Beatrix Potter, children’s stories, lake district, England, bedtime stories, helpful, mouse, mice, Cat, waistcoat, coat, velvet, gold, embroidery, Simpkin, favourite, twist if cherry coloured silk, teacups, imprison, release, freedom, scamper away, hide, sew, illness, buttonhole, no more twist, success, thing of beauty

The Story of Miss Moppet is a tale about teasing, featuring a kitten and a mouse, that was written and illustrated by Beatrix Potter and is book 10 in the Tales of Peter Rabbit & Friends series and is intended as an introduction to reading for early readers. Miss Moppet, the story's eponymous main character, is a kitten teased by a mouse. While pursuing him she bumps her head on a cupboard. She then wraps a duster about her head, and sits before the fire "looking very ill". The curious mouse creeps closer, is captured, "and because the Mouse has teased Miss Moppet—Miss Moppet thinks she will tease the Mouse; which is not at all nice of Miss Moppet". She ties him up in the duster and tosses him about. However, the mouse makes his escape, and once safely out of reach, dances a jig atop the cupboard. Not wanting to expose children to the cruelty of the real world, Potter shies away from reality and has the kitten catch and wrap up the mouse, then play with it. Accordingly, the mouse escapes out of a hole in the duster thereby avoiding his demise. ============= TAGS: Miss Moppet, kitten, Rabbit, Beatrix Potter, children’s stories, childrens, lake district, Derwentwater, Hill Top Farm, England, bedtime stories, mischievous, animals, behaviour, tease, teasing, bully, message, bullying, mouse, fireside, wrap up, head, curious, capture, catch, dance, jig, escape, hole, duster, feign, illness, pretend, tie up, toss about, cruelty, demise, death, atop, cupboard,

Jeremy Fisher is a frog who lives in a "slippy-sloppy" house at the edge of a pond. One rainy day he collects worms for fishing, and sets off across the pond on his lily-pad boat. He plans to invite his friends for dinner if he catches more than five minnows. He encounters all sorts of setbacks to his goal, and escapes a large trout who tries to swallow him. He swims for shore, decides he will not go fishing again, and hops home. Written and illustrated by Beatrix Potter. It was published by Frederick Warne & Co. in July 1906. ============= TAGS: Beatrix Potter, children’s stories, lake district, England, bedtime stories, helpful, background, timeless countryside, hill top farm, rustic pathways, simple dwellings, timeless, aspect, way of life, Tale, Peter Rabbit, Jeremy fisher, frog, damp, little house, buttercups, edge, pond, larder, passage, slippy-sloppy, water, wet feet, go fishing, five, minnows, friends, dinner, Macintosh, shiny Galoshes, rod, basket, lily-pad boat, poling, cross-legged, tackle, red float, horsehair, lunch, butterfly sandwich, water beetle, stickleback, escapes, prick, fingers, trout, snap, OUCH, dives, bottom, tasteless, spit out, cork, bubbles, home, meadow, sticking plaster, friends, Sir Isaac Newton, newt, Alderman Ptolemy Tortoise, salad, black and gold waistcoat, string bag, roasted grasshopper, ladybird sauce

The Tale of a Fierce Bad Rabbit tells of a bad rabbit which finds a good rabbit sitting on a bench eating a carrot his mother gave him. Wanting the carrot, he takes it from the good rabbit and scratches him to get it. The good rabbit escapes and hides in a nearby hole. Meanwhile, a hunter notices the bad rabbit sitting on the bench and mistakes him for a bird. He fires at the bad rabbit, but on arrival at the spot finds nothing but a carrot and a rabbit tail on the bench. A little while later, the good rabbit sees the bad rabbit running away without his whiskers and tail! The book was written for Louie Warne, the daughter of Potter's publisher, Harold Warne and was intended for babies and very young children, seemingly to teach a moral. ============= TAGS: Fierce, Bad, Rabbit, Beatrix Potter, children’s stories, lake district, Derwentwater, England, bedtime stories, mischievous, animals, behaviour, good, hunter, shoot, narrow escape, hide, steal, eat, carrot, tail, whiskers, moral story, bench, bird, scratch, bully, message, bullying

The Tale Of Mrs Tiggy-Winkle is a children's story written and illustrated by Beatrix Potter. Mrs. Tiggy-winkle is a hedgehog washerwoman who lives in a tiny cottage in the fells of the Lake District. A child named Lucie happens upon the cottage and stays for tea. The two deliver freshly laundered clothing to the animals and birds in the neighbourhood. Potter thought the book would be best enjoyed by girls, and, like most girls' books of the period, it is set indoors with a focus on housework. Potter's pet hedgehog, Mrs. Tiggy-winkle, and Kitty MacDonald, a Scottish washerwoman, were the inspirations for the eponymous heroine. Lucie Carr, a child friend of Potter's, was the model for the fictional Lucie. Potter's Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny make cameo appearances in the illustrations. The Newlands Valley and the surrounding fells are the sources for the backgrounds in the illustrations. NOTE: Mrs. Tiggy-winkle has been described as one of Potter's most positive creations, but critics consider Lucie an artistic failure. Although Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle is set in an identifiable place and time period, the tale is mythologized by reaching back to an age when household chores were performed manually and without the aid of modern mechanical inventions. The simple dwellings, rustic pathways, and stone fences enhance the tale's timeless aspect and suggest an unchanging countryside and its way of life. ============= TAGS: Beatrix Potter, children’s stories, lake district, England, bedtime stories, helpful, Tiggy-Winkle, hedgehog, porcupine, washerwoman, tiny, cottage, fells, Lucie, stay for tea, deliver, freshly laundered clothing, animals, birds, neighbourhood. girls, boys, indoors, housework, Kitty MacDonald, Scottish, inspiration, heroine, Lucie Carr, model, Peter Rabbit, Benjamin Bunny, cameo, Newlands Valley, background

The Tale of the Pie and the Patty-Pan is a children's story written and illustrated by Beatrix Potter. The story tells of a cat called Ribby and a tea party she holds for a dog called Duchess. Complications arise when Duchess tries to replace Ribby's mouse pie with her own veal and ham pie, and then believes she has swallowed a small tin pastry form called a patty-pan. Its themes are etiquette and social relations in a small town. The illustrations depict the cottages and gardens of Sawrey, a village in the Lake District near Potter's Hill Top farm, and have been described as some of the most exquisite Potter ever produced. Ribby was modelled on a cat living in Sawrey, Duchess on two Pomeranians belonging to Potter's neighbour Mrs Rogerson, Tabitha Twitchit on Potter's cat at Hill Top, and Dr Maggoty on the magpies in the London Zoological Gardens. Simple dwellings, rustic pathways, and stone fences inspired Potter’s imagination and enhance the tale's timeless aspect and suggest an unchanging countryside and its way of life. ============= TAGS: Beatrix Potter, children’s stories, lake district, England, bedtime stories, helpful, background, timeless countryside, hill top farm, Ribby, cat, Duchess, Dog, Patty Pan, mouse pie, veal and ham pie, swallow, cottages, shop, street, tin, pastry, small town, etiquette, social relations, Sawrey, Pomeranian, Dr Maggoty, magpie, rustic pathway, simple dwellings, timeless, aspect, way of life

The Tale of Tom Kitten is a tale about teasing, featuring a kitten and a mouse, that was written and illustrated by Beatrix Potter and is book 11 in the Tales of Peter Rabbit & Friends series. The tale is about manners and how children react to them. Tabitha Twitchit, the cat, invites friends for tea. In order to prepare, she washes and dresses her three kittens for the party, but unwisely let them play in the garden while she gets on with the preparations. Within moments the kittens have soiled and lost their clothes while scampering about the garden. The Puddle-Duck family, Mr Drake, Jemima and Rebeccah, pick up the clothes and put them on. Then waddle off to the pond to swim. Tabitha comes out to call the children in and is "affronted" by what she finds. She sends the kittens to bed, and tells her friends the kittens have the measles. Once the tea party is underway however, its "dignity and repose" are disturbed by the kittens romping overhead and leaving a bedroom in disorder. How did the Puddle-Duck family fare swimming in clothes? Well you’ll just have download and read this story to find out. ============= TAGS: Miss Moppet, kitten, Rabbit, Beatrix Potter, children’s stories, childrens, lake district, Derwentwater, Hill Top Farm, England, bedtime stories, mischievous, animals, behaviour, fun, naughty, Tabitha Twitchit, cat, kittens, wash, dress smartly, play, garden, ruin, stain, lose, puddle-duck family, Drake puddle-duck, Jemima puddle-duck, Rebeccah puddle-duck, swim, measles, romp, disarray, misbehave, discipline,

The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck s a children's book written and illustrated by Beatrix Potter and first published in July 1908. Jemima is a domestic duck of the Aylesbury breed, whose eggs are routinely confiscated by the farmer's wife because she believes Jemima a poor sitter. Jemima searches for a place away from the farm where she can hatch her eggs without human interference, and naively confides her woes to a suave fox who invites her to nest in a shed at his home. Jemima accepts his invitation, little realising her danger: the fox plans to kill and roast her. Kep, a collie on the farm, discovers Jemima's whereabouts and rescues her just in time. Potter indicated the tale was a revision of "Little Red Riding Hood" with Jemima, the fox, and the dog parallels to the fairy tale's heroine, wolf, and woodcutter. Jemima, Kep, the farmer's wife, and her two children were all modelled on real world individuals at Potter's Hill Top farm. NOTE: Potter composed the book at Hill Top, a working farm in the Lake District which she bought in 1905. Following the purchase, her works began to focus on country and village life, incorporating large casts of animal characters and sinister villains. Jemima Puddle-Duck was the first of her books set wholly at the farm with background illustrations based on the farm buildings and yard, and nearby locales. ============= TAGS: Beatrix Potter, Jemima, Puddle-Duck children’s stories, lake district, Hill Top Farm, England, bedtime stories, helpful, duck, fox, eggs, ducklings, fox, country gentleman, summer home, red riding hood, country life, village life, kep, puppies, farmer’s wife, children, sitter, sitting, nest, shed, straw, hay, herbs, danger, accept, invitation, rescue,

The Tale of The Flopsy Bunnies is a children's book written and illustrated by Beatrix Potter, and first published in July 1909. In The Flopsy Bunnies, Benjamin Bunny and his cousin Flopsy are the parents of six young rabbits called simply The Flopsy Bunnies. The story concerns how the Flopsy Bunnies, while raiding a rubbish heap of rotting vegetables, fall asleep and are captured by Mr. McGregor who places them in a sack. While McGregor is distracted, the six are freed by Thomasina Tittlemouse, a woodmouse, and the sack filled with rotten vegetables by Benjamin and Flopsy. At home, Mr. McGregor proudly presents the sack to his wife, but receives a sharp scolding when she discovers its actual content. NOTE: After two full-length tales about rabbits, Potter had grown weary of the subject and was reluctant to write another. She realized however that children most enjoyed her rabbit stories and pictures, and so reached back to characters and plot elements from The Tale of Peter Rabbit (1902) and The Tale of Benjamin Bunny (1904) to create The Flopsy Bunnies. A semi-formal garden of archways and flowerbeds in Wales at the home of her uncle and aunt became the background for the illustrations. ============= KEYWORDS: Beatrix Potter, children’s stories, lake district, Wales, England, bedtime stories, flopsy bunnies, raid, rubbish heap, fall asleep, capture, Mr Mc Gregor, sack, tie up, distract, freedom, woodmouse, Thomasina Tittlemouse, rotten vegetables, Benjamin Bunny, sharp, scolding, present, contents

The Tale of Samuel Whiskers or the Roly-Poly Pudding is a children's book written and illustrated by Beatrix Potter and first published in October 1908. The theme of the tale is childhood disobedience. Tom Kitten is a young cat who lives with his mother, Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit, and sisters, Moppet and Mittens, in a house overrun with rats. The kittens are an unruly bunch, Mrs. Twitchit puts Moppet and Mittens in a cupboard in order to keep them under control, but Tom Kitten escapes up the chimney. As he makes his way to the top of the house, he comes across a crack in the wall and, squeezing through it, finds himself under the attic's floorboards. There he meets the rats, Mr. Samuel Whiskers and his wife Anna Maria. They catch him and proceed to cover him with butter and dough they have stolen in order to eat him as a pudding. John Joiner, the carpenter, is called and he saws open the floor and rescues Tom who has the dough removed, before being washed, and the remains of the dumpling are eaten by the family. Whiskers and his wife escape to the barn of Farmer Potatoes, spreading their chaos to another location, though leaving the cat family residence in peace. Potter mentions herself as seeing Samuel Whiskers and Anna Maria making their escape, using a wheelbarrow that looks like her own. Tom is so affected by the incident that while his sisters become fine rat-catchers he is afraid of anything larger than a mouse. ============= KEYWORDS: Beatrix Potter, Samuel Whiskers, Tom the kitten, roly poly pudding, children’s stories, lake district, Hill Top Farm, England, bedtime stories, helpful, rescue, John Joiner, Carpenter, Moppet, Mittens, house, rats, Mrs. Twitchit, cat, cupboard, escape, chimney, Samuel Whiskers, wife, Anna Maria, dough, batter, rolling pin, pudding, Farmer Potatoes, dumpling, family, barn, havoc, wreak, wheelbarrow, rat-catcher, sisters, brother

Written and illustrated by Beatrix Potter and first published by Frederick Warne & Co. in December 1918. Timmy Willie is a country mouse who falls asleep in a hamper of vegetables after eating peas and is carried to the city. When the hamper is opened, find himself in a large house. He is seen and escapes and slips through a hole in the skirting board, landing in the middle of a mouse dinner party hosted by Johnny Town-mouse. Timmy is made welcome – and tries his best to fit in, but finds the noises made by the house cat and the maid frightening and the rich food difficult to digest making him feel ill. He returns via the hamper to his country home after extending an invitation to Johnny Town-mouse to visit him. The following spring, Johnny Town-mouse pays Timmy Willie a visit. He complains of the dampness and finds such things as cows and lawnmowers frightening. He returns to the city in the hamper of vegetables after telling Timmy country life is too quiet. The tale ends with the author stating her own preference for country living. The tale is based on the Aesop fable, "The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse", with details taken from Horace's Satires. ============= TAGS: Beatrix Potter, children’s stories, lake district, Wales, England, bedtime stories, Peter Rabbit, Johnny Town-mouse, Timmy Willie, country mouse, hamper, peas, asleep, large house, escape, dinner party, cat, maid, frighten, rich food, digest, ill, cart, horse, burrow, lawnmower, return, way of life, preference, dampness, invitation, vegetables, too quiet, cows, animals, farm,