2016, first published 1929
This story was first published in America and was actually written
for an American child of the writer’s acquaintance.
It is a little difficult to define the reader here. The book
has a fat spine, the language is quite sophisticated, the text is blocked and
in an adult font, though in this edition the print is quite large. The
adventures of the animals are complex. This
all suggests a fluent reader. However, the anthropomorphic animals rather suggest
a younger reader. There are also several illustrations – both full colour ones
as in Beatrix Potter’s other books and smaller line drawings within the text. Might
this indeed be a story that a teacher or parent could read to a younger child?
There are several references to Potter’s farming life in the
Lake District: the Herdwick sheep, Mistress Heelis (Potter married the solicitor
William Heelis in1913) and such slightly altered place names as Pool Bridge (Pooley
Bridge). Potter provided a glossary of terms and the publisher provided a few
more. However, the texts are so well written that one understands their meaning
when one meets them within the texts.
This particular edition also provides a short biography of
Potter, a suggestion as to how she came to write the story, some questions for
the young reader, instructions on how to make a mouse out of pompoms and some tips
for the young writer.
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