Remembering Peter Rabbit

 

April 15, 2021



Recently, while visiting a Lincoln book store, I found a display of children’s books in a prominent position near the checkout stand. One of the books was a Peter Rabbit book. I almost bought it on impulse.

Growing up in Superior, I had a lot adults read books to me until I learned to read myself. There were a number of books about Peter Rabbit and I had them all. I particularly remember my mother’s sister, Aunt Laura Koon, who would spend the holidays with us, reading me the Peter Rabbit series. She was an elementary school teacher at College View Elementary School (now Lincoln’s Calvert Elementary School.) Because reading to students was part of her work, I particularly enjoyed hearing Aunt Laura read to me. I don’t remember all of the story lines, but it seems Peter was always going into Mr. McGregor’s garden and having to run to escape Mr. McGregor’s rath caused by all the greens Peter nibbled while visiting the garden.

Another group of children’s books were in the news recently—those by Dr. Seuss. I don’t remember reading them as a child, but by the time I had children of my own, I was regularly reading “The Cat in the Hat,” to them. Some find several of his books offensive by today’s standards, but I’m thinking they should remain available. They represent a period of writing when the authors were perhaps not even aware of racial stereoptyping in their stories. Political correctness can cause the loss of some otherwise good literature.

 

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