Beatrix Potter’s “Peter Rabbit”: A Children’s Classic at 100. Children’s Literature Association Centennial Studies, No. 1

Citation

Clyde, L.A. (2003), "Beatrix Potter’s “Peter Rabbit”: A Children’s Classic at 100. Children’s Literature Association Centennial Studies, No. 1", Library Management, Vol. 24 No. 3, pp. 173-174. https://doi.org/10.1108/lm.2003.24.3.173.5

Peter Rabbit is 100 years old! Most readers of this review (regardless of their age) will, like the reviewer, have encountered Peter Rabbit early in their childhood. Even if you grew up in a country far from Peter’s England, speaking a language other than English, it is possible that you will have encountered Peter through one of the 36 translations (never mind the pirated versions). Even if you missed the books when you were young, as an adult you may have seen the ballet or the film, bought the china or the T‐shirt, or visited the Web site. Last year (2002) marks the centenary of the first trade edition (published by Frederick Warne) of The Tale of Peter Rabbit. Originally written in the form of a letter to a young friend of author Beatrix Potter in 1893, the story was first published privately by Potter in 1901. For the Frederick Warne edition, the text was shortened considerably and some of the illustrations changed; this is the Peter Rabbit book that we know today. By November 1903, almost 60,000 copies had been sold, and Peter is still going strong today. A century after this first trade edition of Potter’s little book, Peter Rabbit appears in books and on licensed products in more than 110 countries around the world. What is most astonishing to this reviewer is how little her 23 small books have dated. Today’s children come to these books as though they had been written specially for them, rather than as venerable classics.

This volume, edited by Margaret Mackey, is the first in a projected series, “Children’s Literature Association Centennial Studies”. The series will address issues related to children’s books that have become classics, including the basis of their appeal to children and their literary value. Thus while this particular volume provides “insights into Potter’s little story”, it also, at the same time, “provides a snapshot of the state of the scholarly study of children’s literature as we move into another century” (p. ix). As such, it will be of interest to public librarians, librarians responsible for children’s services, children’s literature enthusiasts, and social historians, as well as fans of Peter Rabbit everywhere. Analysis of the Peter Rabbit story becomes a vehicle for discussion of a range of issues that are important beyond the specific field of children’s literature, such as the nature of a literary classic, the “commodification” of books, and the relationship between literature and the field of scholarship that has developed around it.

The 14 contributors to this collection of papers include biographers, translators, museum specialists, teacher educators, and scholars of English literature and library science. In this one volume, we can gain some appreciation of the wide variety of contemporary scholarship in the field of children’s literature: “We can see a rich tapestry of interweaving interests and priorities, and gain insight into the appeal and importance of the study of children’s literature” (p. x). Highlights (for this reviewer) include Lawrence R. Snipe’s study of the way in which “Contemporary Urban Children Respond to Peter Rabbit”, Judy Taylor’s biographical and historical discussion of the development of the Peter Rabbit story, Alice Byrnes’ “Jungian Perspective on the Enduring Appeal of Peter Rabbit”, and Peter Hollindale’s “Humans Are So Rabbit”. Margaret Mackey herself provides an essay on the ways in which Peter Rabbit has been treated in the media (including a Peter Rabbit Barbie Doll!), while Shin‐ichi Yoshida looks at “Peter Rabbit in Japan”. Regardless of your approach to children’s books, you are likely to find something of interest here, especially if you are a Beatrix Potter fan or if you have responsibility for selecting material for children.