When relatives and friends find out that your child likes something, they run with it. My daughter loved the short stories of Beatrix Potter. Fortunately, so do I because the house was awash with the little, furry animals that Potter created. There were the books of course, and tiny cups and saucers, teaspoons and bibs. Even the nursery wallpaper was decorated with pictures from the stories. Our house was like a shrine.



Parents today, with fond memories of curling up on Mummy's lap for a Beatrix Potter bedtime story, pass the legacy on to their children. The world of the stories is old fashioned and nostalgic, perhaps for a time that never truly existed. It is a simpler world, where anthromorphic animals go about their daily business. Young animals get into mischief just like children do the world over, and parents scold them.

The stories are popular around the world but particularly so in Japan. If you visit parts of the Lake District in England, where Beatrix Potter lived and wrote, there is usually a group of Japanese tourists armed with cameras. The area is very proud of its famous author and there is a museum dedicated to her life and work, displaying memorabilia.

The first book appeared in 1902 and was called The Tale of Peter Rabbit. It was a success and Beatrix Potter wrote twenty three stories in total, all published as small books that young children could hold in tiny hands. She also did the pictures, which perfectly captured the different characters she created.

Away from the stories, she liked to paint water colors of fungi and mosses. These were much well liked and she commanded respect as an artist. Beatrix Potter would smuggle little animals into her home when she was a child. She had closely observed the animal world around her from a young age, inspiring so many stories and characters. Peter Rabbit would probably remain the public's favorite but all were held in great affection.

Squirrel Nutkin was a naughty, red squirrel, always getting into scrapes. Mrs. Tittlemouse was a wood mouse who wanted to keep her home tidy but had a constant mass of unwanted visitors. Then there was Tom Kitten, the very well named Jemima Puddle Duck and the hedgehog washerwoman, Mrs. Tiggy Winkle. There is an animal hospital for sick hedgehogs in the UK today that bears the name of the Beatrix Potter creation, Tiggy Winkle.

The stories have taken other forms apart from the books. They were set to music and the Royal Ballet company put on animal costumes and told the tales thru dance. Called The Tales of Beatrix Potter, the Company performed the production on stage and on film.

Hollywood has taken an interest too, and a movie about the life of Beatrix Potter is set for release in 2006 or 2007. Called Miss Potter, it's directed by the director responsible for Babe, Chris Noonan. Renee Zellweger plays Potter and Ewan McGregor plays her publisher and fiancée. Beatrix Potter is an interesting life to represent, as she struggled to declare herself in a Victorian England which was dominated by men. The romance shown in the film was a doomed one as Potter's parents had disapproved of it.