James Baquet

    Who doesn’t love the story of Peter Rabbit being chased about in Mr. McGregor’s garden? Not to mention the 25 other children’s books written and illustrated by Beatrix Potter (1866-1943). Benjamin Bunny, Jemima Puddle-Duck, and the Flopsy Bunnies are (or should be) part of every nursery’s social circle.

    Miss Potter herself (played by Renée Zellweger in a film of the same name a decade ago) was born to well-off parents, and she was educated at home, with only her younger brother Edward for company. The family took holidays in Scotland and in England’s Lake District, where young Beatrix fell in love with nature, and learned to draw with careful realism. Although her parents discouraged her from any higher learning, she became adept at observing and painting fungi, and was eventually a well-known amateur mycologist who conducted experiments and wrote papers on the subject.

    Her earliest forays into children’s illustrations were the rabbits, mice, and other small creatures with which she illustrated her Christmas cards, and the letters she wrote to friends when she was away in the countryside. In one of those letters, to a sickly boy, she told a story about “four little rabbits whose names were Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail and Peter.” In 1902, when she was in her mid-30s, “The Tale of Peter Rabbit” was published.

    It was an instant success, if somewhat more grim than most children’s books today. Early on, his mother tells Peter and his three siblings, “Now my dears… don’t go into Mr. McGregor’s garden: your Father had an accident there; he was put in a pie by Mrs. McGregor.”

    Of course, though the other three behaved, “Peter,” the story continues, “who was very naughty, ran straight away to Mr. McGregor’s garden, and squeezed under the gate!”

    With the success of this book, Potter became a full-time children’s author. She used the money from her efforts, plus an inheritance, to buy land which at her death she left to the National Trust, and which was incorporated into the Lake District National Park.

    Vocabulary:

    Which word above means:

    1. person who studies fungi

    2. British conservation organization

    3. a room for young children

    4. simple form of plant, like mushrooms

    5. money from someone who has died

    6. a mountainous area of northwest England, popular with tourists and poets

    7. brothers and/or sisters

    8. skillful

    9. dark, cruel

    10. early attempts