Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly
``Peter Rabbit lives with his mother and sisters under the root of a big fir-tree. Peter wears a blue coat with brass buttons for going out. Naughty Peter likes to eat lettuces and radishes from Mr. McGregor's garden. But he doesn't like his mother's medicine!'' Accompanied by five of Potter's illustrations, each of these board books is designed to introduce toddlers to Peter and the other Potter favorites. However, the text is as flat as Jemima Puddleduck's feet and quite long for a concept book. These four titles may have fared better had the real tales been kept intact, or if the characters and incidents from the books were merely labeled. Parents will probably prefer the originals. (6 months-3 years)
School Library Journal
PreS - Gr 3 These full texts of three favorites ( Jeremy Fisher and The Tailor of Gloucester as well as the title Tale), with spacious format, attractive design and commonplace contemporary pictures would be acceptable except in comparison with the originals. In her tiny, still charming watercolors Beatrix Potter was meticulous in the acccuracy of natural details which combined to give a perfect sense of real places. Delacre dedicates this volume to Potter as ``an example and an inspiration,'' but the overall effect is bland, and there is a sloppy lack of attention to accuracy: a three-toed cat, a stuffed animal rabbit in which an arm seems to grow out of the side of its head, underwater bubbles traveling down and then up. Of course an artist may reillustrate a classic, but a formidable original demands a formidable reinterpretation. Potter's beautiful, impeccable illustrations are a perfect match for her finely honed prose. Our children deserve no less. Joanna Rudge Long, formerly at New York Public Library
