Peter Rabbit My First Little Library

by Beatrix Potter

Everyone knows the famous story of Peter Rabbit heading off to Mr. McGregor's garden and how he squeezed under the gate and stole some radishes. But what most people don't know is what happened before that. That is...until now. Packed with interactive, fun novelty features, which include a paper-engineered map, changing pictures wheel, pop-ups, lift the flaps and envelopes with real pull-out letters, this exciting prequel to "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" follows Peter Rabbit on his "hare"-brained adventure, meeting lots of friends along the way, and leading up to one very foolish meeting with a man who has a most abiding hatred of all little rabbits.

48 pages, Boxed Set, board books

First published May 1, 2011

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

[Matthew Kelso · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shapes was a real highlight.

[Mrs Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before you purchase these please be advised that these little books are very very little although on the plus side of that negative obviously perfect for little fingers. I'm afraid I must agree with another reviewer in that the words used in a couple of the books are not really what I would have thought as being good first words for your little one. There are four books; words, numbers, shapes and colours and our favourite one in the house is the numbers one as it has an illustration for each number such as four bunnies etc along with the number. Nice little set but must stress the little.