Beatrix Potter - 150 years old

[Hope]

I was wondering how many of us still enjoy the Beatrix Potter books - perhaps reading them to grand-children.  I also woder just how much of a debt we owe her for the development of concepts such as conservation, or organisations such as the National Trust.

[floo]

I was wondering how many of us still enjoy the Beatrix Potter books - perhaps reading them to grand-children.  I also woder just how much of a debt we owe her for the development of concepts such as conservation, or organisations such as the National Trust.

Even as a small child I didn't really like those books they didn't do it for me, even though I have always loved reading.

[Brownie]

Beautiful illustrations as well as charming stories.  Beatrix Potter was an interesting lady too, she even made friends with a little mouse that lived in her study.

(When I saw the title of the thread I thought, "Didn't know she was still alive".  Not really but felt like saying it.)

[L.A.]

I was wondering how many of us still enjoy the Beatrix Potter books - perhaps reading them to grand-children.  I also woder just how much of a debt we owe her for the development of concepts such as conservation, or organisations such as the National Trust.

The Peter Rabbit TV series really seems to have caught on, my grandchildren love it.

[SusanDoris]

The musical version is lovely for small children. I can't find a link to the music, but this link
http://rosiebell.typepad.com/rosiebell/2012/04/peter-rabbit-the-musical.html

has the words.

[jeremyp]

I was wondering how many of us still enjoy the Beatrix Potter books

The word "still" implies an assumption that is incorrect in my case. I have never read (or had read to me) any of her works.

[Gordon]

Have to say, having come across them when my kids were young, I thought they out-twee'd Enid Blyton (and yes I do know BP was earlier).   

[Brownie]

Enid Blytonused poor grammar and stereotyped 'working class' people (I won't mention gol...gs').
 
Beatrix Potter's writings were gentle and charming, the pictures are so lovely, whenever I look at a BP picture I am transported into a fantasy world.  That's why the books appeal to little children. 

[floo]

I much preferred Enid Blyton although I agree that her books aren't PC these days, and leave a lot to be desired.

I thought the BP books, especially Peter Rabbit, were very twee and boring, I liked something much more exciting.

[Hope]

Enid Blytonused poor grammar and stereotyped 'working class' people (I won't mention gol...gs').
 
Beatrix Potter's writings were gentle and charming, the pictures are so lovely, whenever I look at a BP picture I am transported into a fantasy world.  That's why the books appeal to little children.

I think the 'g...gs' issue is a rather contrived one because the books that used that and other similar words were written at a time when they were common.  I suspect that in 50+ years some books written today will be deemed unacceptable/offensive because of some of the words they use.  That doesn't make them any better/worse examples of literature.

[Hope]

Have to say, having come across them when my kids were young, I thought they out-twee'd Enid Blyton (and yes I do know BP was earlier).

Oddly enough, several modern lit. critics suggest the opposite.  Yes, Potter dressed her animals as humans but they were still distinctly animals; they were never meant to be anything else.  I suppose it depends on whether you think she anthropomorphised them or not.

[Maeght]

I was wondering how many of us still enjoy the Beatrix Potter books - perhaps reading them to grand-children.  I also woder just how much of a debt we owe her for the development of concepts such as conservation, or organisations such as the National Trust.

Have never read them. What part do you think she played in the development of the concepts you mention?

[Walt Zingmatilder]

Oddly enough, several modern lit. critics suggest the opposite.  Yes, Potter dressed her animals as humans but they were still distinctly animals; they were never meant to be anything else.  I suppose it depends on whether you think she anthropomorphised them or not.

I confess I began to have my doubts when Johnny Town mouse went into Hedge Fund management.

[Hope]

Have never read them. What part do you think she played in the development of the concepts you mention?

If you read the wikipedia article on her - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beatrix_Potter - or perhaps catch on last week's BBC Countryfile programme on iPlayer, and I think you'll begin to understand her involvement in conservation, the National Trust (400 acres of Cumbria gifted to them on her death).  She also made some scientifically important illustrations of fungi.

[Brownie]

Hope, I agree with you about the 'g' word, you will see that I put in brackets, "I won't mention gol...gs" for that reason.  However EB books were pretty dire in other ways, when I was at school I remember the teachers  discouraging us from reading them because of her poor use of the English language.  Must admit I wasn't familiar with them anyway as a small child, though I knew about Noddy and Big Ears.   Later on I picked up a couple, Famous Five or whatever, and found them entertaining enough, escapist too which I very much approve of.

Floo, Beatrix Potter wrote for very small children who enjoyed gentle fantasy, older ones naturally like something more robust.  I didn't read anything of hers until I was much older and didn't mind the 'tweeness', though I can see how they are twee seen through older eyes.   I was entranced by the art work and still am.

[floo]

Brownie, I didn't think the BP books were meant for teenagers, DUH! I had them read to me from when I was very small, probably under two years old. I preferred fairy stories like Red Riding Hood, much more exciting.

[Maeght]

If you read the wikipedia article on her - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beatrix_Potter - or perhaps catch on last week's BBC Countryfile programme on iPlayer, and I think you'll begin to understand her involvement in conservation, the National Trust (400 acres of Cumbria gifted to them on her death).  She also made some scientifically important illustrations of fungi.

Thanks - I just wondered because I caught a bit of aradio program yesterday about this and one expert said she made a great contribution and could have been another Charles Darwin (if only she's been taken seriously) and another said she actually made very little contribution other than leaving land to the NT. I don't know the story myself so wondered what your take on it was.

[Brownie]

Oh floo I am so sorry, didn't mean to be insult your intelligence in any way.  I didn't read her books when I was tiny, my judgements of them came later and I like things about animals with pretty pictures  .

Hope, thanks for your explanations, BP was certainly a very interesting lady, quite a sympathetic character too.  There was a dramatised version of her life on TV many years ago, which I loved.  Would like to see it again.  Here it is (apologies if it has already been mentioned, I haven't re-read all posts on this thread):

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0264081/

[jeremyp]

Why is everybody suddenly so coy about the word "golliwog"? Just using it in a discussion about it doesn't make you racist.