I honestly can't remember if I read The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter when I was a kid or not. Part of it seemed familiar, but not quite enough to convince me.
The Tale of Peter Rabbit is a classic of sorts with children's literature. Sadly, it didn't do much of anything for me. Sure, you could say that I'm maybe biased toward books from the early 1900's, but that's not the case. There is plenty of turn-of-the-century literature that's fantastic.
The best way that I can describe this book is that it had literary turrets. One moment, Potter's writing about Peter Rabbit running through the neighbour's garden, then she goes on about Peter Rabbit's clothes being turned into a scarecrow, then it's what the bunny had for supper, and after that, the book ends abruptly. In review form, what I just said might not seem all that bad, but in reality, the book was choppy. It had no flow, and that really bothered me.
But, as I don't want to be a Negative Nelly, there was one positive aspect about The Tale of Peter Rabbit that I thought was well done. The illustrations. They were done in water colour, and they were done quite well. Even though the book was jagged, at least the pictures weren't.
All in all, I wouldn't hold this book in high regard, unless you want a sample of beautiful illustrations. Then it's perfect.
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