Beatrix – The Author

Whether you are a lover of animals or a lover of classic children’s books, it can be agreed that the series of Beatrix Potter books encompass fans from all walks of life and interests.  With her compelling tales, written in short story format, to her vivid images, hand drawn by her with ever changing view points and depth styles, the books are a definite necessity in any person’s collection. 

Beatrix Potter wrote a total of 23 books, publishing them between the years 1901 and 1930, with her writing efforts having been finished in 1920 due to poor eyesight.  Her first published works, The Tale of Peter Rabbit, was first published in 1901 and again in the US in 1903.

Each Beatrix Potter book is based on animals that she had as pets or animals that she happened to see in the wild.  Her depiction of them is anatomically correct, with her drawings being accurate and somewhat scientific.  Most of the stories involve the animals walking upright like humans, dressing like humans, and speaking with each other similar to humans.  They even, at times, interact with humans.  She also attempted to maintain each animals particularly “animalistic” personality, keeping rabbits acting like rabbits might act, pigs acting how pigs may act, and mice acting how a mice might act and speak if it could speak.

The terrain and background she chose for her images were also somewhat natural, meaning she kept the environments around each animal similar to an environment they would normally be found in.  Her drawings and watercolors for each picture’s background were taken from areas around her, including a cabin she would visit from time to time.

The stories appeal to children and adults alike, due to the wonderful and various adventures that she would place the animals into.  From Peter Rabbit’s mischievous travels into his neighbors vegetable garden to Pigling Bland and his brother Alexander’s adventure to the market for food, she portrays exciting mental images into the mind of the reader, and even the listeners, that go along well with the illustrations she has already put into the pages of the same books.

Her stories encompass a decent range of animals with cats, rabbits, mice, and even frogs taking part in the Beatrix Potter books, telling stories of tailors and fisherman and shopkeepers, all from the animal kingdom and all standing on two legs and wearing clothing, as if they were human beings.