Review of Beatrix Potter's Collection of Children's Stories and How to Get Them for Free!

Beatrix Potter created her best loved children's books more than 100 years ago. Since then, characters such as Peter Rabbit have become household names. Thanks to copyright laws these fantastic children's storybooks are now available to download for free.

www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page Project Gutenberg, a free internet archive, is a fantastic source of free, classic literature for both adults and children. Material is only added to the archive after it has received full copyright clearance. Project Gutenberg encourages the free reproduction and distribution of its works. You may find copies of all Potter's work here.

In this first article, I shall review Potter's first ten stories.

THE TALE OF PETER RABBIT

This classic tale introduces us to the wonderful world of Peter Rabbit. Peter, a naughty young rabbit, ignores his mother's warnings and play in Mr McGregor's garden. Mr McGregor isn't happy to discover Peter eating all his vegetables. A chase ensues and Peter loses his shoes and jacket. The story briefly introduces some of the characters, such as Benjamin Bunny, who are developed further in later stories.

THE TAILOR OF GLOUCESTER

This is a heart warming Christmas story. A hard-working, yet poor, tailor struggles to make a beautiful coat for the Mayor of Gloucester's wedding on Christmas day. As his money and supplies are exhausted before the new coat is complete the tailor becomes sick with worry. Some brown mice, who have been well treated by the tailor, come to his aid. There are several amusing poems in this story.

"Three little mice sat down to spin,
Pussy passed by and she peeped in.
What are you at, my fine little men?
Making coats for gentlemen.
Shall I come in and cut off yours threads?
Oh, no, Miss Pussy,
You'd bite off our heads!"

THE TALE OF SQUIRREL NUTKIN

A group of hardworking squirrels gather food on Owl Island. Young Nutkin, however, is intent on causing mischievous and spends time being mean to old Mr Brown Owl. This story is filled with riddles that may be a little difficult for the youngest readers to understand by themselves.

THE TALE OF BENJAMIN BUNNY

Benjamin Bunny pays a visit to his relatives, the family of Peter Rabbit. This story continues The Tale of Peter Rabbit. They decide to retrieve Peter's lost clothes from a scarecrow in Mr McGregor's garden.

While Benjamin is happy to eat all Mr McGregor's vegetables in his absence, Peter has obviously learned a lesson from his previous adventures and is keen to return home. However, the rabbits are trapped by Mr McGregor's cat and must be rescued by Benjamin's father.

THE TALE OF TWO BAD MICE

This is the story of two silly mice: Tom Thumb and Hunca Munca. They sneak into an empty doll's house and try to steal the food. They are horrified to discover it isn't real. Tom Thumb starts to destroy the contents of the house angrily; meanwhile, Hunca Munca steals the furniture. The naughty, little mice are interrupted, however. In the end the two mice realise their error and seek to redeem themselves.

THE TALE OF MRS. TIGGY-WINKLE

A little girl called Lucie is always losing her pocket-handkerchiefs! So, she asks her animal friends where her handkerchiefs could be, but no one can help her. As she continues her search she meets a kindly, washer women called Mrs Tiggy-Winkle. Lucie retrieves her freshly cleaned, lost handkerchiefs, but discovers that many other people's handkerchiefs have be turned into clothes for the local animals. It is only at the end of the story that Lucie realised that Mrs Tiggy-Winkle is a hedgehog! Ms Potter refers back to previous characters and stories in this book and we discover all the animals are friends.

THE PIE AND THE PATTY-PAN

A Pussy-cat called Ribby, invites little dog called Duchess to tea. Duchess doesn't want to offend Ribby by saying she can't eat mouse pie. So, she decides to switch the pie in Ribby's oven without her knowledge for her own veal pie. Confusion ensues as Duchess becomes ill after meal, but Ribby never discovers what really happened.

THE TALE OF MR. JEREMY FISHER

A frog named Mr Jeremy Fisher goes fishing to catch his dinner. He encounters a number of difficulties as he himself is caught by a trout and loses his rod and basket. Nevertheless he endures and enjoys his dinner with friends.

THE STORY OF A FIERCE BAD RABBIT

This very short story tells of a Bad Rabbit who is mean to a Good Rabbit. The Bad Rabbit is then taught a lesson by a hunter. This moral tale teaches to act towards others in a way you would have them act to you.

THE STORY OF MISS MOPPET

Miss Moppett is a kitten whom is teased by little mouse. Miss Moppett suffers all kinds of misadventures in pursuit of the little mouse. However, when Miss Moppett catches the mouse she isn't kind. Instead, she chooses to tease the mouse in turn. As a result, when the mouse escapes it continues to mock Miss Moppett.