Book Review by Heidi Simmons
—–
Adventures of Peter Rabbit
By Beatrix Potter
Fiction
—–
Going through a box of old books, I found a 1938 copy of Beatrix Potter’s Adventures
of Peter Rabbit. I’m not sure to whom the book originally belonged, but I instantly and
intimately remembered the story as soon as I saw the colorful cover. It may have been
my mother’s when she was a child, or perhaps a hand-me-down from another family who
passed it along.
Peter Rabbit is the story of a rabbit named Peter, whose single mother tells him and his
three siblings they may go out and play while she goes shopping. She reminds them
to stay in the woods and not to go into the human Mr. McGregor’s garden because it is
where Peter’s father had an “accident” and was put into a pie by Mrs. McGregor!
Peter disobeys, goes into the garden, eats some fresh veggies, is discovered then
vigorously hunted by Mr. McGregor who brandishes a rake! Scared shitless, he gets
disoriented, looses his shoes and coat, hides in a water bucket (with water in it!), talks
to a mouse who is completely unhelpful and doesn’t understand his desperation, before
finally squeezing his sorry wet furry ass under the gate to escape Mr. McGregor.
Traumatized and exhausted, Peter runs all the way home. His mother puts him to bed
with some chamomile tea and he misses dinner. Nobody in his rabbit family knows the
truth of what happened to poor Peter.
This book horrified me. The action is so well written. In McGregor’s garden, Peter
blithely eats going from one vegetable to the next casually like rabbits do, until he comes
face to faces with Mr. McGregor, his father’s murderer! When the chase is on, Peter
darts and dashes around the garden going the wrong way, stops, hides, and runs like crazy
to only get himself stuck. Potter captures the personality of the scared rabbit and the
angry gardener. I rooted for Peter and feared the carnivorous Mr. McGregor.
In my little book, it does not have Potter’s sweetly-drawn, anatomically correct rabbits
that she beautifully painted in the soft watercolor you see all over baby clothing and
furniture these days.
My edition was published in Springfield, Massachusetts by McLoughlin Bros., Inc. as
part of the The Little Color Classics, illustrated by Jack Perkins. Although there are
fully illustrated pages of primary colors, the mostly red and black simple line drawings
dominate the book. The red pages are what I remember most. To me it was the spilled
blood of Peter’s father. It signaled danger. The rabbits and Mr. McGregor were
distorted, exaggerated and creepy figures. His garden was hostile, not inviting. The
whole book was scary and terrifying. A fever dream.
I don’t think this is what Ms. Potter had in mind.
Author Potter was born in 1866 in South Kensington, England, to a privileged life.
Unfortunately that wealth and comfort kept her isolated. Taking notes and making
drawings, she was a naturalist and botanist from a young age. On her own she studied
the plants and creatures that were her surrounding environment. She considered them her
most interesting friends and companions. As a woman in Victorian England, the only
thing she was permitted to do was marry. Because of her gender, her scientific work
was rebuffed. Not a particularly attractive woman, it looked like Beatrix was destined to
become an old maid.
Ms. Potter wrote and illustrated the Adventures of Peter Rabbit for friends. She paid to
have 250 copies printed. She chose to publish the book in a small size and light weight
so little children could handle it by themselves, take it on trips or tuck it in a pocket. She
wanted the book to cost only a shilling so it would be affordable. She consciously kept
the perspective of her characters close to the ground — small creatures that a little child
could relate to. Potter liked to add one difficult word that would challenge the reader and
she didn’t make the story didactic. The books sold out.
A 35 year-old Potter signed with Frederick Warne & Company, who began publishing
her books. She is an all-time top bookseller with far more than 50 million copies sold.
She is ranked in the same league as Mark Twain, Dr. Seuss, Lewis Carrroll and J. K.
Rowling. Beatrix Potter died in 1943.
A simple non-human character with a minimalist, meaningless story. Amazing the strong
emotions this little book brought back. How strange.
