Thursday, May 22, 2008

Beatrix Potter Love

On Saturday, Dieter and I atteneded "Beatrix Potter Day" at our local park (sponsored by the library). It was perfect timing for us; Dieter and I are really into Beatrix Potter right now and have been having so much fun reading the stories in our Complete Tales. I must say, we haven't gotten to all of the tales--some are very long, but mostly it's because Dieter is obsessed with "The Tale of Benjamin Bunny"--it's his absolute favorite and we have to read it every night.
Some of the lines in these books just crack me up or please me so much. I love it when Benjamin Bunny and Peter Rabbit drop over the fence into Mr. McGregor's garden and it says "Peter fell down head first; but it was of no consequence, as the bed below was newly raked and quite soft." Then, as a separate paragraph, "It had been sown with lettuces." That line gets me every time--love it! "The Tale of Tom Kitten" is my favorite, though, for these sort of lines. I love it when the mother says "I am affronted" after the kittens have lost their clothes just before the her friends are to arrive for tea. I used to say that to my older kids tongue-in-cheekly all the time. I also love the line, "and then she took all sorts of elegant uncomfortable clothes out of a chest of drawers, in order to dress up her son Thomas."
Dieter is trying some chamomile tea here, in honor of Peter Rabbit.

The Beatrix Potter Day itself was kind of a disappointment to me, but Dieter loved it. He wore his paper bunny ears for days after and was just so enchanted with them. There was also story telling, watercolor painting, and seed planting. I want to grow chamomile this summer as a Peter Rabbit themed project. What are your favorite lines and stories from Beatrix Potter?

8 comments:

ames said...

I *adore* the beautiful Beatrix Potter stories. I grew up with all of the books and we even had them on tape for long car rides. One line always stand out in my head is from the tale of Two Bad Mice where Tom Thumb says "give me some fish, Hunca Munca!" because of the way they say it on the tapes, squeeky like a mouse!

Sounds like you had a fun day :)

Jonah Lisa said...

We're just getting into these and love Jemima Puddle Duck. Poor Jemima....the simpleton

Carrie said...

I've been talking a lot about Mr. McGregor's garden recently because the Youth Specialist is a vegan. He is in his 20s and does not have children. I sometimes think the reference is lost on him but that just adds to my fun.

Rachel said...

You can't go far wrong with the original, Peter Rabbit. I also rather love The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies - the line about lettuces being soporific - as if all children know what that means!

Jessica said...

I've always loved plain old Peter Rabbit, but I guess I cannot really pick one specifically. Peter Rabbit one of my favorite spring stories to read to my students.

Erna said...

lovely books love them all!

Laura said...

We are fans here. We finally have the complete collection...didn't get it until last year!!! I'm sure you have been to the 'World of Peter Rabbit' at beatrixpotter.com It has some cutie drawing pages and activities etc...

TeamMcDonough said...

All of my boys have been fans of Beatrix Potter. Years ago I found the Beatrix VHS tapes and now we have 2 DVD's. They're alittle worn out.
We are just started to get into reading the Collection also. How fun. Especially for boys who are bombarded with Batman, Superman, and alike. It's nice to nuture their gentle sides.