Bibliography

If you would like to learn more about Beatix Potter, we found these sources provided great information! Happy reading!

Lane, Margaret. The Magic Years of Beatrix Potter. Frederick Warne Publishers: London, 1978.

Mackey, Margaret. The Case of Peter Rabbit, Changing Conditions of Literature for Children. Garland Publishing: New York, 1998.

Potter, Beatrix. The Art of Beatrix Potter. Frederick Warne Publishers: London, 1955.

Potter, Beatrix. The Journal of Beatrix Potter, from 1881-1897. Translated by Leslie Linder. Frederick Warne Publishers: London, 1966.

“The Tale of Peter Rabbit and Beatrix Potter.” Film, 2002.

A Note from the Creators

Hello our dear readers! We hope you have enjoyed keeping up with Beatrix and her blog. We guess you figured out that Beatrix was not really the author of this post, and the masterminds are actually two college students named Kristina and Kathryn. We hope you learned some things about Beatrix that you did not know before and that the description of a selection of her books have encouraged you to read some of her adorable stories. What did you find most interesting? We would love it if you would comment on any of the posts you read and if you have a questions for "Beatrix" we would love to answer them.

We also would like to mention that because Beatrix was not the real author of the blog, anything in quoatation marks was a direct quote from Beatrix's journal The Journal of Beatrix Potter, 1891-1897. The only exception is the caterpillar quote which was attained from The Magic Years of Beatrix Potter. So while we tried to stay true to Beatrix's personality and writing style please keep in mind that this is only an interpretation of the author based on weeks of research.

As much as we enjoy making blogs, we also saw this blog as an opportunity to enhance our future career goals. Please take the time to read them below!

Kristina Koford:
After graduating I plan to become a librarian. I view this blog “by Beatrix Potter,” as part of a larger project in which librarians in collaboration with teachers would create several blogs by deceased authors. The purpose is to educate the public, both children and adults, about a certain author, in this case Beatrix Potter. For this project to be successful, the librarian would need to contact schools and teachers to let them know about it. They should also send information on how teachers can use these websites with their classes- not just for learning about the author, but also computer and Internet literacy. Many students may not have much experience with blogs, and this one would be a friendly introduction to them and help them to learn about their structure and format (how to find past posts, how to find all articles labeled with a particular tag, etc). On a personal level,
doing this project as a blog, helped me to learn more about this type of information medium. I read blogs daily, but do not write any. This was an educational introduction of what this medium is capable of accomplishing.

Kathryn Van Dyke:
After graduating I plan to become an elementary school teacher and two of my primary goals are to encourage a lifelong love of reading and instill a sense of discovery within my students. I envisioned this blog as applicable in an elementary classroom in which students use technology to learn about a particular author or series of books. By discovering the information on their own and not being told directly by the teacher, the students will feel more interested in the topic/author because they are an essential part of the learning process. This blog also gives students the opportunity to read and strengthen their literacy proficiency without feeling intimidated or bored by the monotonous details of some biographies. Also, technology is only going to become more present in elementary classrooms and this format encourages students to use a computer in a educational and (hopefully) entertaining way.

This blog also has many areas for extension that I could easily use in the classroom as a teacher. Students could comment and write their own responses, ask the author questions, and pictures could be uploaded. I enjoyed discovering the capabilities of this blog and using the evaluative criteria from Huck's Children's Literature to summarize and study Potter's charming books.

The Sly Old Cat

The last book I will describe to you all, dear readers, is The Sly Old Cat. I wrote this story in 1906 for my publisher's daughter, however around this time people were starting to object to the miniature size and delicacy of my books. So time passed and eventually The Sly Old Cat could be published, but by this time I had moved onto other books and did not want to spend the time creating new drawings for its publication. So the manuscript stayed in my workroom until one day, in 1971, someone got a hold of it and published the story with my original sketches. So this book is the bare bones, the first edition. You get a nice glimpse into a rough draft. Do you ever write rough drafts of your stories? I think that is necessary for all stories.

But now once again I have got caught up in the back story of my tale and I would like to tell you all about the Sly Old Cat. This short story is about a very sneaky cat, and is most appropriate for younger children. Maybe you could read this story to a younger sibling of yours, dear reader.

This story begins as many of mine do, with two animals planning to have a party. The cat invited a rat over for tea. The rat came to the cat's house dressed in his nicest clothes and enters the kitchen where the tea party was being held. Although the cat was polite to the rat at first, by pulling out his chair for him, her politeness stops there. The cat insists that she will eat first, leaving only crumbs for the rat; the cat announces that she will drink tea first, and the rat will only have the drops of what's left. Before the cat drinks her tea she also mentions that she will eat her dessert first, and THEN the rat can eat dessert.

So naturally, the rat was very put off by Cat's uncouth nature and was also convinced that Cat had plans to eat him for dessert. As the greeedy cat pulled the milk jug up to her lips with her, the quick thinking rat jumped onto the jug and forced it over the cat's head. As Cat fell off her stool and ran around the room trying to get the jug off, Rat drank tea and observed the hilarious scene from atop the table. Before he left, leaving the cat in despair he also took a muffin to eat for dinner. Rat scurried away and never dared go near the cat again. And do you know what happened to the cat? Well, the only way she got the jug off her head was to smash it into pieces against a table leg. You can imagine that the cook was not happy about that. And that was the end of that terrible cat.

Activity Ideas

As I write this little blog of mine, it occurs to me that there might be teachers and parents who read this and think to themselves, "My wouldn't it be nice if there were activities to go along with this blog?"

I therefore will offer some ideas:

*Internet Literacy- go over blog concepts with the students. Topics to cover include, the title of the blog, figuring out what the blog is about, what posts are, and how labels or tags can help the reader to find everything in the blog on that subject.

*Have them read any three posts that review the books. Then have them put in order which books they would like to read next, along with a sentence for each one that says explains why.

*Create a scavenger hunt. Ask them questions that will require them to look over the blog to find the answers. For example, you can have them write down all the post titles in which "Peter Rabbit" is labeled, and "How much land did Beatrix donate to the National Trust?"

If any of you have ideas, please leave a comment to share it with other readers!

Summer Holidays

Every year my parents would travel to Scotland and rent Dalguise House for us to stay. Oh, how wonderful those times were to me!

“I was a child then, I had no idea what the world would be like… Everything was romantic in my imagination… I remember every stone, every tree, the scent of the heather, the murmuring of the wind through the fir trees. Even when the thunder growled in the distance, and the wind swept up the valley in fearful gusts, oh, it was always beautiful, home sweet home. I knew nothing of trouble then.”

It was there while walking through the landscape, that I was able to nourish my love for nature and inspired my interest in natural history (which I have already posted about here).

I suppose it should be no surprise that I would take such a strong interest in environmental conservation and purchase so much farmland as an adult!

Sources
Lane, Margaret. The Magic Years of Beatrix Potter. Frederick Warne Publishers: London, 1978, pp. 19-23. (Quote, p 21-22).

Farms and the National Trust

Because of the success of my little books, I found myself with a great sum of money large enough to purchase my own farm. I bought Hill Top in 1905, but was not able to live there year round as I would have wished. You see, dear reader, women who had not married during this time, were not allowed to be on their own (there was not a law against it, but to do so would be looked down upon by everyone), and my mother was no exception. She made it clear to me that she needed me at home, so I had to make do with visiting my farm as much as possible.

To take care of my land since I could not be there year round, I employed Mr. and Mrs. Cannon. My farm offered great inspiration to me- I loved to paint and draw the land, the gardens, and the home. I loved to go for walks around the area- it was so beautiful and peaceful.

As the years past, I bough more land, and as I bought more land, I became more and more involved in environmental conservation. Do you know what that means? That means that I prevented the land in my beloved Lake District from being ruined by railways, forestry (in which all the trees would have been chopped down), and turning the whole area into a city like London. Since we already had one London, we did not need another. Instead, we needed to preserve farmland, a way that kept the land as close to nature as possible.

I eventually donated 4,000 acres of farmland to England’s National Trust, which preserves land so that people for years to come may it enjoy it as I do.

Source
Lane, Margaret. The Magic Years of Beatrix Potter. Frederick Warne Publishers: London, 1978, pp.140-141.

Mackey, Margaret. The Case of Peter Rabbit, Changing Conditions of Literature for Children. Garland Publishing: New York, 1998, pp. 130-131.

“The Tale of Peter Rabbit and Beatrix Potter.” Film, 2002.

Book Inspirations

A common question I am asked is where I get my inspiration for my characters. The answer is that I am inspired from many different things! But if you are seeking something more specific, you may read the following:

Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny were both pets I kept.

The Tailor of Gloucester was a real tailor in Gloucester! (and a true story, except that the tailor’s assistants helped him out, and not mice. But mice are so enchanting, do you not think so?)

Hunca Munca, of The Tale of Two Bad Mice fame, was another pet had at the time, as was Mrs. Tiggy-winkle.

Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit and the kittens (including Tom) are based from little kitties that ran about at my farm in the Lake District called Hill Top.

Jemima Puddle-duck as a duck at Hill Top. And because ducks often forget to sit on their eggs to help them hatch, the farmer’s wife would take the duck eggs and place them under the chickens. But Jemima really did try hard to keep track of them and found a nest quite far from the farm eventually.

And, many of the settings were based from Hill Top and the village of Sawrey- a lovely place to be!


Sources
Lane, Margaret. The Magic Years of Beatrix Potter. Frederick Warne Publishers: London, 1978, pp. 49, 72, 82, 132, 152, 155, 181.

The Tale of Johnny Town Mouse

This story, first published in 1918, is a story about two mice Timmy Willie and Johnny Town-Mouse. It may remind you of “The Country Mouse and The City Mouse” if you have heard that tale. In this story, a plump short tailed mouse named Timmy Willie mistakenly is displaced from his garden home to the nearby town by falling asleep in a hamper full of vegetables. After a bumpy ride Timmy arrives at a house and must immediately flee the house cat and house cook. Timmy escapes into a hole in the wall where he crashes into a round table of nine town mice with long tails and dressed in white neck ties .

All the mice are very surprised by this intruder but maintain their gentlemanly manners. The leader of the group, Johnny Town-Mouse, introduces himself to Timmy and makes sure that Timmy has the best accommodations possible. Timmy is given the finest everything by town mouse standards. He eats eight course meals made of bacon and jelly, and sleeps on sofa pillows. However, Timmy does not find these things agreeable. The diet does not suit Timmy and he soon begins to lose weight. The sofa pillow smells like cats and Timmy could not sleep because of all the noise at night.

Timmy longs for his home, and after a few weeks returns safely to his garden where he can eat all the vegetables and run outside. Timmy’s life soon returns to normal, until one day he has an unexpected guest, Johnny Town-Mouse. Johnny had promised to visit Timmy, and because the house maid was told specifically to rid the house of mice, Johnny decided to visit his dear friend.

Timmy is convinced that Johnny will love the country and not want to return to town. But can you guess what happened? The very things Timmy loved about the country Johnny hated. Johnny hated the vegetable diet, the mattress made of grass, and the complete quiet of night. The familiar sounds of cows and lawn mowers terrify Johnny Town-Mouse. And so, while Timmy and Johnny were very good friends, they both agreed that they only had one home, and that they were too accustomed to their habits of living. Johnny Town-Mouse returned to the town that very same week.

So now I want to ask you, are you a town mouse or a country mouse? I personally much prefer the country.

The Tale of Timmy Tiptoes

This is another story about a squirrel. Do you remember Squirrel Nutkin? Well this story is about Timmy Tiptoes and his wife Goody, and it was first published in 1911. Because winter was quickly approaching, Goody and Timmy Tiptoes go out to quietly collect nuts. They spend many days collecting nuts and hide them in their nest in the hollow of a tree. When their hollow is full Timmy decides to put them in a hole high up in a tree. As the nuts travel down the inside Goody asks Timmy how he intends to get the nuts come spring. Timmy assures his wife that he will be much thinner in the spring and so crawling into the hole to get the nuts will not be a problem.
Then one day Silvertail, the most forgetful squirrel of all, could not find the nuts that he had hidden in the ground. He riles up the other squirrels and chase our friend Timmy Tiptoes into the very hole where he had hidden his nuts. The squirrels all thought that Timmy and Goody had taken all their nuts, which we know they had not. The hole was much too small for Timmy but they squeeze him through anyway.

Goody of course was extremely worried about her husband. She waited for him and after he didn’t come home she decided to look for him the next day. Meanwhile, a chipmunk finds Timmy and takes care of him, feeding him nuts. But Timmy got fatter, and he needed to get thinner so that he could escape through the hole!

Although Goody was distressed about her missing husband, she goes out to gather nuts without him. While hiding nuts she happens upon a female chipmunk who tells her that her husband is gone, though she knows where he is. Goody follows her to the tree hole where Goody and the female chipmunk hear two squirellish voices. Goody recognizes the voice of her husband and although Timmy wants to come out he cannot because he is too fat. But luckily one day a gust of wind came and blew off the top of the tree so that Timmy Tiptoes was able to escape.

And to this day, our squirrel couple keeps their nuts in a special closet in their home, so as to avoid any more conflict. And what happened to the chipmunk couple. Well the male chipmunk only returned when he was threatened by a bear and a terrible cold befell him.

The Tale of the Pie and The Patty Pan

This story is fairly longer than many of the others I have wriiten. Like The Tailor of Gloucester, it is longer with less of my charming illustrations and more of a focus on the story itself. In this story, a cat Ribby invites her dear friend Duchess the dog over for a pie. Duchess happily obliges but becomes worried that the pie will be made of mouse, something he finds quite despicable. So Duchess comes up with the idea to make his own pie and switch the pies while they are cooking and Ribby is not looking.

So Ribby spends most of the afternoon cleaning and tidying her house but she then has to step out to buy muffins and a few last minute provisions. While Ribby is out Duchess sneaks into the house and put her veal pie in the oven. However, Ribby had two ovens, and so rather than switching out the pies, Duchess unknowingly put the pie in the other oven, so both of them were cooking. Do you see the potential conflict? Can you make a prediction as to what might happen?
When Ribby returns she was suspicious that someone had been in the house because she thought she heard something and a drawer in the kitchen was left open. Ribby and Duchess take the time to get ready for the party and Duchess arrives promptly at a quarter after four in the afternoon and Duchess and Ribby have a gay time drinking tea. While adding sugar, Duchess drops her sugar cube on the floor and fetches it under the table. At this very instant Ribby takes her mouse pie, which is now a golden brown, out of the oven and Duchess does not see which oven the pie came out of.

They sit down to dinner and Duchess gobbles up the pie. Although she noticed that the meat was minced finer than the veal pie she had prepared it was not until the pie tin was clean that she realized what she had eaten. For Duchess had prepared her dish with a patty pan (a tin dish that goes in the plate), and Ribby had not. Duchess could not understand why the patty pan was missing although Ribby kept telling Duchess she had not used one. Duchess convinces herself that she must have eaten it without noticing, and is convinces that she will soon die from consuming so much metal.

Confused, Ribby runs to fetch the town doctor to see Duchess. While left alone Duchess finally discovers her veal pie in the other oven and realizes that she had eaten a pie entirely of mouse and not the patty pan after all. Not wanting to explain this to Ribby, Duchess stowes her pie in the back yard and gets it when she leaves, but the birds had gotten to it first and Duchess left the patty pan for Ribby.

The Story of Miss Moppet

The Story of Miss Moppet is one of my shorter stories and was first published in 1906. While children of any age can read my stories, this one was written for my youngest friends. This story is very closely tied with the illustrations, and most of the pages are explaining the picture, and not the other way around as is often the case. Many of the pages start with “This is…” to show the action. But nonetheless there is a story to be told.

Miss Moppet hears a mouse, and decides to get him. The mouse, who lives behind the cupboard is not scared of Miss Moppet though and taunts her. She chases him behind a cupboard and hits her head. Miss Moppet then wraps her head in a duster and attempts to ail to aching head. The mouse comes down to see Miss Moppet and he gets closer and closer until…Miss Moppet seizes the mouse!

In hopes of getting revenge for the mouse teasing Miss Moppet, which is not very nice, she wraps him in the duster and tosses him around. She throws him in the air many times but when she unties the duster she remembers the small hole that was there, and the mouse had escaped through the hole and was now celebrating on top of the cupboard.

So children, revenge is not a good thing, and will rarely get you what you truly want. It was not right of the mouse to tease Miss Moppet, but this story focuses on Miss Moppet’s wrongdoings and not those of the mouse. And I think Miss Moppet learned her lesson not to seek revenge.

The Tale of Jemima Puddle Duck

This is a curious tale of a duck who is just a little to trusting. First published in 1906, Jemima Puddle Duck is a fairly stubborn and protective duck who lived on a farm. Jemima did not like the farmer’s wife because she would not let Jemima hatch her own eggs. Determined to sit on her eggs for 28 days so that she can hatch them herself, Jemima thinks of ways to accomplish this task. She tries hiding the eggs, but they are always found. Refusing to give up, Jemima thinks the only way to have the eggs hatch herself is to take them away from the farm.

Jemima flies to the woods, something she hadn’t practiced in a very long time, and finds a nice spot. What’s more is that she meets a nice gentleman with prick ears and “sandy coloured whiskers.” Now children do you have any idea what kind of animal this elegantly dressed gentleman was? He was a fox, but Jemima thought he was very friendly and civil. Jemima explained to him her plight and the gentleman offered his house as the perfect resting place for her eggs. Jemima obliged and thought nothing of the room filled with feathers. Jemima sits on her eggs but has to go home at the end of the night, but this eloquent gentleman promises to look over the eggs with great care.

After six days, Jemima announces that she plans to sit on the eggs permanently until they hatch. This prompts the gentleman to make the odd request of ingredients for an omelette from Jemima. Now isn’t that curious to you? Why would he want an omelette so suddenly? Jemima thought nothing of it and returned back to the farm to gather what the fox, I mean gentleman, had requested. While fetching the onions, she runs into the farm dog Kep and she tells him the whole story. Kep found the story very interesting and asked many questions about the location of the house.

When Jemima makes it back to her wooded hideaway, and the typically friendly gentleman is very curt. He was bossy and abrupt, and because he had never regarded Jemima in this manner, she felt uncomfortable. But again, luck is on the side of our protagonist. Kep and his three friends come to save Jemima from being eaten by the sly fox and through a series of barks, growls, squeals, and groans the fox was never heard from again.

Jemima Puddle-Duck was saved! But unfortunately her eggs were not, and Kep’s friends gobbled them up before Kep had the opportunity to tell them not too. Jemima returns home crying over her lost eggs, but she was able to lay four eggs in June.

Jemima Puddle-Duck was too trusting of the fox. There were plenty of signs to tell her that she was in danger, the room full of feathers, the irrational request of ingrediants to make an omelette, the fox’s fascination with the eggs, but Jemima did not notice. Now I am not saying you cannot trust anyone, but you always have to be smart about it, make sure you are not putting yourself in a situation where you might get cooked.

List of My Books

I though I would dedicate this post to a bibliography of what I wrote (can you guess what “bibliography” means? You try to guess and I’ll define it after the post.). I will list them chronologically (I’ll define that word at the end, as well, dear reader ☺ ).

The Tale of Peter Rabbit, 1902
The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin, 1903
The Tailor of Gloucester, 1903
The Tale of Benjamin Bunny, 1904
The Tale of Two Bad Mice, 1904
The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle, 1905
The Tale of Jeremy Fisher, 1906
The Story of a Fierce Bad Rabbit, 1906
Teh Story of Miss Moppet, 1906
The Tale of Tom Kitten, 1907
The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck
The Roly-Poly Pudding, later changed to The Tale of Samuel Whiskers, 1908
The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies, 1909
Ginger and Pickles, 1909
The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse, 1910
The Tale of Timmy Tiptoes, 1911
The Tale of Mr. Tod, 1912
The Tale of Pigling Bland, 1913
The Tale of Johnny Town-Mouse, 1918
The Fairy Caravan, 1952
The Tale of Little Pig Robinson, 1930

(A “bibliography” is a list of books and “chronologically” is to be in order by date)

Source
Lane, Margaret. The Magic Years of Beatrix Potter. Frederick Warne Publishers: London, 1978, pp. 211-212.

My Love for Drawing and Painting

Drawing and painting is one of my greatest passions in life. Since I was a young child I have been drawing animals and birds. I began by copying from the illustrations in natural history books and later drew from observing real specimans (I have already posted about my natural history pusuits).

In fact one of my family’s oldest friends and artist Mr. John Everett Millais once remarked that, “plenty of people can draw, but you… have observation.” Young readers, have you ever known an adult who frightens you a bit? Mr. Millais was one such adult for me, which mean that when he gave me the complement about my skill of observation, it meant a great deal to me.

From this time I would draw realistic images, but from time to time I would include an animal walking upright or wearing a scarf!
When I was fifteen I received an Art’s Student Certificate, and was deemed that I could knowledgably create models, draw freehanded, and understood practical geometry and linear perspective.

On Saturday, October 4, 1884 (I would have been 18) I wrote in my journal:
“It is all the same, drawing, painting, modeling, the irresistible desire to copy any beautiful object which strikes the eye, why cannot one be content to look at it? I cannot rest, I must draw, however poor the result, and when I have a bad time come over me it is a stronger desire than ever, and settles on the queerest things. Worse than queer sometimes. Last time in the middle of September, I caught myself in the back yard making a careful and admiring copy of the swill bucket, and the laugh it gave me brought me round.”

What do you do when you are feeling down? What is it that you feel most passionate about, dear reader?

Source
Lane, Margaret. The Magic Years of Beatrix Potter. Frederick Warne Publishers: London, 1978, pp. 24,32-33.

Potter, Beatrix. The Art of Beatrix Potter. Frederick Warne Publishers: London, 1955.

Potter, Beatrix. The Journal of Beatrix Potter, from 1881-1897. Translated by Leslie Linder. Frederick Warne Publishers: London, 1966.

My Interest in Natural History

Natural history has always been one of my great interests. As a teenager, my brother and I would collect anything we could get our hands on- plants, animals, and insects. If we found a dead animal, we would recreate its skeleton without its skin and organs. Everything we collected we would draw, paint and describe in notebooks.

In one notebook I wrote the following when I was eight, about a particular insect:
“The caterpillar of the tiger feeds on the nettle and hawthorn and is found in June, they are covered with black, white, and red. They are found by roadsides and lanes.”

After I no longer had a governess to teach me my lessons, I would spend long hours in the Natural History Museum in London. Entomology (that is the study of insects) continued to fascinate me. I loved to look at the tiniest beings under microscopes and then draw them the best that I could. By my late twenties I had learned so much about fungi that I presented a paper to the Linnean Society about my discoveries on the germination of a certain species.

But soon after I would begin to write my little stories and grow an interest in keeping land in its natural state.

What are your hobbies?

Source
Lane, Margaret. The Magic Years of Beatrix Potter. Frederick Warne Publishers: London, 1978, pp.23-29, 39-41.

The Beatrix Code

Dear reader, do you ever keep secrets? I did, and I believe that as long as they aren't the sort that are hurtful, they can be quite fun!

One secret I kept for years and years, even from my friends, was that I developed my own code or written language- and I was the only one who could read it (though an enterprising fan years later learned how to decipher it by recognizing a reference to King Louis XVI of France)!

I wrote my journals in my secret code. My code consisted of our regular letters and others inspired by German and Greek letters. For example, a "t" stood for "l" and "k" for "e."

When I learned that the 17th century Parliamentarian Samuel Pepys (pronounced "Pips") had developed his own code to write in his diary, I decided to take on a similar endeavor myself. Pepys (isn't that name fun to say?) was my inspiration, but does not answer the question of WHY I would do such an uncommon thing. Well, dear reader, I will tell you why- quite frankly I was bored, I desired the challenge, and my brain needed the exercise. You see, I did not go to school as my brother did (or even as you are now). Does that surprise you? Instead, I had governesses who lived with us and would teach me my lessons. And when I was too old for a governess as a teenager, I would educate myself by going to natural history and art museums (like the Victoria and Albert museum in London).

But in all honesty, "thank goodness my education was neglected... The reason I am glad I did not go to school- it would have rubbed off some of the originality (if I had not died of shyness or been killed with overpressure). I fancy I could have been taught anything if I had been caught young, but it was in the days when parents kept governesses, and only boys went to school in most families"

But please do not think, dear reader, especially you young ones who may or may not enjoy going to school, that I think school is a bad thing. Quite the contrary, learning about the world is an excellent pursuit and I did what I could without the help of being in a classroom.

Sources
Lane, Margaret. The Magic Years of Beatrix Potter. Frederick Warne Publishers: London, 1978, 30-32.

Potter, Beatrix. The Journal of Beatrix Potter, from 1881-1897. Translated by Leslie Linder. Frederick Warne Publishers: London, 1966 pp. xxiii-xxix.

My Family

Many People often inquire about my family, so I have decided to indulge those wishes and dedicate this post to that cause.

I was born on July 28, 1866 (though in England we would write it as 28 July 1866) at No. 2 Bolton Garden, West Brompton (which would later be destroyed in the German air raids in World War II). There I lived with my parents Rupert and Hellen Potter, and my brother Bertram, who was born five years after me.

My father was a barrister and solicitor (or a "lawyer" to my American friends). But because he came from a wealthy family, and he was wealthy, he does not seem to have ever actually practiced law! Instead, he spent his days at his clubs. One could say that I inherited my great interest in drawing from my father, though he later turned his attention to photography. And, of course, he was quite good at it!

My mother also came from a well-off family. In those days it was not proper for a woman of my mother's social status to work. Therefore my mother spent her days visiting friends and acquaintances, and doing embroidery work. She would also dabble in the art of the paint brush, but generally preferred that of the needle. She also involved herself with charity work by transcribing books into braille for a London Blind Association (people who are unable to see the words in books are able to learn to read braille by feeling the bumps imprinted on paper that stand for letters).

Growing up my brother Bertram spent most of the year away at boarding school. But during the summer he was with us in Scotland or the Lake District. We both shared a strong interest in in nature and enjoyed studying it together. Once we found an old printing press and had great fun in making prints. It would later be taken away from us because of the great mess the ink we made for it created.

And there, dear reader is a bit about my family.

Source
Lane, Margaret. The Magic Years of Beatrix Potter. Frederick Warne Publishers: London, 1978, Ch. 1, p. 57.

The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher

This story, originally published in 1906, is a lighthearted tale about a loveable frog named Mr. Jeremy Fisher. Mr. Fisher had a very nice house. Well in his opinion he did. It was damp, and slippery, but because he lived alone it suited the life of a frog very well. One day, Jeremy decided to go out and try to catch some minnows and to invite his two friends, Mr. Alderman Ptolemy and Sir Isaac Newton, over for dinner. Surely you know who Sir Isaac Newton is, he was a great scientist. But don’t worry if you do not know Alderman Ptolemy, he came from my imagination.
Anyway, the story really focuses on Jeremy Fisher and I would like to get back to his tale. After Jeremy gets dressed in his goloshes and macintosh he sets out with his fishing rod and hops onto his lily pad boat. After assembling his fishing rod, and waiting for a few hours with no luck, Jeremy decides to eat his lunch and relax. Jeremy observes rats and beetles, but no luck with minnows. Finally, something bites onto Mr. Fisher’s line! But alas, it is not a minnow, but a fish instead.

And then the story really gets exciting! Mr. Fisher is nursing his aching fingers when an enormous trout comes and gobbles up Mr. Fisher! This surely could have been the end of Jeremy, but luckily, as all my main characters seem to be, the trout found the taste of Mr. Fisher’s macintosh despicable and spit him out. Terrified from his near death experience, Mr. Jeremy Fisher scrambles away from the pond without any minnows.
But Sir Isaac Newton and Mr. Alederman Ptolomy are good friends and came over to Mr. Jeremy Fishers house anyhow. They had roasted grasshopper and lady-bird sauce, quite an amphibian feast.

And the lesson in this one? Always where your macintosh of course.

The Tale of Two Bad Mice

This the fifth book I wrote that was published, and I have been told people enjoy it very much. In this story, two mice, Tom Thumb and his wife Hunca Munca, pillage a doll house belonging to dolls Lucinda and Jane. When Lucinda and Jane leave go out for a drive one day, the two mice sneak into the house and are amazed by all the food and luxurious furnishings. After many tries to eat the delicious food, the couple realize that it is plaster and painted, and not edible at all. Meanwhile they make a mess of the kitchen and try to heat up the fish by putting it in the fire, which of course is only crinkled red and orange paper.

Tom Thumb and Hunca Munca continue to explore the kitchen and disappointed. Coffee, rice, and sago are actually beads. They are angered by the fake food and begin to reek havoc on the rest of the doll house. They bad mice have better luck in finding things that will be useful to them and have no qualms with taking whatever they can put their paws on. They take a feather bed, two chairs, a cradle, and many other odds and ends back to their mouse hole without any regret.

When Lucinda and Jane come home they, of course, are furious with the state of the house, though they show little emotion because they are dolls after all. The girl who owned the dollhouse decided to get a doll dressed as a police office to protect the house from thieves.
Luckily, the mice were not too terrible, as I like there to be some redeeming quality in my mischievous characters. When they found a sixpence piece they gave it to the dolls one Christmas and Hunca Munca dusts and sweep the dolls house every morning. So children, we all make mistakes and sometimes do things that we don’t realize were bad until later. But you should learn from Tom Thumb and Hunca Munca, you can always try to right a wrong.

The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin

This is the third book I wrote that was published, and it is very similar to The Tale of Peter Rabbit in that the only speaking characters are animals. In fact, every animal in this story is an animal. As I do for all my stories, I illustrated the pages myself using a combination of pen, ink, and watercolor. This took hours and often months to fine illustrations that I thought fit the story perfectly.

This story focuses on Nutkin, a red haired squirrel and his interactions with Mr. Brown, an owl on an island close to Nutkin’s home. Nutkin, his brother Twinkleberry, and his many cousins lived in the woods next to a lake. When food became scarce the squirrels decided to travel to the island to find nuts to store and eat. Every time the squirrels would go to the island they would bring a gift to the lone inhabitant, Mr. Brown, and ask if they could use his island to gather nuts. Mr. Brown is always silent and does not respond but he allows the squirrels to make use of his island because they have been so gracious. All except for Nutkin. Rather than giving Mr. Brown a gift, he taunts Mr. Brown with riddles and songs. Mr. Brown is very patient with Nutkin and it is not until the last day that Mr. Brown reacts to the taunting. While singing one of his riddles, Nutkin jumps onto Mr. Brown’s head! Because this is very rude, as I’m sure you would agree, Mr. Brown snatches Nutkin and pulls him into his house.

This looked like the end for Nutkin, and in fact if Mr. Brown had had his way it would have been. But Nutkin escapes, although the owl ripped his tail in half. And for the rest of his life, Nutkin never told another riddle.

Now I’m sure by now you have guessed that I am going to ask you what the lesson of this story is. Do you have any idea? The lesson is that there is a time and place for jokes and riddles, and that one should always have respect for others. Unless you want half of your tail bitten off, I suggest you always be polite, particularly when the other person is doing you a favor.

The Tale of Peter Rabbit

The Tale of Peter Rabbit, first published in 1902, is my first and perhaps most well known story. I wrote the book many times and it was originally named The Tale of Peter Rabbit and Mr. McGregor’s Garden. Many people did not want to publish my book however because there were no colorful pictures. After working on some illustrations and shortening the title, I was finally able to complete a book I was proud of that would be published for children and adults to read.

Anyway, I have gotten off topic, back to our loveable, trouble making rabbit, Peter, and his story. In this story Peter and his three siblings leave the house to go out into the woods. Although they had been warned by their mother to avoid Mr. McGregor and his garden, Peter’s curiosity gets the better of him and he sneaks under the gate to have a feast. He soon gets lost in the vast garden and is spotted by Mr. McGregor. Furious, Mr. McGregor chases him through the garden and into the tool shed yelling and shaking a gardening tool in hopes of hurting Peter. After much persistence, Mr. McGregor thankfully does not find Peter and eventually he goes back to his work.

But Peter still has the problem of getting out of the garden. After observing a few other animals in the garden, Peter finally spots the gate and makes a mad dash, only narrowly escaping Mr. McGregor. Peter returns home without his shoes or his jacket and begins to feel ill. His mother puts him to bed with only chamomile tea for dinner, while his three siblings receive delicious blackberries, milk, and bread.

This book, like my others are intended to teach a lesson or moral. Do you know what the lesson of this story is? Well children, if you do not know, I will tell you. Children should always obey their parents because they know what is best. Peter chose to disobey his mother and was almost killed, lost all his clothes, and fell ill while his siblings snacked on berries all afternoon and were rewarded with more berries that night.