Weekly date with dear daughter, Ilaya, with cookies and Beatrix Potter to accompany us.
I realized she prefers being read to without any of her siblings lingering. She wanted her *own* story and not those of her brothers. So I pulled her out from their usual story time with Tatay, and I read to her Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of Peter Rabbit.
I went on and read, not understanding how it could be a delight to children until I saw the reaction of Ilaya to the simple story about Flopsy, Mopsy, Cotton Tail and their naughty brother, Peter Rabbit. It was love at first sight for dear daughter. I did not grow up with these books. Didn’t understand its beauty until I saw how my daughter reacted to the story and to each picture delicately hand painted by Potter herself.
“The endless succession of story-books, scenes, shifting like a panorama before the child’s vision, is a mental and moral dissipation; he gets nothing to grow upon, or is allowed no leisure to digest what he gets.” – CM
I mentioned how my eldest son knows A.A. Milne’s characters by heart. For a time, these were all I read to him. Just like her brother, she now has her own set of animal friends that she knows by heart. I believe that there is much value for younger kids to develop a relationship with particular stories or books rather than bombard them with too much. “…he gets nothing to grow upon, or is allowed no leisure to digest what he gets.”
**There are 23 tales to enjoy. I suggest buying this version like the small book above. It’s meant for little hands to hold and little fingers to flip the pages.