Peter Rabbit: A Winter's Tale

by Beatrix Potter

A wintry story based on Beatrix Potter's characters and illustrations. The final spread opens to reveal a delicate pop-up Christmas tree which can be displayed in a child's room. Throughout the book there are sparkly 'snowflake' decorations with which to dress the tree.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Christmas

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Helen Beatrix Potter was an English author, illustrator, mycologist, and conservationist who is best known for her children's books, which featured animal characters such as Peter Rabbit.

Born into a wealthy household, Potter was educated by governesses and grew up isolated from other children. She had numerous pets, and through holidays in Scotland and the Lake District, developed a love of landscape, flora, and fauna, all of which she closely observed and painted. Because she was a woman, her parents discouraged intellectual development, but her study and paintings of fungi led her to be widely respected in the field of mycology.

In her thirties, Potter published the highly successful children's book The Tale of Peter Rabbit and became secretly engaged to her publisher, Norman Warne, causing a breach with her parents, who disapproved of his social status. Warne died before the wedding.

Potter eventually published 24 children's books, the most recent being The Tale of Kitty-in-Boots (2016), and having become financially independent of her parents, was able to buy a farm in the Lake District, which she extended with other purchases over time.

In her forties, she married a local solicitor, William Heelis. She became a sheep breeder and farmer while continuing to write and illustrate children's books. Potter died in 1943 and left almost all of her property to The National Trust in order to preserve the beauty of the Lake District as she had known it, protecting it from developers.

Potter's books continue to sell well throughout the world, in multiple languages. Her stories have been retold in various formats, including a ballet, films, and in animation.

Reviews

[Miranda Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

One wintry afternoon, Mrs. Rabbit sent Peter out to collect firewood. "Stay close to home, dear," she said. "And look out for Mr. Tod."

Peter Rabbit is soon joined by his cousin, Benjamin Bunny, and the two scamper off into the forest, the warnings from their parents quickly forgotten.

Peter and Benjamin quickly get distracted by the sledding hills and bump into a badger.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" said a grumpy voice.

This badger is known as Tommy Brock, an associate of Mr. Tod and rather nefarious animal in general. What's more is that he:

"... carried a sack over his shoulder, and something inside it was moving furiously."

The two young rabbits know immediately something is up but they are no match for the burly badger and have to let him pass by.

The rabbits must think of a clever way to separate the nefarious animal from the squirming sack...and what's more is that Mr. Todd really is afoot, and waiting for the slightest mistake to swoop in and... do what foxes do best.

Right off the bat, if this story does sound a bit familiar, that's because this book is based on one of Beatrix Potter's lesser known stories (The Tale of Mr. Tod), so it does have elements from the original but reimagines much of the plot.

In the original book, Tommy Brock steals Benjamin Bunny's children in order to eat them. Tommy Brock and Mr. Tod have an ongoing adversarial relationship and the rabbits use that to their advantage to rescue the children. Honestly, it's a bit dark.

In this version, Benjamin Bunny and Peter Rabbit are still children and it's Mrs. Tittlemouse's children who are kidnapped.

Without giving too much away, I will say that this plot wraps up much gentler than the original and all of the characters are in a happier place (and no one is eaten).

For me, the greatest detraction from the story was the art. I love that we have the rabbits and objects they interact with in a similar style to the original Beatrix Potter design...but the background of the story is just so...different.

It's like the two elements belong to different books.

The background looks like a snowy cartoon - much less detailed, slightly blurred, and often has a vague, almost dreamy look - which contrasts drastically with the highly detailed and realistic rabbits.

I get that it's a wintry tale, so the background is snow drifts and trees laden with more snow, so there is an inherent lack of detail when so much is just white fluff...but at the same time, the bridge that the rabbits walk across is so softened and smooth but then there's sharp detail in the fur of the rabbits. It just doesn't match.

At the end of the day, this is a rather lovely tale - I like the physical size of it, it fits nicely in one hand and it's a rather kind reimagination of Potter's work. I hope they make more in this series, I would love to add them to my Peter Rabbit shelf.

[Книжни Криле · Rating 5 out of 5]

Времето лека-полека застудява, но заедно с дебелите дрехи и юрганите идва и един такъв особен вид домашен уют – онзи, който те кара да се сгушиш вечер под завивките, в компанията на чаша ароматен чай и хубава книга. А ако освен тях компания ви прави и някое чакащо приказки малко човече, то „Зайчето Питър. Зимна приказка“ от Биатрикс Потър (изд. „Труд”) е повече от подходящ избор! Прочетете ревюто на "Книжни Криле": https://knijnikrile.wordpress.com/201...

[Harlow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute bunny!

[Val~ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one’s much better than the original works! It’s way more “healthy”.

[Janet · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love, love, love pop up books!

[Kristen]

If anyone could tell me the moral of this story, I would be eternally grateful.

[Rose English · Rating 5 out of 5]

A truly magical read to share with the whole family with a pop up tree at the back to hand snowflakes collected throughout the book upon. Beautiful.

[Tisha (IG: Bluestocking629) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute little story (Very little).

And stunning graphics. Absolutely beautiful. Cute little pop-up at the end.

It's just what you would expect from a Beatrix Potter book.

[Diane · Rating 2 out of 5]

Update: Since I knew what to expect, this book wasn't as much of a let down. My boys enjoy this story of the 2 little heroes.

What was most disappointing was this Good Reads summary did not match what I had.