I was offered the chance to review two books out of a series that has recently been republished by Kinder Cottage Publishing. The books I got to review are Peter Rabbit at the Farm and How Peter Rabbit Went to Sea. Each hardback book is costs $4. They are appropriate for children 3-7.
Originally written by Duff Graham in 1917 for the Henry Altemus company, Kinder Cottage has reprinted these stories in full color and edited the text to reflect more modern words. For example, the word velocipede was changed to bicycle. There are 10 stories in all.
Peter Rabbit at the Farm is about an adventurous rabbit named Peter who goes for a walk through the farm of Mr. McGregor. As he does, he meets many farm animals as well as Mr. McGregor’s hired man. Sometimes he helps the animals he finds out of trouble, but more often, he causes his own trouble. Finally, lost, Peter cunningly takes a ride hanging from the legs of Old Jim Crow until he can get his bearings and run home. There, he laughs as he tells his family of his adventures, is scolded for running away, eats his dinner, and falls asleep.
How Peter Rabbit Went to Sea starts out with Peter running an errand for Mother Rabbit to bring home cabbage from Mr. McGregor’s garden. On his way home, he sees some apples on the ground and he decides to eat them. As he does, he forgets all about the cabbage, gets sick, and runs home. Because he has forgotten the cabbage, he is spanked and then cries while his sisters watch. The next day while Mother Rabbit goes out, she cautions the children not to go near the brook. The children look for some stored popcorn (which was hidden for Halloween) to play store until Peter suggests popping it and eating it up. They build a fire and eat most of the corn. Then Peter suggests they go on an adventure. While Peter’s sisters, who were “good little girl rabbits,” suggest playing robber in a cave, Peter, who was a “bad little boy rabbit” wants to build a boat and play pirate. Peter builds his boat then pushes it into the brook to sail away. Pretty soon he finds himself in the ocean where he gets scared of a shark and capsizes on a rock, which is actually the back of a whale. The whale blows him back into his boat, but before he can get in his boat, he meets more unpleasant sea creatures and nearly tips out again when a bird lands on his boat. Finally the bird is so shocked to see a rabbit in the ocean that he determines to take Peter home to show his children and flies off with him. Through some cunning, Peter gets free and runs home where he begs his mother to put him to bed. The binding on these books is really nice and they are also available at a great price. I also like the size of the books. They are 5x7 and easy to hold. My children and I didn’t enjoy the stories though. Some of the language doesn’t have the right feel about it. For example, Peter talks back and says things like, “Don’t believe it.” and “Will too.” Additionally, I did not like the “good girl” and “bad boy” descriptions. It seemed to me that it was not a “good” thing to go hunting for the hidden popcorn mother was saving for a special occasion and eat it up. “Good” children would have cautioned against such behavior. I also struggled with the rambling nature of the story line. I was glad that while I found the stories to be lacking in good relationships, Peter does run into trouble as a result of his disregard for others. It is also through some careful thinking that Peter frees himself from trouble.
Be sure to check out the other reviews. While I may not personally have enjoyed the stories, others surely did. Additionally, there are 8 other stories in the series.
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