Is it me or does Beatrix Potter have a bit of a sadistic streak in her? Reading some of these stories, I was struck by how many involved capturing animals, eating animals, hurting animals....these are supposed to be childrens stories! If I had a child, I would be double-checking the stories beforehand for dubious content!

The book overall is a good set of stories with beautiful colour illustrations. The fact that they are over 90 years old makes no difference. Stories like these are timeless. Recommended. ( )

Author: Beatrix Potter
Review: September 18, 2009
Edition: 1989 printing
Pages: 383
Overall Rating: 4/5 [Good]
Synopsis: A collection of children's stories and rhymes accompanied by illustrations and paintings.
Strengths: Beautiful artwork, interconnection of world, consistently written.
Weaknesses: A bit uneventful.
Further Review: Currently I'm sorting through my books for children and young adults and evaluating them; since I no longer read these books, I'm basically deciding which I want to keep and share with my own future children, and which I do not. The Complete Tales of Beatrix Potter is definitely one I'll be keeping to share. While the stories themselves are rather ordinary in terms of plot, the illustrations are beautiful and the characters are generally pleasant (and those who are not typically meet the consequences of their actions). Overall, this is a nice collection of peaceful, sweet stories.

This edition in particular is a good one, because it's well-printed and it also includes a small history of each story.
The Tale of Peter Rabbit -- Beatrix Potter's most famous story, surely. This shares the adventure of Peter Rabbit, whose risky adventure into a garden leads to trouble.
The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin -- Squirrel Nutkin is [unsurprisingly] a squirrel with no manners, who delights in teasing an owl.
The Tailor of Gloucester -- The tailor of Gloucester needs to make a coat for the mayor for his wedding, but falls ill too soon to finish it. Luckily he's to receive the help of some friendly mice. This has quite a true ring to traditional fairy tales.
The Tale of Benjamin Bunny -- Peter Rabbit and his cousin Benjamin Bunny return to McGregor's farm. This is unfortunately a rather forgettable story.
The Tale of Two Bad Mice -- Two mice, Hunca Munca and Tom Thumb, break into and trash a doll's house.
The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle -- Lucie, a small girl, searches around for her lost items and meets a kindly hedgehog named Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle.
The Tale of the Pie and the Patty-Pan -- Duchess the dog wishes to visit her friend Ribby the cat, who has invited her to dinner. When Duchess realizes that Ribby will probably give her a mouse pie, she decides to replace it with her own pie since she dislikes mice.
The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher -- Mr. Jeremy Fisher is a frog who wishes to go fishing; unfortunately, for someone of his size this is much more difficult than it looks.
The Story of a Fierce Bad Rabbit & The Story of Miss Moppet -- These are two stories for very young children; the first is about a rabbit who mistreats one of his peers, and the second is about a kitten chasing a mouse.
The Tale of Tom Kitten -- Tom Kitten, Mittens, and Moppet are kittens who lose their nice clothing to several ducks.
The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck -- Jemima wishes to warm her own eggs rather than have a farmer take over for her. As she looks for a suitable place to have her eggs, she is fooled by a fox.
The Tale of Samuel Whiskers or The Roly-Poly Pudding -- Tom Kitten, who does not wish to be shut away while his mother is baking, climbs into a passageway accessed by the chimney, where he gets capture by rats who want to eat him in a pudding.
The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies -- Benjamin Bunny and his wife Flopsy Bunny have numerous children to feed, and thus look to McGregor's garden.
The Tale of Ginger and Pickles -- Ginger and Pickles together own a store, which is quite popular as it allows its customers to use credit. Unfortunately, no one ever pays their credit so the shop must close. This tale is rather forgettable.
The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse -- Mrs. Tittlemouse wants to keep her house clean, a task that's difficult given her many "uninvited guests."
The Tale of Timmy Tiptoes -- Timmy Tiptoes is a squirrel who, accompanied by his wife Goody, gathers nuts for the winter.
The Tale of Mr. Tod -- Mr. Tod (a fox) and Tommy Brock (a badger) cause plenty of trouble for the other residents of their woodland home. When Tommy Brock kidnaps Benjamin and Flopsy Bunny's children for supper, these two "unpleasant neighbors" are brought to a confrontation.
The Tale of Pigling Bland -- Pigling Bland is to go to the market, but after getting lost on the way finds himself at a farmhouse where he meets fellow pig Pig-Wig.
Appley Dapply's Nursery Rhymes & Cecily Parsley's Nursery Rhymes -- Two collections of nursery rhymes, which are quite recognizable.
The Tale of Johnny Town-Mouse -- Timmy Willie is a mouse who lives in a garden, but accidentally finds himself in the city where he meets Johnny Town-Mouse.
The Tale of Little Pig Robinson -- The only longer piece of fiction in this book, this is a look at the origin of the pig in "The Owl and the Pussycat."

From Cecily Parsley's Nursery Rhymes:
We have a little garden,
A garden of our own,
And every day we water there
The seeds that we have sown.

We love our little garden,
And tend it with such care,
You will not find a faded leaf
Or a blighted blossom there. ( )

I never read these as a child (sad I know) and so enjoyed sharing them with my own children. This book which contained all of her works including some unpublished works was lovely. It’s one of those books that will be read and read again, so is one I’d like to own.

Loved the stories, loved the illustrations. Both of my children enjoyed them all. ( )

I thought I was going to love Beatrix Potter’s tales. Who doesn’t love Peter Rabbit? To my surprise, however, I didn’t love her stories.

The book I read, Beatrix Potter: The Complete Tales, is an absolutely gorgeous book. If you’re going to read Beatrix Potter, this volume is the one to have. I completely loved Potter’s illustrations. Her illustrations are works of art. I was incredibly impressed with her art work. I love the fact that she had most of these animals as pets and used those pets as her models for each character we now love. This volume includes all the stories by Beatrix Potter, complete with the illustrations she created. Before each tale is an “about” page that tells why Beatrix Potter wrote that particular story, what her inspiration was, and who she dedicated the story to. I found that very interesting. I have not seen the movie Miss Potter, but now I’m curious to see that representation of her life.

I liked some of the stories, but again, I was not enthralled with this collection of stories. I did enjoy some stories and felt they were timeless: “The Tale of Peter Rabbit”, “The Tale of Benjamin Bunny”, “The Tale of Two Bad Mice” (so clever!), “Appley Dapply’s Nursery Rhymes” and “Cecily Parsley’s Nursery Rhymes”, and “Three Little Mice”. I also liked “The Tailor of Gloucester” and “The Tale of Johnny Town-Mouse”, although they felt dated.

Despite what others say about Beatrix Potter being timeless and classic, I did feel like many stories were pointless. For example, “The Tale of Ginger and Pickles” really seemed dull to me: Ginger and Pickles ran a store; it went out of business; they retired. Why should I care? Nothing happened in the story that drew me in, and I certainly don’t see what would attract children to that story.

In “The Tale of Pigling Bland”, the title character is going to market, gets lost and kidnapped by a farmer who’s going to eat him, and meets another pig. Together, they run away from a farmer. I felt like there was nothing interesting to keep me wanting to read.

And again, in the longest and last of Potter’s tales, “The Tale of Little Pig Robinson”, Little Pig Robinson went to market to do some shopping for his aunts. When a “nice” man shares some snuff with Robinson, Robinson, apparently in a drug-induced stupor, follows him to a ship, where he becomes trapped as the man (who is the cook) fattens him for a feast. Luckily, Robinson escapes to a deserted island in the end, but it again was a strange story. I did not think it was not written well, either: Chapter one of eight followed a cat named Susan who happens to see a pig on a ship. Then we hear about Robinson’s departure from the farm and his subsequent story. The frame never returns to Susan. I couldn’t see the point of Little Pig Robinson’s story, other than he was very foolish and lucky to have escaped. I was incredibly bored reading this particular story: I can’t imagine a child would enjoy it either.

In all, I think some of Beatrix Potter’s stories are delightful and all of the artwork is beautiful, but I’m not a huge fan.

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It's good to have them all, but really this can't replace the perfect individual books, just right for tiny hands.Exquisite drawings, unsentimental, clear-eyed text..Works of an authentic genius. ( )