TITLE: BEATRIX POTTER & THE UNFORTUNATE TALE OF A BORROWED GUINEA PIG
BY: DEBORAH HOPKINSON AND CHARLOTTE VOAKE
AVAILABLE FROM: RANDOMHOUSEKIDS.COM
AGES: 4-8
Reviewer: Ms. E
She thought at the beginning it sounded like it was going to be a fun read. She wasn't sure who BEATRIX POTTER was, so I started to explain to her everything I knew about her and luckily there is a P.S. (Author's Note) in the back of the book who explained who she was. She was able to find out that Ms. Potter was very famous and the creator of all these animal tales that both children and adults love. She found out that Ms. Potter and her little brother loved animals and kept quite the "zoo" growing up. She finally found out that Ms. Potter, in her later years, bought land to preserve "traditional farms" and then donated four thousand acres to the "Great Britain's National Trust." Today her home is preserved as a museum.
As for the story, she enjoyed it, but was a little sad with some of the things that happened to the animals. I asked her if she understood why things like that happen and she replied "because they had so many, it was hard to keep track of them." I asked her if she thought that Beatrix and her brother Bertram loved animals and she replied "oh yes, they did their best to take care of them."
I'm not going to give away the story as I think that you all should read it to find out all about Beatrix Potter and her animals and the lessons learned. I think for older kids 8+ it would be a good read. Ms. E is a little younger than that and there were many words that she hadn't learned yet, but was able to sound some of them out. She understood the story (wants to read more Beatrix Potter books) and has a little understanding of who this great woman was.
For younger children, you might have a lot more explaining to do about the story and what is happening and would have to probably do most of the reading. But I imagine that they would enjoy it as well.
Finally, the illustrations are WONDERFUL! So much detail and they go so well with the story.
If you want to purchase this book you can head over to randomhousekids.com (just click that link, it'll take you right there) to buy. It was just released earlier this month. Or, head to the library and check the book out. I know you and yours will enjoy it as much as Ms. E and I did.
Disclaimer:
I received a copy of this book, free of charge, for Ms. E to do a book review on. All thoughts/opinions expressed are our own. Many thanks to Ms. McGinty and Random House Children's Books for allowing us to do a review.
