Giant Treasury of Peter Rabbit

This book collects some of Potter's most well-known stories: "The Tale of Peter Rabbit," "The Tailor of Gloucester," "The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin," "The Tale of Benjamin Bunny," "The Tale of Two Bad Mice," "The Pie and the Patty-Pan," "Mrs. Tiggy-winkle," and "The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher." My parents thought very highly of this book when I was a child, but I think I struggled with it somewhat, and now that I am older I see why: some of the stories, particularly "The Tailor of Gloucester," are very British and very 19th century, which makes them very foreign (to an American) and difficult even for a well-educated adult reader to comprehend. I always particularly liked the pictures in "The Tale of Two Bad Mice," and "The Pie and the Patty-Pan" is a gem that I enjoy a lot more now than I did as a child, but I think the reason these stories have particularly endured over the years is not because of their literary merit, but because of the charming quality of their illustrations. Some of these stories, and their pictures, are iconic, to be sure, and that makes them worth working through, but this would be a difficult book for a young child to read alone. ( )