Peter and his sisters Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cotton-tail "lived with their Mother in a sand-bank, underneath the root of a very big fir-tree." Taking up her basket and umbrella as she set out for the baker's one morning Mother Rabbit instructs Peter and his sisters to go "into the fields or down the lane" but not into Mr. McGregor's garden. Tragedy, she warns them, had befallen their Father in Mr. McGregor's garden; at the hands of Mr. McGregor himself. Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cotton-tail hurried down the lane to pick blackberries, but Peter, "who was very naughty," headed straight for Mr. McGregor's garden. Peter enjoys himself immensely until, coming "round the end of a cucumber frame, whom should he meet but Mr. McGregor!" And so begins what is to be the most terrifying day of Peter's life. First published in 1902 Beatrix Potter's tale of the naughty bunny who does not listen to his Mother still has the ability to charm. Her gentle prose takes us from the terror and excitement of Peter's desperate attempts to escape Mr. McGregor, to his complete exhaustion and he flops down "on the nice soft sand on the floor of the rabbit-hole." Miss Potter's pen and ink, hand-tinted illustrations capture Peter's mischevious intent as well as his terror. This cautionary tale of what happens when you do not listen to your Mother still has the ability to resonate with children today.
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