“Sumptuous...a fitting legacy for a pioneering conservationist who helped save thousands of acres of the Lake District” – The Mail on Sunday, August 2016 To this day, Beatrix Potter’s tales delight children and grown-ups around the world. But few people realise how extraordinary her own story is. She was a woman of contradictions. A sheltered Victorian daughter who grew into an astute modern businesswoman. A talented artist who became a scientific expert. A famous author who gave it all up to become a farmer. In The Story of Beatrix Potter, Sarah Gristwood follows the twists and turns of Beatrix Potter’s life and its key turning points – including her tragically brief first engagement and happy second marriage late in life. She traces the creation of Beatrix’s most famous characters – including the naughty Peter Rabbit, confused Jemima Puddleduck and cheeky Squirrel Nutkin – revealing how she drew on her unusual childhood pets and locations in her beloved Lake District. She explores too, the last 30 years of Potter’s life, when she abandoned books to become a working farmer and a pioneering conservationist, whose work with the National Trust helped to save thousands of acres of the Lake District – a legacy that, like her books, continues to enrich our lives today. Main text: 30,000 words. Approx 3,000 words for captions and index.

Peter disobeys his mother by going into Mr. McGregor's garden and almost gets caught.

"A serious, well-behaved young black cat, who leads a daring double life defeating vile villains." When Miss Kitty sneaks out to go hunting in her beautiful boots, she gets herself into all sorts of scrapes, but on this particular night she meets the foxiest hunter of them all - Mr. Tod! This utterly entertaining tale is filled with mistaken identities, devious villains and even an appearance from Peter Rabbit. Told with Beatrix Potter's trademark dry humour and wry observations, this brilliant tale is sure to become as popular as her original classics and is illustrated by the best-loved Quentin Blake.

A biography of the English author and illustrator who grew up during the Victorian era and whose detailed drawings of plants and animals found their way into her famous picture books.

A Mighty Girl's 2020 Books of the Year Friends of American Writers Chicago Winner 2021 Young People's Literature Award Beatrix Potter was a writer, an artist, and a scientist too, and she strove to find a place in the world for her talents. Everyone knows Beatrix Potter as the creator of the Peter Rabbit stories. But before that, she was a girl of science. As a child, Beatrix collected nature specimens; as a young adult, she was an amateur mycologist presenting her research on mushrooms and other fungi to England's foremost experts. Like many women of her time, she remained unacknowledged by the scientific community, but her keen eye for observation led her to an acclaimed career as an artist and storyteller. A beloved author is cast in a new light in this inspiring picture book story.

Beatrix Potter forged her own creative path to independence, fame, and financial success. Peter Rabbit, Hunca Munca, Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle, Squirrel Nutkin, Jemima Puddle-Duck—many readers are familiar with the animal characters created by British author and illustrator Beatrix Potter. But she was so much more than a painter of watercolor bunnies in little blue jackets or ducks waddling about in bonnets and shawls. She was a natural scientist, mycologist, environmentalist, preservationist, farmer, and expert sheep breeder. Beatrix Potter was a woman ahead of her time, making her own decisions and handling her own business affairs despite living in a Victorian society that was unaccustomed to unmarried women doing so. Becoming Beatrix covers Potter's early life and influences, artistic work, fascination with animals and the natural sciences, and interest and research in fungi, as well as her writing and illustration journey and her later years as a wife, farmer, businesswoman, and conservationist. This is the story of Beatrix beyond the bunnies.

Learn all about the creator of Peter Rabbit and celebrate Beatrix Potter's 150th birthday on July 28, 2016! Born to a wealthy family in Victorian London, Beatrix Potter never had many playmates. When she got lonely, she turned to the animals in her playroom: rabbits, mice, frogs, hedgehogs... even a snake! From an early age, she was a talented painter, and she published her art as a young woman. Her dream of becoming a children's book author, though, didn't come true until she was in her mid-thirties. After writing a letter about four little bunnies to a friend's son, Beatrix created The Tale of Peter Rabbit. The story was turned down several times but was finally picked up by Frederick Warne & Co. Beatrix spent the rest of her life in the countryside, painting, drawing, farming, and protecting the land she loved so much.