The Country Artist: A Story about Beatrix Potter

I drew this name as a book report subject, and I was not sure I would like it. I really enjoyed reading it. Beatrix was not expected to do much beyond fix flowers and play the piano. She became a world famous author. Young readers will love this quick paced life story.

This is an easy introduction into the genre of Biography, only 52 pages, with pen and ink sketches by Karen Ritz. This book about the life of the first author to write a book just for children to enjoy (rather than be instructed from) can easily be read in one sitting. It reveals the crippling limitations of Victorian women of the Gentry in both Career and Marriage. Was poor Beatrix doomed to be a spinster? An excellent First Biography in short sentences for school children. Also a good study in Victorian upbringing (where children were not always Seen, much less Heard!) Beatrix was raised in a home considered strict even by Victorian standards. Thus the book could stimulate discussion about when it was best/worst to be a child, as well as Women's Roles in Victorian Society. Children might even ask about Queen Victoria. Most important is the care which Beatrix put into her books--not just the stories and the illustrations, but her insistence that the format be sized for children's smaller hands. The book includes a complete listing of her tales plus a bibliography. This book just might lead some elementary children to reread their childhood favorites! Or inspire them to read these tales aloud to Kindergarten classes. They would be amazed to learn that serious adults actually belong to a Peter Rabbit Society too!