The Great Big Treasury of Beatrix Potter

Peter Rabbit slips under a garden gate despite his mother's warning, turning a meal of vegetables into a frightened scramble among beds, nets and watering cans. This collection by Beatrix Potter brings together short children's stories about rabbits, mice, cats, squirrels and other creatures. Its contents include The Tailor of Gloucester, The Tale of Benjamin Bunny and The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle, giving readers several small worlds to explore in a single volume.

Household objects matter as much as fields and woods. A poor tailor prepares fine clothes for the Mayor of Gloucester while worrying about his dwindling supplies. Elsewhere, Tom Kitten's encounter with two rats turns baking equipment into a source of danger. Potter's precise attention to jackets, silk, cupboards and food makes the animal characters' troubles easy to picture. The stories suit reading aloud, with brisk conversations and sudden mishaps that mix domestic comedy with moments of real alarm.