Saving the Countryside: the Story of Beatrix Potter and Peter Rabbit

Drawing delicately rendered bunnies was Beatrix Potter’s unlikely path to financial independence and self-sufficiency in a time when women faced serious obstacles to both. In forthright language, this picture book biography recounts her boundary-breaking life as she grows from a nature-loving child with a menagerie of pets (including a rabbit, Benjamin Bouncer) into a successful artist and canny entrepreneur. After self-publishing The Tale of Peter Rabbit, she copyrighted her work and expanded the rabbit’s world: “She also designed toys, games, and tea sets, and she put pictures of Peter Rabbit on them.” With her earnings, she bought property—an unusual move for an unmarried woman—eventually acquiring multiple farms and bequeathing them to the U.K.’s National Trust to “save the countryside that inspired her books.” Though Urbinati’s detailed illustrations skew sweeter than Potter’s own, they appreciably capture Potter’s grit and determination, as well as the enduring charm of her artwork and the animal-filled, windswept countryside she drew. An attractive introduction to an iconic creator. Ages 4–8. [em](Jan.) [/em]