The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck

Meet Jemima Puddle-Duck. A happy duck with one wish: to lay, nest and hatch her own eggs. A wish that is denied to her, based on where she resides. So, she sets out on a quest to find a secretive, safe place to make a nest for her eggs. A bit of a simpleton, Jemima befriends an eagerly friendly fox who offers her a place to lay her eggs. Won over by the fox's false sincerity, Jemima accepts the fox's offer. If you haven't guessed it already, the fox desires to eat Jemima's eggs. I don't wish to spoil the ending, but it is a happy one. We always tell our kids not to talk to strangers. This book definitely reinforces that concept. Luckily for Jemima, her friends came to her rescue in the end. I like children's stories that are both captivating, and also teach a moral. This book does just that. Darien Summers, author of The Mischievous Hare, a children's book. The Mischievous Hare

THE TALE OF JEMIMA PUDDLE-DUCK is one of Beatrix Potter's lesser known tales, but it is still a favorite in our house. Jemima is a duck who wishes to hatch her own eggs. Apparently it is common on farms for hens to sit on duck eggs. Ducks in general, and Miss Jemima in particular, do not have the patience to sit on a nest for 28 days, so farmers transfer the eggs to hens. Jemima, however, is quite determined to hatch her own brood, and searches for a calm, quiet place to do so. In a secluded clearing, she meets an elegantly dressed gentleman with a long bushy tail, who is reading a newspaper. Jemima thinks he is mighty civil and handsome, and he is very solicitous of her plight. Jemima takes the sandy colored gentleman up on his offer of a safe, dry place to hatch her eggs. But there is more to this gentleman than meets the eye. Is he really as selfless as he seems? THE TALE OF JEMIMA PUDDLE-DUCK quietly and deftly teaches children to be wary of strangers. This simple tale completely captures the imagination of young ones as they follow Jemima on her misadventures. As always, it is Ms. Potter's charming illustrations that are the true star of this book. Jemima looks like a real duck, albeit one who is wearing a bonnet and cape. The soft colors and rich detail of the original drawings continue to delight children of all ages. My three year old has a special affinity to THE TALE OF JEMIMA PUDDLE-DUCK. Whenever the story refers to Jemima's sister-in-law, Mrs. Rebecca Puddle-duck, my wee one says, "That's me, Momma!" Any book that captures the imagination of my little puddle-duck is a winner with me.

A nice story in a portible size. The translation is well done, and the illustrations are great. I don't see why you would think it would be a coloring book; it's just a good story.

Jemima Puddle-duck wants to hatch her eggs all by herself, but the farmer's wife will not let her. In desperation, whe decides to make a nest away from the farm. So she sets off to look for a nice quiet spot to lay her eggs. While waddling about in search of a dry nesting-place, she comes across a fox reading a newspaper. After hearing her story, the cunning fox tells Jemima of his wood-shed full of feathers where she may sit as long as she like. Jemima takes him up on this generous offer, and follows the hospitable gentleman to his house. What will become of the unsuspecting Jemima Puddle-duck?If you have never read a book by Beatrix Potter, you are missing out. This story, as well as all her others, is a must-have classic. You have to read this book!

I always had Beatrix Potter down as an avatar of Home Counties tweeness, with her anti-modern paeans to the countryside and de liddle cuddly animals. So the unsentimental brutalities of this story came as a welcome shock. 'Jemima Puddle-Duck' is as endearingly hopeless as her name suggests, unable to tend her eggs in the overcrowded barn she shares with some supercilious hens. She flies over the forest in search of a suitably solitary spot, and comes across a helpful gentleman dressed in tweed, reading 'The Sporting Times'. He is a fox, and invites her to make use of his summer residence, in particular the shed carpeted with the feathers of previous victims. Dazzled by his good breeding, Jemima accepts his offer and visits daily. When the eggs are about to hatch, Foxy suggests she bring along various goodies so they can have a charming goodbye party...The unremitting violence in this story does not emanate from where you'd expect, and this clear-eyed vision of the natural order of things, of brute force vs. cunning, takes place in the most idyllic setting yuou can think of, a richly detailed rural England, its hills and plants alive and painted in the most soothing colours. But even this balmy backdrop plays out a cycle of struggle for domination, with spiders eating flies, and various other creatures being horrid to one another. Written at the turn of the 20th century, just before female emancipation, it's hard not to see the woebegotten Jemima as an image of women's fate in a world run by men, both good and bad, with the fox as parisitic aristo in straitened circumstances, and the dog as paternalistic liberal. Indeed, the whole thing plays like an Emile Zola potboiler disguised as toddler fodder. Upsetting, cruel and marvellous.