Fantasy: The Tales of Peter Rabbit

Title: The Tales of Peter Rabbit
Author and Illustrator : Beatrix Potter 
Genre: Fantasy (Animal Fantasy)
Major AwardsLewis Carroll Shelf Award (1958) 
Age Group: 5-9 years old

The Tales of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter, is a fun “hare” raising story, that teaches kids the importance of listening to their parents in the adorable story of a little rabbit name Peter. The Tales of Peter Rabbit is about a mother and her 4 little rabbits Flopsy, Mopsy, Cotton-Tail, and Peter. One day while Mrs. Rabbit went into town to run some errands she told the 4 little rabbits that they could go to the fields and down the lane, but not to Mr. McGregor’s yard. Mrs. Rabbit didn’t want her little rabbits to go into Mr. McGregor’s yard because Mr. Rabbit had an accident in Mr. McGregor’s yard and was “put into a pie by Mrs. McGregor.” While Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cotton-Tail picked blackberries, Peter did the exact opposite of what his mother said and went into McGregor’s yard. Peter ate all different kinds of freshly grown vegetables from Mr. McGregor’s yard; he ate so much it made his stomach hurt. While he was in the garden, Peter ran into Mr. McGregor and began to run as fast as he could to get away from Mr. McGregor. Peter was so frazzled that he didn’t remember which way was home and had to go through a very stressful and suspenseful journey to get out of Mr. McGregor’s yard. Peter eventually made it out of the yard and made it home safely, but he had lost all his clothes and became sick and didn’t get to share in the food that Ms. Rabbit had made the little rabbits.
The Tales of Peter Rabbit is a nice book that would make a wonderful edition to any Kindergarten- 4th grade classroom library. From the story to the illustrations, to the size of the book itself, indicates the book was created for young readers. When integrating this book into the classroom I believe that The Tales of Peter Rabbit would be a wonderful book to introduce the elements of a story to students. After reading the book once for interest in class, and discussing the elements of a story, the book can be used to give the students examples of the different elements of a story. For example, students could write and draw the setting of the book, write and draw the main characters, along with the rest of the story elements. Through this activity, students will be able to make the connection between the concept and the text, which in turn will help them to understand the story more in depth.

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