Reader discussion: The Tale of Peter Rabbit

Public reader discussion about The Tale of Peter Rabbit in the WeRead Catalog by Beatrix Potter.

Take Me to the Lakes: Connections to Beatrix Potter:

By paper_field

I’ll admit, I love the celeb gossip side of Taylor stuff, but most of the time I’d rather read into the literary/historical/myth stuff in her songs—partly because those have been my random special interests for years. So I was watching one of Kristin’s older videos (the Lakes District/Taylor “hill-landscape” thing) and she casually mentioned that Beatrix Potter lived in the Lakes too. That immediately made me go down a rabbit hole about Peter Rabbit. I don’t know if Taylor ever actually visited her place and took inspiration from her, but it feels possible, especially in songs where she’s kinda singing like she’s talking about childhood or to her younger self. Also, Potter summered in the Lakes and Scotland, later moved back to the Lakes, and you can actually visit her house. She even bought a bunch of land there and set it up to be preserved after she died. And she was a naturalist type too, not just an author—her illustrations and whole Peter Rabbit world are super tied to nature. As for TTPD connections… I’m not 100% sure, but a few things popped into my head: - **“Peter”**: Obvious Peter Pan vibes, especially with the Lost Boys mention, but I also wonder about Peter Rabbit. In the story, the boy rabbit is out there getting into trouble and basically running wild, while the sisters are more “proper” or whatever. I’ve seen theories that Taylor turns her inner self into a boy version (like “Peter”), and I can’t help but think about whether she ever felt resentful about being treated differently than a brother. Like, missing that boy-kid freedom—where parents/society police things less. - **“The Bolter”**: The running rabbit patch made me think of Peter basically spending the whole book trying to escape the angry farmer after he snuck into the garden. - **“Robin”**: This one made me think about the robin in the Peter Rabbit illustrations. I saw an analysis once that basically said the robin is like a moral “watching” presence—always there while Peter (and then Benjamin Bunny) gets into mischief. And Taylor’s “Robin” to me feels like the wild/real self being gently “tamed” by well-meaning adults who claim they’re just looking out for you. Random extra thought: in Peter Rabbit, the “rabbit-tobacco” they smoke is actually lavender. So yeah… “Lavender Haze” suddenly feels even more connected to me lol.

[TOMT] animated rabbit movie from early 2000's, not Watership Down or Peter Rabbit

By river-ash

I’m gonna be really honest—I’ll probably cry if someone can help me track this down. I’ve been trying to remember it for years. It was an animated rabbit movie, and I’m almost positive it wasn’t *Watership Down*, but I can’t shake the image of rabbits moving through a warren/tunnel and getting tangled up in roots, vines, or thorns, and one of them getting hurt. I also remember a younger male rabbit and this older, grandmother-type rabbit. She maybe wore a shawl and had a walking stick. The art style feels kind of like *Peter Rabbit*—like the younger rabbits looked more slim—but that’s about as far as I can get. If anyone has any ideas, I’ll be so grateful. **Edit / additional info:** People keep suggesting the same handful of things and I don’t think it’s any of these: - *Watership Down* (nope, even though everyone seems sure) - *Peter Rabbit* / anything Beatrix Potter (the animation doesn’t match, and I never really liked those anyway) - *The Secret of NIMH* (mice-focused, this wasn’t) - *Animals of Farthing Wood* (it was rabbits only, not a mix of animals) - *Robin Hood* (not Disney, and not that “scratchy” style) - *Easter Egg Adventure/Eggs* / *Once Upon a Forest* (style/scene doesn’t line up) - *Hop* (too new) - *Bellflower Bunnies* - *Wallace & Grommit* - *Bambi* (also not Disney, and not a variety of animals) - *Who Framed Roger Rabbit* (super weird suggestion, but it’s not that) More details that might help: - Pretty sure it’s 2D animation, not super “big eyes, bright colors” cartoonish. - Not as harsh as *Watership Down*—like *Watership Down* feels more like “animals, not people,” but this one seems a bit more anthropomorphic, which is why I’m thinking of the grandmother rabbit in a shawl. I borrowed it from VideoEzy (the Blockbuster-ish place) before it shut down in 2018. I’m checking the Wayback Machine right now and I’ll update if I find anything.

Golden Book Video - The Tale of Peter Rabbit

By Tiny-Atom50

I don’t think I’ve seen this shared on here yet, but I used to watch it a lot when I was a kid.

"Even the smallest one can change the world". The tale of Peter Rabbit.

By lateseal59

This is really beautiful!

Peter Rabbit on Tolkien’s mind

By plasmaarch20

I actually like the idea of figuring out where some of the stuff in Middle Earth might have come from, like what Tolkien was thinking about around the same time. In 1939 he gave that “Fairy Stories” lecture, which later turned into “On Fairy Stories.” And in an early draft—written maybe a year after The Hobbit came out—he tosses in this little comment comparing Beatrix Potter’s Peter Rabbit: “…like Peter Rabbit left without hope in a garden and lost his blue coat and yellow shoes.” It’s funny, because from what people usually remember or see in the pictures, you’d think it was only the blue coat that went missing, not the yellow shoes too. I guess Tolkien remembered it (though that detail about the shoes drops pretty early, like by the second manuscript of the lecture). Makes me wonder if Potter’s rabbit might’ve been in the back of his head when he was coming up with the clothes for Tom Bombadil… maybe.

The Tale of Beatrix Potter (1982) a documentary that aired on PBS Station KQED and Channel 9 about the life of Peter Rabbit creator Beatrix Potter.

By harmonyCastle

Here are parts 2, 3, and 4 of the documentary.

Beatrix Potter will forever be my introduction to Cottagecore *Peter Rabbit Author

By apron-turtle

I didn’t realize she was one of the original conservation folks too—apparently she even put her money toward founding the Lake District. And she was known for sheep breeding back then, which is honestly pretty cool. I’ve got it on my bucket list to visit Hill Top where she lived. Right now I’m also working on a Beatrix Potter quilt.

Author Discussion: Beatrix Potter

By reedHat92

Hey everyone! Yesterday was Beatrix Potter’s 157th birthday, so I thought it’d be fun to talk about her life and her books. What do you think of her writing? Do you have a favorite work of hers? And if you’re into her stuff, what other authors or books would you recommend?

[TOMT] Okay so I dont remember the name of this show/movie at all but its a show that was animated in a style like the beatrix potter world of peter rabbit and friends or something similar to it and aired on treehouse tv in the early 2000s?

By StarlightRainy

Also, I remember a couple things that might be from the same show, but I’m not totally sure. One was about a female squirrel losing part of her coat or tail because of an owl. And there was another with a rabbit or hare in an episode called something like “hare goes a marching.” It’s super vague, and it could’ve been two different shows. I think it was on Treehouse when I was a kid, so early 2000s, like 2001–2006. Latest I could guess would be 2012, but that feels way less likely.

The Take of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter (1901)

By tea_reads

Hey, I’m kind of new here. Does anyone happen to have a physical copy of the first version of *The Tale of Peter Rabbit* from 1901? I’m doing a presentation for uni and I can’t track down a copy anywhere. I mainly just need photos of the whole book so I can analyze that specific edition. Sorry if this isn’t the right place to ask, but it’s kind of my last resort and I honestly don’t know where else to look.

Beatrix Potter, the beloved English author and illustrator of "The Tale of Peter Rabbit", is pictured here with a real-life "Peter Rabbit."

By lazy_deer1991

I really want the photo to be legit, but it looks *too* good, so it’s making me wonder if it’s AI. Does anyone know where it came from or have a link to the source?

I FOUND IT! The movie that made me hate rats. It’s called “The Tale of Samuel Whiskers or the Roly Poly Pudding” please tell me I’m not the only person who’s seen it!

By bottle

I swear my whole life I’ve had random bits of this movie stuck in my head, and at times I was like… maybe I just imagined it when I was little? Like maybe it was some weird fever dream. I kept remembering this kitten getting rolled up in dough by rats, like it was going to be eaten, and I always thought that was so messed up. But then I actually found the movie, and wow—it's way creepier than I remembered. If you’ve got like 20 minutes, you can watch it here.

Is Beatrix not as good of a name as I thought?

By BookishReads

Now that our kid’s a toddler, I’ve learned pretty fast that everyone’s just going to say Beatrice no matter how clearly I try to say the “x” when we introduce her. I feel kind of awkward jumping straight to “Beatrix with an x,” but it’s starting to bother me enough that I might just start doing it. It also seems like some people genuinely don’t register that it’s a real name, and they go “oh, that’s nice,” like they’re being polite. And yeah, I know names are basically made up, but I can tell they assume it’s one of those super random “Neveah”-style mashups. And I swear an alarming number of people have hit me with “wait, like the lady from Harry Potter? that’s amazing,” and I have to correct them like, no—she’s not named after that. I don’t know, I’m kind of at my limit and I just want some honest reactions at this point.

Helen Beatrix Heelis, better known as Beatrix Potter, was an English writer, illustrator, natural scientist, and conservationist. She is best known for The Tale of Peter Rabbit who was patented and sold as a stuffed animal, making him the first licensed character.

By black_bee1987

I kind of stumbled on her name while I was reading a page about C. S. Lewis (the friend of Tolkien who wrote The Chronicles of Narnia). It had this whole bit about how as a kid he was obsessed with talking/animal stories—he loved Beatrix Potter and apparently wrote and drew his own animal stuff too, like Boxen with Warnie, and just basically grew up surrounded by books. I’m pretty sure J.K. Rowling must’ve known about all that. Also, I just noticed that the director for the first Harry Potter movie was Chris Columbus? That’s kind of cool! Not sure I would’ve guessed.

Peter Rabbit and his blue jacket a little worse for wear. Beatrix Potter is pleased it’s getting used. 🦔

By notebook_night1998

Yep, this is the jacket I cut and sewed for Peter—helped along by a few mice—and it showed up in the Peter Rabbit movies. It’s kind of a British version of that French peasant moleskin/chore jacket vibe. Since Peter’s dad originally owned it, I kinda wore it down on purpose (pumice in the shower), got it dirty with grass and soil, pulled some threads and re-stitched it so it looked more beat-up, and even polished the buttons up 🦔 If you want more brand-new Peter Rabbit stuff, check out mimlacode.com.

TIL Beatrix Potter, the author of The Tale of Peter Rabbit, was also an amateur mycologist. Obsessed with fungi, she was studious about their taxonomy and taught herself the proper technique for accurate botanical illustration. She even conducted her own experiments with spores she had germinated.

By Crimson_Saddle3913

I’d really recommend Miss Potter with Renee Zellwegger—it was surprisingly good.

The Beatrix Potter Collection

By annotationcrescent

I tried reading these to my kids when they were little, because I remember my mom reading them to me and really liking them. But mine just didn’t seem to click at all. It was like they didn’t “get it” the way I did. Maybe it’s one of those generational things. In the end I just donated the books.

Beatrix Potter known for her children's books featuring animals, such as The Tale of Peter Rabbit was also a keen Mycologist. She produced hundreds of finely detailed and botanically correct drawings of fungi.

By DeltaPaper

Beatrix Potter was already drawing mushrooms back in the 1880s, but she didn’t really know the science side of it yet. Then she started writing to Charles McIntosh, who knew loads about ferns, mosses and fungi. She’d actually known him from holidays in Perthshire when she was a kid. In 1892, when she was 26, she arranged to meet him properly in Dunkeld and show him her drawings. Even though he was shy, he got really animated talking about fungi and went on about their “poetical” colours. After that they kept writing to each other. He sent her mushroom samples he’d found, and she sent him copies of her drawings in return. At first she described them by what they looked like, like “spluttered candle,” or even by smell, like “exactly like a dead sheep,” but she soon learned a lot more. McIntosh told her to make her drawings more scientific instead of just drawing them as she found them in the ground. As she got better at it, she and McIntosh started trading ideas about mushroom reproduction. She got really interested in agarics and began experimenting with how they germinated. By 1896 she had her own theory about how fungi spores reproduced and wrote a paper called “On the Germination of the Spores of Agaricineae.” She showed this to William Thistleton-Dyer, who was director of Kew’s Royal Botanic Gardens. In her version of the meeting in December 1896, he came across as pretty dismissive and patronising. “I informed him that it would be in all the books in ten years, whether or no, and departed giggling,” she said. After that she presented it to the Linnaean Society in London on 1 April 1897. That place was basically the heart of Victorian botany, but it was only for men and women weren’t allowed to join, use the research library, or even sit in on the talks. It didn’t take in its first female fellow until 1905, and since only fellows could attend meetings, Potter wasn’t there when her paper was discussed. She later said it was “well received,” but the members thought it needed more work. She pulled the paper back, probably to revise it. But it was never actually published. There isn’t a copy left now. Our Knights of Castle Wood Tale keeps Beatrix’s interest in the natural world going. Bioluminescent mushrooms like Mycena, Armillaria and Panellus lead us through our tunnels linking all her Tales across Britain to the woods behind Hill Top farm. And then back through time too, so we can visit our mice friends in The Tailor of Gloucester 🦔 Beatrix’s legacy follow the green shield https://www.mimlacode.com/copy-of-felt-characters

[OC] Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter. Pattern made by me

By SamLovesBooks

This seriously makes my heart feel so warm! It’s just so beautiful 💕💕

Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter. The very first series of books i read as a child. Im sure many others did as well

By memoryPlanet47

I wasn’t really a huge fan beforehand, but we checked out the World of Beatrix Potter in the Lake District right before everything shut down with Covid, and I honestly liked it quite a bit.