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{{Short description|1901 book by Beatrix Potter}}
{{Infobox Book | <!-- See ] or ] -->
{{Good article}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2014}}
{{Infobox book|
| name = The Tale of Peter Rabbit | name = The Tale of Peter Rabbit
| image = ] | image = Peter Rabbit first edition 1902a.jpg
| image_caption = First edition cover | caption = First edition, October 1902
| author = ] | author = ]
| illustrator = Beatrix Potter | illustrator = Beatrix Potter
| country = England | country = ]
| language = English | language = English
| genre = ] | genre = ]
| publisher = ]. | publisher = ]
| release_date = October ] | release_date = October ]
| pages = 56
| media_type = Print (]) | media_type = Print (])
| oclc = 12533701 | oclc = 12533701
| followed_by = ] | followed_by = ]
| wikisource = The Tale of Peter Rabbit
}} }}


'''''The Tale of Peter Rabbit''''' is a children's book written and illustrated by ] that follows mischievous and disobedient young ] as he is chased about the garden of Mr. McGregor. He escapes and returns home to his mother who puts him to bed after dosing him with ] tea. The tale was written for five-year-old Noel Moore, son of Potter's former governess Annie Carter Moore, in 1893. It was revised and privately printed by Potter in 1901 after several publishers' rejections but was printed in a trade edition by ]. in ]. The book was a success, and multiple reprints were issued in the years immediately following its debut. It has been translated into 36 languages<ref name="MackeyP33">{{Harvnb|Mackey|2002|p=33}}</ref> and with 45 million copies sold it is one of the ] of all time.<ref>Worker's Press</ref> '''''The Tale of Peter Rabbit''''' is a ] written and illustrated by ] that follows mischievous and disobedient young ] as he gets into, and is chased around, the garden of Mr. McGregor. He escapes and returns home to his mother, who puts him to bed after offering him chamomile tea. The tale was written for five-year-old Noel Moore, the son of Potter's former governess, Annie Carter Moore, in 1893. It was revised and ] by Potter in 1901 after several publishers' rejections, but was printed in a trade edition by ] in ]. The book was a success, and multiple reprints were issued in the years immediately following its debut. It has been translated into 36 languages, and with 45 million copies sold it is one of the ] in history.


The book has generated considerable merchandise over the decades since its release for both children and adults with toys, dishes, foods, clothing, videos and other products made available. Potter was one of the first to be responsible for such merchandise when she patented a Peter Rabbit doll in 1903 and followed it almost immediately with a Peter Rabbit board game. Since its release, the book has generated considerable merchandise for both children and adults, including toys, dishes, foods, clothing, and videos. Potter was one of the first to be responsible for such merchandise when she patented a Peter Rabbit doll in 1903 and followed it almost immediately with a Peter Rabbit board game. Peter Rabbit has remained popular amongst children for more than a century and continues to be adapted into new book editions, television programmes, and films.


Scholars of literature have commented on themes in the book, such as its radical quality, Peter Rabbit's rebellious nature, and the story's ruthlessness, stating that these offer readers a chance to imagine going to similar extremes.
By making the hero of the tale a disobedient and rebellious little rabbit, Potter subverted her era's definition of the good child and the literary hero genre which typically followed the adventures of a brave, resourceful, young white male.{{Citation needed}} ] appeared as a character in a 1971 ballet film, and the tale has been adapted to an animated television series.


==Plot== == Context ==
Peter Rabbit, his sisters Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cottontail, and his mother are anthropomorphic rabbits who dress in human clothing and generally walk upright on their hind legs, though they live in a rabbit hole under a fir-tree. Mother Rabbit has forbidden her children to enter the garden of Mr. McGregor: it was there that their father met his untimely end and became the ingredient of a pie. However, while Mrs. Rabbit is shopping and the girls are collecting blackberries, Peter sneaks into the garden. There, he gorges on vegetables until he gets sick, and is then chased about by Mr. McGregor. When Peter loses his jacket and his shoes, Mr. McGregor uses them to dress a scarecrow. After several close encounters with Mr. McGregor, Peter escapes the garden and returns to his mother exhausted and ill. She puts him to bed with a dose of ] tea while his sisters (who have been good little bunnies) enjoy bread and milk and blackberries for supper. In a 1904 sequel, '']'', Peter returns to McGregor's garden to retrieve his lost clothes.


In 1893, ] heard that the 5-year-old son of a friend, Annie Moore, was convalescing after ]. Potter decided to entertain the boy, Noel, with an illustrated letter. With her pet rabbit named Peter Piper in mind, she wrote a very<!--shorter than the book!--> short story "about four little rabbits", and illustrated it in the letter. Further letters about other animals followed, until in 1900, Annie Moore proposed to Potter that the illustrated letters could be made into books.<ref name="VAM 2023">{{cite web |title=Peter Rabbit: the tale of 'The Tale' |url=https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/peter-rabbit-the-tale-of-the-tale |publisher=] |access-date=21 March 2023}}</ref>
==Composition==
Through the 1890s, Potter sent illustrated story letters to the children of her former ], Annie Moore, and, in 1900, Moore, realizing the commercial potential of Potter's stories, suggested they be made into books. Potter embraced the suggestion, and, borrowing her complete correspondence (which had been carefully preserved by the Moore children), selected a letter written on 4 September 1893 to five-year-old Noel that featured a tale about a rabbit named Peter. Potter had owned a pet rabbit called Peter Piper.<ref name="MackeyP35">{{Harvnb|Mackey|2002|p=35}}</ref> Potter biographer Linda Lear explains: "The original letter was too short to make a proper book so added some text and made new black-and-white illustrations...and made it more suspenseful. These changes slowed the narrative down, added intrigue, and gave a greater sense of the passage of time. Then she copied it out into a stiff-covered exercise book, and painted a coloured frontispiece showing Mrs. Rabbit dosing Peter with camomile tea".<ref name="LearP142">{{Harvnb|Lear|2007|p=142}}</ref>


==Publication history== == Plot ==
===Private publication===
]
As Lear explains, Potter titled the ''The Tale of Peter Rabbit and Mr. McGregor's Garden'' and sent it to publishers, but "her manuscript was returned&nbsp;... including Frederick Warne & Co.&nbsp;... who nearly a decade earlier had shown some interest in her artwork. Some publishers wanted a shorter book, others a longer one. But most wanted wanted coloured illustrations which by 1900 were both popular and affordable".<ref name="LearP143">{{Harvnb|Lear|2007|p=143}}</ref> The several rejections proved frustrating to Potter who knew exactly how her book should look (she had adopted the format and style of ]'s '']'') "and how much it should cost".<ref name="LearP1143-144">{{Harvnb|Lear|2007|pp=143–144}}</ref> She decided to publish the book herself, and, on 16 December 1901, the first 250 copies of her privately printed ''The Tale of Peter Rabbit'' "was ready for distribution to family and friends".<ref name="LearP145">{{Harvnb|Lear|2007|p=145}}</ref>


]
===First commercial edition===
In 1901, as Lear explains, a Potter family friend and sometime poet, Canon ], set Potter's tale into "rather dreadful didactic verse and submitted it, along with Potter's illustrations and half her revised manuscript, to Frederick Warne & Co.," which had been among the original rejecters.<ref name="LearP145-146">{{Harvnb|Lear|2007|pp=145–146}}</ref> Warne editors declined Rawnsley's version "but asked to see the complete Potter manuscript" – their interest stimulated by the opportunity ''The Tale of Peter Rabbit'' offered the publisher to compete with the success of Helen Bannerman's wildly popular ''Little Black Sambo'' and other small format children's books then on the market. When Warne inquired about the lack of colour illustrations in the book, Potter replied that rabbit-brown and green were not good subjects for colouration. Warne declined the book but opened the possibility for future publication.<ref name="LearP146">{{Harvnb|Lear|2007|p=146}}</ref>


The story focuses on ], a young ], and his family. Peter's mother, Mrs. Rabbit, intends to go shopping for the day and allows Peter and her other three children, Peter's sisters: Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cotton-tail to go playing. She tells them they can go anywhere they like, but not to enter the ] of an old man named Mr. McGregor, whose wife, Mrs. McGregor, put their father in a ] after he entered and got caught by Mr. McGregor. Peter's three younger sisters obediently stay away from Mr. McGregor's garden, choosing to go down the lane and gather ], but Peter enters Mr. McGregor's garden in the hopes of eating some ]s.
Warne wanted colour illustrations throughout the 'bunny book' (as the firm referred to the tale) and suggested cutting the illustrations "from forty-two to thirty-two ... and marked which ones might best be eliminated".<ref name="LearP146" /> Potter initially resisted the idea of colour illustrations but then realized her stubborn stance was a mistake. She sent Warne several "several colour illustrations, along with a copy of her privately printed edition" which Warne then handed to their eminent childrens book illustrator ] for his professional opinion, who was impressed with to Potter's work. Fortuitously, his recommendation coincided with a sudden surge in the ] market.<ref name="LearP147">{{Harvnb|Lear|2007|p=147}}</ref>


]
Meanwhile, Potter continued to distribute her privately printed edition to family and friends, with the celebrated creator of ], ], acquiring a copy for his children. When the first private printing of 250 copies was sold out, another 200 were prepared.<ref name="LearP150">{{Harvnb|Lear|2007|p=150}}</ref> She noted in an inscription in one copy that her beloved pet rabbit Peter had died.<ref name="LearP149">{{Harvnb|Lear|2007|p=149}}</ref>


Peter eats more than is good for him and goes looking for ] to cure his stomach ache. Peter is seen by Mr. McGregor, who chases Peter. Peter gets caught in a net and three friendly sparrows comfort him. Peter manages to escape Mr. McGregor just in time, but loses his blue jacket and shoes while running off. He hides in a greenhouse, ultimately jumping into a ] for protection. Unfortunately there is water inside the watering can so Peter gets wet and sneezes, alerting Mr. McGregor. When Mr. McGregor gets tired running after Peter and resumes his work, Peter tries to escape, but is completely lost in the huge garden. Peter tries getting a young ] to help him, however she is collecting food for her family and cannot help. Peter also notices a ] sitting by a pond. Peter considers asking for directions, but ultimately decides not to, having been warned about cats by his cousin. However, Peter sees that Mr. McGregor is "gone" and it buys him some time to escape to the gate. Peter sees from a distance the gate where he entered the garden and heads for it, despite being noticed and chased by Mr. McGregor again. With difficulty, he wriggles under the gate, and escapes from the garden. His abandoned clothing is used by Mr. McGregor to dress a ].
Potter arrived at an agreement with Warne for an initial publication of 5,000 commercial copies.<ref name="LearP148">{{Harvnb|Lear|2007|p=148}}</ref> Negotiations dragged on into the following year with a contract finally signed in June 1902.<ref name="LearP149" /> Potter was closely involved in the publication process of the trade edition of the tale – redrawing when necessary, making minor adjustments to the prose and correcting punctuation. The blocks for the illustrations and text were sent to ] ] for ], and she made adjustments to the ] when she received them. Lear writes that "Even before the publication of the tale in early October 1902, the first 8,000 copies were sold out. By the year's end there were 28,000 copies of ''The Tale of Peter Rabbit'' in print. By the middle of 1903 there was a fifth edition sporting coloured endpapers ... a sixth printing was produced within the month"; and a year after the first commercial publication there were 56,470 copies in print.<ref name="LearP152">{{Harvnb|Lear|2007|p=152}}</ref>


After returning home late, a sick Peter is reprimanded by his mother for losing his shoes and his jacket (the second jacket and shoes he has lost in a fortnight). Peter's mother puts him to bed early without supper. To cure his stomach-ache, Mrs. Rabbit gives Peter a teaspoon of ]. Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cotton-tail, meanwhile, enjoy a delicious dinner of ], ] and ].
===American copyright===
Warne's New York office "failed to register the ] for ''The Tale of Peter Rabbit'' in the United States" and ] copies of the book "(from which Potter would receive no ]) began to appear in the spring of 1903. There was nothing anyone could do stop them".


== Characters ==
The enormous financial loss ... only became evident over time", but the necessity of protecting her intellectual property hit home after the successful 1903 publication of '']'' when her father returned from the ] in Mayfair at Christmas 1903 with a toy squirrel labelled ''Nutkin''.<ref name="LearP164">{{Harvnb|Lear|2007|p=164}}</ref>
* Peter: Peter is a naughty rabbit who disobeys his mother. (He is the eldest of the four little rabbits.)
* Flopsy: Flopsy is Peter's sister who is a good rabbit. (She is the second youngest of the four siblings.)
* Mopsy: Mopsy is a rabbit and Peter's sister who always obeys her mother. (She is the second oldest of the four.)
* Cotton-tail: Cotton-tail is a sweet rabbit and Peter's sibling. As her name says, she is soft as cotton. (She is the youngest of the four.)
* Mr. McGregor: Mr. McGregor owns a beautiful garden that is filled with delicious fruits and vegetables. Peter's father was put into a pie by Mrs. McGregor.


== Publication history ==
==Merchandising==
]
]


''The Tale of Peter Rabbit'' was first published in the United Kingdom by ] as a small hardback book in October 1901; Potter created both the text and the illustrations.{{sfn|Potter|1901}} The first edition had a print run of 250, with monochrome illustrations.<ref name="Eccleshare 2002"/> The demand was greater and she needed to print 200 more.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bidgood |first=Jess |date=January 19, 2024 |title="Overlooked No More: Beatrix Potter, Author of 'The Tale of Peter Rabbit'" |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/19/obituaries/beatrix-potter-overlooked.html |access-date=March 24, 2024 |work=The New York Times}}</ref> Warne published the first full-colour edition in 1902.<ref name="Eccleshare 2002"/> The blocks for the illustrations and text were sent to the ] ] for ], and Potter adjusted the ].{{sfn|Lear|2007|p=152}} The book was soon on sale in shops in London, including ] department store, accompanied by the world's first ], a soft toy of Peter Rabbit.<ref name="Eccleshare 2002"/> By December 1903 the book had sold 50,000 copies.<ref name="Dresang 2002"/> The book's success prompted Warne to obtain more stories from Potter, starting in 1903 with both '']'' and '']''.<ref name="Eccleshare 2002"/>
Potter asserted her tales would one day be nursery classics, and part of the "longevity of her books comes from strategy", writes Potter biographer Ruth MacDonald.<ref name="Mac128">MacDonald 1986, p. 128</ref> She was the first to exploit the commercial possibilities of her characters and tales; between 1903 and 1905 these included a Peter Rabbit stuffed toy, an unpublished board game, and nursery wallpaper.<ref>Lear 2008, pp. 172–5</ref>


The book has since been reprinted many times, and after 100 years had never gone out of print.<ref name="Eccleshare 2002">{{cite news |last=Eccleshare |first=Julia |title=Peter Rabbit Turns 100 |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/print/20020422/30115-peter-rabbit-turns-100.html |access-date=21 March 2023 |work=Publishers Weekly |date=22 April 2002}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Potter |first1=Beatrix |title=The Tale of Peter Rabbit |url=https://www.worldcat.org/formats-editions/319523241?author=Potter%2C+Beatrix |publisher=WorldCat |access-date=21 March 2023}}</ref> Warne did not ] the book when it was published in the United States; ] editions of the book were produced, the first published by ] in 1904.<ref name="Linder109">{{Harvnb|Linder|1971|p=109}}</ref> The book has been translated into 36 languages.<ref name="MackeyP33">{{Harvnb|Mackey|2002|p=33}}</ref> Over 45 million copies have been sold, making it one of the ] in history.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/cgi/news/release?id=105175 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170815030713/http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/workers-press-acknowledge-frederick-warnes-intellectual-property-rights-154549675.html|date=10 July 2003 |title=Worker's Press acknowledge Frederick Warne's intellectual property rights |website=Prnewswire.co.uk|publisher=Frederick Warne and Co. |location=London |archive-date=15 August 2017 |access-date=31 August 2009}}</ref>
Considerable variants on the original format and version of ''The Tale of Peter Rabbit'' as well as spin-off merchandise have been made available over the decades. Variant versions include "pop-ups, toy theatres, and lift-the-flap books". By 1998, modern technology had made available "videos, audio cassette, a CD-ROMs, a computer program, and Internet sites", as described by Margaret Mackey writing in ''The case of Peter Rabbit: changing conditions of literature for children''. She continues: "Warne and their collaborators and competitors have produced a large collection of activity books and a monthly educational magazine". A plethora of other Peter Rabbit related merchandise exists as well, and "toy shops in the United States and Britain have whole sections of store specially signposted and earmarked exclusively for Potter-related toys and merchandise".<ref name="MackeyPxxi-xxii" />


== Reception ==
Pirating of ''The Tale of Peter Rabbit'' has flourished over the decades with products only loosely associated with the original. In 1916, American Louise A. Field cashed in on the popularity by writing books such as ''Peter Rabbit Goes to School'' or ''Peter Rabbit and His Ma'', the illustrations of which showed him in his distinctive blue jacket.<ref>{{Harvnb|Hallinan|2002|p=83}}</ref> In an animated movie by ], ''The New Adventures of Peter Rabbit'', "Peter is given buck teeth, an American accent and a fourth sister Hopsy". Another video "retelling of the tale casts Peter as a Christian preacher singing songs about God and Jesus".<ref name="MackeyPxxi-xxii">{{Harvnb|Mackey|1998|pp=xxi–xxii}}</ref>
Scholars have identified a variety of themes in ''The Tale of Peter Rabbit''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Carpenter |first1=Humphrey |author1-link=Humphrey Carpenter |last2=Prichard |first2=Mari |title=The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1985 |pages=423–424}}</ref> Eliza Dresang suggests that the book is "radical" in multiple ways. The first of these is its child-centred size, easy to hold. It is radical, too, in its nonlinear quality, with the images not immediately beside the text they illustrate (and sometimes before that text), and with sentences that often start with the result, and end with the actor, as in "But round the end of a cucumber frame, whom should he meet but Mr. McGregor!" The meaning, too, has more than one layer, not least in the dressed animals, which are at once experienced by the reader as animals and as humans. And the book's start, with the death of Peter Rabbit's father, is a radical innovation for a book for small children.<ref name="Dresang 2002">{{cite book |last1=Dresang |first1=Eliza |editor1-last=Mackey |editor1-first=Margaret |title=Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit: A Children's Classic at 100 |date=2002 |publisher=The Children's Literature Association and The Scarecrow Press |pages=99–116 |url=https://ininet.org/childrens-literature-review.html}}</ref>


Katie Mullins describes Peter's rebellious nature, which is seen in the book's first dialogue, when Mrs. Rabbit forbids Peter to go into Mr. McGregor's garden. Mullins comments that the garden is stated to be dangerous, as it is where Peter's father met his death. She cites Maria Nikolajeva and Carole Scott's description of Peter as a "naughty boy who values his independence and whose desire to transgress boundaries far outweighs his mother's warnings or his personal safety".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Nikolajeva |first1=Maria |last2=Scott |first2=Carole |title=How Picturebooks Work |publisher=Routledge |year=2006 |pages=93–94}}</ref><ref name="Mullins 2009">{{cite journal |last1=Mullins |first1=Katie |title=Crossing Boundaries and Forming Identity in Beatrix Potter's ''The Tale of Peter Rabbit'' and ''The Tale of Benjamin Bunny'' |journal=The Looking Glass: New Perspectives on Children's Literature |date=2009 |volume=13 |issue=1 |url=https://ojs.latrobe.edu.au/ojs/index.php/tlg/article/download/137/136}}</ref>
==Critical commentaries==
Writing in ''Storyteller: The Classic that Heralded America's Storytelling Revival'', in discussing the difference between stories that lend themselves well to telling and stories that lend themselves well to reading, Ramon Ross explains Peter Rabbit is a story created for reading. He believes Potter created a good mix of suspense and tension, intermixed with lulls in the action. He goes on to write that the writing style—"the economy of words, the crisp writing"—lends itself well to a young audience.<ref>{{Harvnb|Ross|1996|p=210}}</ref>


Judith Robertson and colleagues examine the element of ruthlessness in the story. In their view, Peter Rabbit's qualities such as ruthlessness and defiance allow Potter to speak of her own self-knowledge; this serves both as an outlet for a woman in the strict ], and as a place for her young readers to imagine going to similar extremes.<ref name="Robertson Gritziotis Campbell 2000">{{cite journal | last1=Robertson | first1=Judith P. | last2=Gritziotis | first2=Eugenia | last3=Campbell | first3=Tony | title=The Psychological Uses of Ruthlessness in a Children's Fantasy Tale: Beatrix Potter and The Tale of Peter Rabbit | journal=Changing English | volume=7 | issue=2 | year=2000 | issn=1358-684X | doi=10.1080/13586840050137946 | pages=177–189| s2cid=143714284 }}</ref>
Lear writes that Potter "had in fact created a new form of animal ] in: one in which ] animals behave as real animals with true animal instincts", and a form of fable with anatomically correct illustrations drawn by a scientifically minded artist. She further states Peter Rabbit's nature is familiar to rabbit enthusiasts "and endorsed by those who are not ... because her portrayal speaks to some universal understanding of rabbity behaviour."<ref name="LearP153">{{Harvnb|Lear|2007|p=153}}</ref> She describes the tale as a "perfect marriage of word and image" and "a triumph of fantasy and fact".<ref name="LearP154">{{Harvnb|Lear|2007|pp=154–155}}</ref>
]


'']'' included the book at #19 on their Top 100 Picture Books list in 2012.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://afuse8production.slj.com/2012/07/06/top-100-picture-books-poll-results/ |title=Top 100 Picture Books Poll Results |last=Bird |first=Betsy |date=2012 |work=] |publisher=Media Source Inc.}}</ref>
Carole Scott writes in ''Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit'' that the reader cannot help but identify with rebellious little Peter and his plight as all the illustrations are presented from his low-to-the-ground view, most feature Peter in close-up and within touching distance, and Mr. McGregor is distanced from the reader by always being depicted on the far side of Peter. Scott explains: "This identification dramatically instills fear and tension in the reader, and interacts with the frequently distanced voice of the verbal narrative", sometimes with contradictory effects.<ref name="MackeyP22">{{Harvnb|Mackey|2002|p=22}}</ref> In the verbal narrative and the illustration for the moment when Mr. McGregor attempts to trap Peter under a garden sieve, for example, the verbal narrative presents the murderous intent of Mr. McGregor as a matter-of-fact, everyday occurrence while the illustration presents the desperate moment from the terrified view of a small animal about to die – a view that is reinforced by the birds that take flight to the left and the right.<ref name="MackeyPP22-23">{{Harvnb|Mackey|2002|pp=22–23}}</ref>


== Adaptations ==
Scott writes that Potter is inconsistent in the use of "contradictory effects in the word-picture interaction". For example, in the illustration of Peter standing by the locked door, the verbal narrative describes the scene without the flippancy evident in the moment of the sieve. The inability to overcome obstacles is presented in the verbal narrative with objective matter-of-factness and the statement, “Peter began to cry” is offered without irony or attitude, thus drawing the reader closer to Peter’s emotions and plight. The illustration depicts an unclothed Peter standing upright against the door, one foot upon the other with a tear running from his eye. Without his clothes, Peter is only a small, wild animal but his tears, his emotions, and his human posture intensifies the reader’s identification with him. Here, verbal narrative and illustration work in harmony rather than in disharmony.<ref name="MackeyP26">{{Harvnb|Mackey|2002|p=26}}</ref>
=== Merchandising ===
]


Potter asserted her tales would one day be nursery classics, and part of the "longevity of her books comes from strategy", writes Potter biographer Ruth MacDonald.<ref name="Mac128">{{harvnb|MacDonald|1986|p=128}}</ref> She was the first to exploit the commercial possibilities of her characters and tales; between 1903 and 1905 these included a Peter Rabbit stuffed toy, an unpublished board game, and nursery wallpaper.<ref>{{harvnb|Lear|2007|pp= 172–175}}</ref>
Scott writes that Potter subverts not only her age’s expectations of what it takes to be a good child but subverts the hero genre with its young, objective, rational, resourceful white male who leaves the civilized world to brave obstacles and opponents in the wilderness, and, once his goal is achieved, returns home to grateful welcome and rewards.<ref name="MackeyP28-29">{{Harvnb|Mackey|2002|pp=28–29}}</ref> Peter is quite unlike the traditional hero because "he is small, emotionally driven, easily frightened, and a not very rational animal".<ref name="MackeyP28">{{Harvnb|Mackey|2002|p=28}}</ref> She suggests Potter’s tale has encouraged many generations of children to “self-indulgence, disobedience, transgression of social boundaries and ethics, and assertion of their wild, unpredictable nature against the constrictions of civilized living.”<ref name="MackeyP29">{{Harvnb|Mackey|2002|p=29}}</ref>


== Adaptations == === Book ===
The scholar Margaret Mackey writes that Warne was still attempting to prevent other publishers from printing ''The Tale of Peter Rabbit'' in 1993, despite the failure to protect the copyright 90 years earlier. In her view "the battle has clearly been lost", as multiple editions and formats exist in North America, and some "even in Britain" where the book was still protected at that time<!-- Until 1 January 2014. -->.{{sfn|Mackey|1998|pp=15–24}} Some use both Potter's words and her illustrations, though sometimes too small to read. Warne itself has issued a large-format book, ''The Complete Adventures of Peter Rabbit'', printing several of the original pages "as panels on a larger page". Mackey comments that this at once loses the subtlety of the original's layout and ].{{sfn|Mackey|1998|pp=15–24}} In 1989, Warne further printed ''Scenes from The Tale of Peter Rabbit'' with "five three-dimensional cut-out pictures from the book, tagged with quotations from the story."{{sfn|Mackey|1998|pp=15–24}} Among the seemingly-pirated editions, one by Ottenheimer Publishers in 1993 printed only a selection of the illustrations with the text, with larger but fewer pages. In Mackey's view, "this version is simply an example of diminishment and loss", as the rhythm of the original is dislocated.{{sfn|Mackey|1998|pp=15–24}} Other editions dispense with Potter's text altogether, using a selection of her illustrations. One such is Warne's ''Meet Peter Rabbit'', a board book for babies with five pictures inside and one on the front cover, along with Beatrix Potter's name. The text "barely mention Mr. McGregor."{{sfn|Mackey|1998|pp=15–24}}
In 1971, Peter Rabbit appeared as a character in the ballet film '']'', and, in 1992, the tale was adapted to animation for the ] ], '']''. In 2006, Peter Rabbit was heavily referenced in a biopic about Beatrix Potter entitled ].


==References== === Film ===
In 1938, shortly after the success of '']'', ] became interested in making an animated film based on ''The Tale of Peter Rabbit''. However, in a letter to a friend, Potter wrote that she refused Walt Disney's "scheme to film Peter Rabbit", saying, "I am not very hopeful about the result. They propose to use cartoons; it seems that a succession of figures can be joggled together to give an impression of motion. I don't think the pictures would be satisfactory... I am not troubling myself about it!"<ref>{{cite journal |last=Laws |first=Emma |title=Showing 'What a Woman Has Done': The Beatrix Potter Collections at the V&A|journal=Art Libraries Journal |issn=0307-4722 |year=2007 |volume=32 |issue=1 |pages=25–30 |doi=10.1017/S0307472200014826 |s2cid=184073032}}</ref>
;Footnotes

{{reflist|3}}
In 1935, the story was loosely adapted in the '']'' short film, ''Country Boy''. It shows some modifications in relation to Beatrix Potter's original story, most notably the Rabbit family surname is changed to "Cottontail" and Peter having two brothers and a sister rather than three sisters. In 1971, Peter Rabbit appeared as a character in the ] film '']''. In late 1991, ] aired an animated musical adaptation of ''The Tale of Peter Rabbit'', narrated by ],<ref name="The Tale of Peter Rabbit">{{cite web |url=http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/477043/Tale-of-Peter-Rabbit-The/full-credits.html |title=The Tale of Peter Rabbit |work=] |publisher=] (]) |location=] |access-date=9 October 2016}}</ref> as part of the network's '']'' series, which was later released to VHS by ] under HBO licence.<ref name="Peter Rabbit 1991 (TCM)"></ref> In 1992, the tale was adapted to animation again for the ] ], '']'', along with '']''. In 2006, Peter Rabbit was heavily referenced in a biopic about Beatrix Potter entitled '']''. In December 2012, a new animated children's TV series titled '']'' premiered on ], with a full series run beginning in February 2013.<ref name ="People Magazine">{{cite web |url=http://celebritybabies.people.com/2012/12/13/nickelodeon-premieres-peter-rabbit-with-holiday-special/ |title=Nickelodeon Premieres Peter Rabbit with Holiday Special |work=People Magazine |date= 12 December 2012 |access-date=8 February 2013}}</ref><ref name="PRNewswire">{{cite web|url=https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/adventure-abounds-in-peter-rabbit-nickelodeons-new-animated-preschool-series-premiering-tuesday-feb-19-at-12-pm-etpt-190258311.html|title=Adventure Abounds in Peter Rabbit, Nickelodeon's New Animated Preschool Series Premiering Tuesday, Feb. 19, At 12&nbsp;pm (ET/PT)|work=PR Newswire|date=7 February 2013|access-date=22 October 2018}}</ref>
;Works cited

{{refbegin}}
In February 2018, a live-action/animated feature film titled '']'', directed by ], was released. Voice roles were played by ], ], ], and ], and live action roles played by ], ], and ].<ref>{{cite web|last=Schaffstall|first=Katherine|title='Peter Rabbit': Meet the Voices Behind the Animated Characters|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lists/peter-rabbit-cast-meet-famous-voice-actors-1046661/item/james-corden-peter-rabbit-peter-rabbit-meet-voices-behind-animated-character-1046660|work=]|date=9 February 2018|access-date=15 May 2019}}</ref> ] was released in 2021.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Kroll|first=Justin|date=2019-02-22|title=David Oyelowo Joins the Cast of Sony's 'Peter Rabbit' Sequel (EXCLUSIVE)|url=https://variety.com/2019/film/news/david-oyelowo-peter-rabbit-sequel-1203146201/|access-date=2020-09-21|website=Variety|language=en}}</ref>
* {{Citation |author=Hallinan, Camilla |year=2002 |title=The Ultimate Peter Rabbit: A Visual Guide to the World of Beatrix Potter |location=London (et al.) |publisher=] |isbn=0-7894-8538-9}}

* {{citation |last=Lear |first=Linda |year=2007 |title=Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature |location=New York |publisher=St. Martin's Press |isbn=978-0-312-36934-7}}
== References ==
* {{citation |last=Mackey |first=Margaret |year=2002 |title=Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit: A Children's Classic at 100 |location=Lanham, MD: The Scarecrow Press, Inc. |isbn=0-8108-4197-5}}
=== Footnotes ===
* {{citation |last=Mackey |first=Margaret |year=1998 |title=The Case of Peter Rabbit |location=London |publisher=Routledge |isbn=0-8153-3094-4}}
{{Reflist}}
* {{citation |last=Ross |first=Ramon Royal |year=1996 |title=Storyteller: The Classic That Heralded America's Storytelling Revival |publisher=August House |isbn=978-0874834512}}

* {{citation |last=Waller |first=Philip |year=2006 |title=Writers, Readers, and Reputations |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-820677-1}}
=== Works cited ===
* {{citation |url=http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/cgi/news/release?id=105175 |title=Worker's Press acknowledge Frederick Warne's intellectual property rights |publisher=Prnewswire.co.uk |date=2003-07-10 |accessdate=2009-08-31}}
{{refend}} {{Refbegin}}
<!--* {{cite book |last=Hallinan |first=Camilla |year=2002 |title=The Ultimate Peter Rabbit: A Visual Guide to the World of Beatrix Potter |location=London (et al.) |publisher=] |isbn=0-7894-8538-9}}-->
* {{cite book |last=Lear |first=Linda |year=2007 |title=Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature |location=New York |publisher=St. Martin's Press |isbn=978-0-312-36934-7 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780312369347 }}
* {{cite book |last=Linder |first=Leslie |year=1971 |title=A History of the Writings of Beatrix Potter, including unpublished work |location=London |publisher=Frederick Warne & Co. |isbn=0-7232-1334-8 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofwriting0000lind }}
* {{cite book |last=MacDonald |first=Ruth K. |year=1986 |title=Beatrix Potter |location=Boston |publisher=Twayne Publishers |isbn=0-8057-6917-X |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/beatrixpotter0000macd }}
* {{cite book |last=Mackey |first=Margaret |year=2002 |title=Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit: A Children's Classic at 100 |location=Lanham, MD |publisher=The Scarecrow Press, Inc. |isbn=0-8108-4197-5 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/beatrixpotterspe0000unse }}
* {{cite book |last=Mackey |first=Margaret |year=1998 |title=The Case of Peter Rabbit |location=London |publisher=Routledge |isbn=0-8153-3094-4}}
<!--* {{cite book |last=Ross |first=Ramon Royal |year=1996 |title=Storyteller: The Classic That Heralded America's Storytelling Revival |publisher=August House |isbn=978-0-87483-451-2 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/storytellerclass0000ross }}-->
* {{cite book |last=Potter |first=Beatrix |author-link=Beatrix Potter |title=The Tale of Peter Rabbit |publisher=] |date=October 1901 |oclc=12533701 }}
<!--* {{cite book |last=Waller |first=Philip |year=2006 |title=Writers, Readers, and Reputations |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-820677-1 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/writersreadersre0000wall }}-->
{{Refend}}


==External links== ==External links==
{{Wikisource|The Tale of Peter Rabbit|''The Tale of Peter Rabbit''}}
{{wikisource}}
{{Commons category}}
*{{gutenberg|no=14838|name=The Tale of Peter Rabbit}}
* {{StandardEbooks|Standard Ebooks URL=https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/beatrix-potter/short-fiction|Display Name=An omnibus of Potter's children's tales|noitalics=true}}
*''The Tale of Peter Rabbit'' at ]
{{Gutenberg|no=14838|name=The Tale of Peter Rabbit}}
*''The Tale of Peter Rabbit'' at ] Libraries (])
* ''The Tale of Peter Rabbit'' at ]
* : A website maintained by Potter's first publisher Frederick Warne & Co.
* {{librivox book | title=The Tale of Peter Rabbit | author=Beatrix Potter}}
* ''The Tale of Peter Rabbit'' at ] Libraries.
* : A website maintained by Potter's first publisher Frederick Warne & Co.


{{Beatrix Potter}} {{Beatrix Potter}}
{{The Tale of Peter Rabbit}}

{{good article}} {{Authority control}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Tale of Peter Rabbit, The}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Tale of Peter Rabbit, The}}
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Latest revision as of 07:06, 21 July 2024

1901 book by Beatrix Potter

The Tale of Peter Rabbit
First edition, October 1902
AuthorBeatrix Potter
IllustratorBeatrix Potter
LanguageEnglish
GenreChildren's literature
PublisherFrederick Warne & Co.
Publication dateOctober 1902
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Media typePrint (Hardcover)
Pages56
OCLC12533701
Followed byThe Tale of Squirrel Nutkin 
TextThe Tale of Peter Rabbit at Wikisource

The Tale of Peter Rabbit is a children's book written and illustrated by Beatrix Potter that follows mischievous and disobedient young Peter Rabbit as he gets into, and is chased around, the garden of Mr. McGregor. He escapes and returns home to his mother, who puts him to bed after offering him chamomile tea. The tale was written for five-year-old Noel Moore, the son of Potter's former governess, Annie Carter Moore, in 1893. It was revised and privately printed by Potter in 1901 after several publishers' rejections, but was printed in a trade edition by Frederick Warne & Co. in 1902. The book was a success, and multiple reprints were issued in the years immediately following its debut. It has been translated into 36 languages, and with 45 million copies sold it is one of the best-selling books in history.

Since its release, the book has generated considerable merchandise for both children and adults, including toys, dishes, foods, clothing, and videos. Potter was one of the first to be responsible for such merchandise when she patented a Peter Rabbit doll in 1903 and followed it almost immediately with a Peter Rabbit board game. Peter Rabbit has remained popular amongst children for more than a century and continues to be adapted into new book editions, television programmes, and films.

Scholars of literature have commented on themes in the book, such as its radical quality, Peter Rabbit's rebellious nature, and the story's ruthlessness, stating that these offer readers a chance to imagine going to similar extremes.

Context

In 1893, Beatrix Potter heard that the 5-year-old son of a friend, Annie Moore, was convalescing after scarlet fever. Potter decided to entertain the boy, Noel, with an illustrated letter. With her pet rabbit named Peter Piper in mind, she wrote a very short story "about four little rabbits", and illustrated it in the letter. Further letters about other animals followed, until in 1900, Annie Moore proposed to Potter that the illustrated letters could be made into books.

Plot

Peter Rabbit, having disobediently entered the garden, meets Mr McGregor.

The story focuses on Peter, a young rabbit, and his family. Peter's mother, Mrs. Rabbit, intends to go shopping for the day and allows Peter and her other three children, Peter's sisters: Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cotton-tail to go playing. She tells them they can go anywhere they like, but not to enter the vegetable garden of an old man named Mr. McGregor, whose wife, Mrs. McGregor, put their father in a pie after he entered and got caught by Mr. McGregor. Peter's three younger sisters obediently stay away from Mr. McGregor's garden, choosing to go down the lane and gather blackberries, but Peter enters Mr. McGregor's garden in the hopes of eating some vegetables.

Mrs. Rabbit puts Peter to bed, and gives him chamomile tea to cure his stomach-ache.

Peter eats more than is good for him and goes looking for parsley to cure his stomach ache. Peter is seen by Mr. McGregor, who chases Peter. Peter gets caught in a net and three friendly sparrows comfort him. Peter manages to escape Mr. McGregor just in time, but loses his blue jacket and shoes while running off. He hides in a greenhouse, ultimately jumping into a watering can for protection. Unfortunately there is water inside the watering can so Peter gets wet and sneezes, alerting Mr. McGregor. When Mr. McGregor gets tired running after Peter and resumes his work, Peter tries to escape, but is completely lost in the huge garden. Peter tries getting a young mouse to help him, however she is collecting food for her family and cannot help. Peter also notices a cat sitting by a pond. Peter considers asking for directions, but ultimately decides not to, having been warned about cats by his cousin. However, Peter sees that Mr. McGregor is "gone" and it buys him some time to escape to the gate. Peter sees from a distance the gate where he entered the garden and heads for it, despite being noticed and chased by Mr. McGregor again. With difficulty, he wriggles under the gate, and escapes from the garden. His abandoned clothing is used by Mr. McGregor to dress a scarecrow.

After returning home late, a sick Peter is reprimanded by his mother for losing his shoes and his jacket (the second jacket and shoes he has lost in a fortnight). Peter's mother puts him to bed early without supper. To cure his stomach-ache, Mrs. Rabbit gives Peter a teaspoon of chamomile tea. Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cotton-tail, meanwhile, enjoy a delicious dinner of milk, bread and blackberries.

Characters

  • Peter: Peter is a naughty rabbit who disobeys his mother. (He is the eldest of the four little rabbits.)
  • Flopsy: Flopsy is Peter's sister who is a good rabbit. (She is the second youngest of the four siblings.)
  • Mopsy: Mopsy is a rabbit and Peter's sister who always obeys her mother. (She is the second oldest of the four.)
  • Cotton-tail: Cotton-tail is a sweet rabbit and Peter's sibling. As her name says, she is soft as cotton. (She is the youngest of the four.)
  • Mr. McGregor: Mr. McGregor owns a beautiful garden that is filled with delicious fruits and vegetables. Peter's father was put into a pie by Mrs. McGregor.

Publication history

Cover of the first edition, privately published in 1901 with monochrome illustrations

The Tale of Peter Rabbit was first published in the United Kingdom by Frederick Warne & Co. as a small hardback book in October 1901; Potter created both the text and the illustrations. The first edition had a print run of 250, with monochrome illustrations. The demand was greater and she needed to print 200 more. Warne published the first full-colour edition in 1902. The blocks for the illustrations and text were sent to the printer Edmund Evans for engraving, and Potter adjusted the page proofs. The book was soon on sale in shops in London, including Harrods department store, accompanied by the world's first licensed character, a soft toy of Peter Rabbit. By December 1903 the book had sold 50,000 copies. The book's success prompted Warne to obtain more stories from Potter, starting in 1903 with both The Tailor of Gloucester and The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin.

The book has since been reprinted many times, and after 100 years had never gone out of print. Warne did not copyright the book when it was published in the United States; unlicensed editions of the book were produced, the first published by Henry Altemus Company in 1904. The book has been translated into 36 languages. Over 45 million copies have been sold, making it one of the best-selling books in history.

Reception

Scholars have identified a variety of themes in The Tale of Peter Rabbit. Eliza Dresang suggests that the book is "radical" in multiple ways. The first of these is its child-centred size, easy to hold. It is radical, too, in its nonlinear quality, with the images not immediately beside the text they illustrate (and sometimes before that text), and with sentences that often start with the result, and end with the actor, as in "But round the end of a cucumber frame, whom should he meet but Mr. McGregor!" The meaning, too, has more than one layer, not least in the dressed animals, which are at once experienced by the reader as animals and as humans. And the book's start, with the death of Peter Rabbit's father, is a radical innovation for a book for small children.

Katie Mullins describes Peter's rebellious nature, which is seen in the book's first dialogue, when Mrs. Rabbit forbids Peter to go into Mr. McGregor's garden. Mullins comments that the garden is stated to be dangerous, as it is where Peter's father met his death. She cites Maria Nikolajeva and Carole Scott's description of Peter as a "naughty boy who values his independence and whose desire to transgress boundaries far outweighs his mother's warnings or his personal safety".

Judith Robertson and colleagues examine the element of ruthlessness in the story. In their view, Peter Rabbit's qualities such as ruthlessness and defiance allow Potter to speak of her own self-knowledge; this serves both as an outlet for a woman in the strict Victorian era, and as a place for her young readers to imagine going to similar extremes.

School Library Journal included the book at #19 on their Top 100 Picture Books list in 2012.

Adaptations

Merchandising

Peter Rabbit feasts in the forbidden garden.

Potter asserted her tales would one day be nursery classics, and part of the "longevity of her books comes from strategy", writes Potter biographer Ruth MacDonald. She was the first to exploit the commercial possibilities of her characters and tales; between 1903 and 1905 these included a Peter Rabbit stuffed toy, an unpublished board game, and nursery wallpaper.

Book

The scholar Margaret Mackey writes that Warne was still attempting to prevent other publishers from printing The Tale of Peter Rabbit in 1993, despite the failure to protect the copyright 90 years earlier. In her view "the battle has clearly been lost", as multiple editions and formats exist in North America, and some "even in Britain" where the book was still protected at that time. Some use both Potter's words and her illustrations, though sometimes too small to read. Warne itself has issued a large-format book, The Complete Adventures of Peter Rabbit, printing several of the original pages "as panels on a larger page". Mackey comments that this at once loses the subtlety of the original's layout and book design. In 1989, Warne further printed Scenes from The Tale of Peter Rabbit with "five three-dimensional cut-out pictures from the book, tagged with quotations from the story." Among the seemingly-pirated editions, one by Ottenheimer Publishers in 1993 printed only a selection of the illustrations with the text, with larger but fewer pages. In Mackey's view, "this version is simply an example of diminishment and loss", as the rhythm of the original is dislocated. Other editions dispense with Potter's text altogether, using a selection of her illustrations. One such is Warne's Meet Peter Rabbit, a board book for babies with five pictures inside and one on the front cover, along with Beatrix Potter's name. The text "barely mention Mr. McGregor."

Film

In 1938, shortly after the success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Walt Disney became interested in making an animated film based on The Tale of Peter Rabbit. However, in a letter to a friend, Potter wrote that she refused Walt Disney's "scheme to film Peter Rabbit", saying, "I am not very hopeful about the result. They propose to use cartoons; it seems that a succession of figures can be joggled together to give an impression of motion. I don't think the pictures would be satisfactory... I am not troubling myself about it!"

In 1935, the story was loosely adapted in the Merrie Melodies short film, Country Boy. It shows some modifications in relation to Beatrix Potter's original story, most notably the Rabbit family surname is changed to "Cottontail" and Peter having two brothers and a sister rather than three sisters. In 1971, Peter Rabbit appeared as a character in the ballet film The Tales of Beatrix Potter. In late 1991, HBO aired an animated musical adaptation of The Tale of Peter Rabbit, narrated by Carol Burnett, as part of the network's Storybook Musicals series, which was later released to VHS by Family Home Entertainment under HBO licence. In 1992, the tale was adapted to animation again for the BBC anthology series, The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends, along with The Tale of Benjamin Bunny. In 2006, Peter Rabbit was heavily referenced in a biopic about Beatrix Potter entitled Miss Potter. In December 2012, a new animated children's TV series titled Peter Rabbit premiered on Nickelodeon, with a full series run beginning in February 2013.

In February 2018, a live-action/animated feature film titled Peter Rabbit, directed by Will Gluck, was released. Voice roles were played by James Corden, Daisy Ridley, Margot Robbie, and Elizabeth Debicki, and live action roles played by Domhnall Gleeson, Rose Byrne, and Sam Neill. A sequel was released in 2021.

References

Footnotes

  1. "Peter Rabbit: the tale of 'The Tale'". Victoria and Albert Museum. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
  2. Potter 1901.
  3. ^ Eccleshare, Julia (22 April 2002). "Peter Rabbit Turns 100". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
  4. Bidgood, Jess (19 January 2024). ""Overlooked No More: Beatrix Potter, Author of 'The Tale of Peter Rabbit'"". The New York Times. Retrieved 24 March 2024.
  5. Lear 2007, p. 152.
  6. ^ Dresang, Eliza (2002). Mackey, Margaret (ed.). Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit: A Children's Classic at 100. The Children's Literature Association and The Scarecrow Press. pp. 99–116.
  7. Potter, Beatrix. "The Tale of Peter Rabbit". WorldCat. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
  8. Linder 1971, p. 109
  9. Mackey 2002, p. 33
  10. "Worker's Press acknowledge Frederick Warne's intellectual property rights". Prnewswire.co.uk. London: Frederick Warne and Co. 10 July 2003. Archived from the original on 15 August 2017. Retrieved 31 August 2009.
  11. Carpenter, Humphrey; Prichard, Mari (1985). The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature. Oxford University Press. pp. 423–424.
  12. Nikolajeva, Maria; Scott, Carole (2006). How Picturebooks Work. Routledge. pp. 93–94.
  13. Mullins, Katie (2009). "Crossing Boundaries and Forming Identity in Beatrix Potter's The Tale of Peter Rabbit and The Tale of Benjamin Bunny". The Looking Glass: New Perspectives on Children's Literature. 13 (1).
  14. Robertson, Judith P.; Gritziotis, Eugenia; Campbell, Tony (2000). "The Psychological Uses of Ruthlessness in a Children's Fantasy Tale: Beatrix Potter and The Tale of Peter Rabbit". Changing English. 7 (2): 177–189. doi:10.1080/13586840050137946. ISSN 1358-684X. S2CID 143714284.
  15. Bird, Betsy (2012). "Top 100 Picture Books Poll Results". School Library Journal. Media Source Inc.
  16. MacDonald 1986, p. 128
  17. Lear 2007, pp. 172–175
  18. ^ Mackey 1998, pp. 15–24.
  19. Laws, Emma (2007). "Showing 'What a Woman Has Done': The Beatrix Potter Collections at the V&A". Art Libraries Journal. 32 (1): 25–30. doi:10.1017/S0307472200014826. ISSN 0307-4722. S2CID 184073032.
  20. "The Tale of Peter Rabbit". Turner Classic Movies. Atlanta: Turner Broadcasting System (Time Warner). Retrieved 9 October 2016.
  21. Peter Rabbit 1991 (TCM)
  22. "Nickelodeon Premieres Peter Rabbit with Holiday Special". People Magazine. 12 December 2012. Retrieved 8 February 2013.
  23. "Adventure Abounds in Peter Rabbit, Nickelodeon's New Animated Preschool Series Premiering Tuesday, Feb. 19, At 12 pm (ET/PT)". PR Newswire. 7 February 2013. Retrieved 22 October 2018.
  24. Schaffstall, Katherine (9 February 2018). "'Peter Rabbit': Meet the Voices Behind the Animated Characters". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 15 May 2019.
  25. Kroll, Justin (22 February 2019). "David Oyelowo Joins the Cast of Sony's 'Peter Rabbit' Sequel (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved 21 September 2020.

Works cited

External links

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