Today's topic: A writer! Which one? One and only Beatrix Potter, no not Harry Potter, tho there are some similarities between them, like they are both british and they are both magical!
So Beatrix Potter was born in London on 28th of July 1866. She grew up as a "proper" victorian lady, but she knew she will never be that!
So she and her mother never understood each other, her mother was more of a "lady" than she was, if I may say that! Beatrix was always adventurous, she liked to get dirty sometimes in the garden she liked to explore the woods and she LOVED animals! She was a true Scottish soul! But she could do that in London :/
She, her brother Bertram, mother, father and all the servants went to the most beautiful place in England, no not the Buckingham palace, but to Lake District in Cambria in every late spring. Children Beatrix and Bertram had a lot of work there, they went into the woods, they were chasing the animals, but that wasn't enough for the little Beatrix she wanted to remember every moment, every view, so as her father once did, Beatrix started to sketch, draw and paint! And she was very good! Of course that wasn't proper to go out and paint so her mother wasn't very excited about that, but her father was happy to see her daughter paint and draw, so he arranged painting lessons for her. But she wasn't that much into a still life or even oil paintings, of course she had to paint that for her learning, but that wasn't her favourite thing to do, she and her brother had a lot of animals, and that wasn't really common for children to have, but they had them, birds, mises, hedgehogs, even a bat onces. She named them all, and she really liked to draw them! That was her true passion! And every night before she and her brother went to sleep, she told a story about one of the animals, they had. You wouldn't believe what kind of stories that were, the imagination she had!
On year in Lake District where they were staying she met a friend, farmers son if I'm right (what of course wasn't that proper for a young girl), but he showed her around the farm and met her woth the animals they had on a farm. There was that duck, that didn't lay eggs, she was very strange, but sweet at the same time, and it wasn't that we didn't lay them it was that she didn't lay them there, she liked to wonder around the farm and she made her nest on the meadow. They thought it was because of other ducks or maybe other animals that ate her eggs and that stayed in Beatrix's mind.
When she was cca. 20 years old, she was lonely, her brother wasn't there and she didn't like to hang woth other women, so her old guverness Miss Carter that became Mrs Moore had four kids, and Beatrix liked to visit them and let them play with her rabbit that she named Peter. They became really good friends! She was telling them stories about Peter rabbit and other animals, but when she couldn't visit them she wrote to them and her stories were now on papers and children could enjoy them! In 1893 she wrote to little Neal that was ill most of the times, so she liked so cheer him up with writting latters and the most famouse story that she wrote The Tale Of Peter Rabbit, was first written for the little ill Neal.
Then she knew that children don't like the tales that are written in those old books with heavy typography and no pictures/ illustrations in it, so she started to write tales from the animals she studied and the stories that she heard from people in Lake District, but when it came to publishing her books there was a problem, companies didn't publish that much of children books, because there wasn't that much interest of buying them, so she was unseccessful and she got rejected a lot, until she came to Frederick Warne & Co. Well at first they of course didn't want to help her, until older brothers remembered that a younger sibling wants to work in the comapny too, so why not give him this failier and let him see, that the work is not as easy as it seems. So mr. Norman Warne (the younger brother) came into the picture, he was very excited about the project and he loved the work, the art of Beatrix Potter, so he published her "little" book, that soon became the best seller, so he asked if she had any other stories and this is how it begun the beautiful collaboration between an author and a publisher, that turned soon into love :) (butterflies!!!) Her mother wasn't up for it, cuz he wasn't rich and he wasn't very suitable, but Beatrix became a well known author and she had her own money. But...(everyone hates this but!) Norman got very ill and soon, he was gone. Beatrix was devastated, she couldn't look at London with the same eyes, now it was the darkest place on earth full of disappointment, sadness and madness, she had to leave! So she packed her things leave her mother and father behind and went to start over in Lake District in the velley called Near Sawrey! While she was looking for a great cottage that she could live in, she met her old friend from the farm in the childhood again Mr. William Heelis! Norman's sister Millie visited her several times, to help her get over the death of her fiance. She thought she will never work again, but there she found her peace and inspiration! Pigs, cats, ducks, foxes, birds were all around her and the stories went on and on and on, until all kids from around England and soon the world knew her, even her mother was proud! Soon she got very close with an old friend Mr. William Heelis and she married him in 1913.
All her propery she left to the country, so it could be saved - reserved for future generations, like her stories in a kid's head! It's still the same as it was when she walked around it, when she went out to paint or get an idea for a new story!
She is now one of the most popular and beloved authors for kids, her stories are not just beautiful, charming and magical, but are very educational for the children as for adultes!
BTW there is a film about her called Miss Potter! It is just beautiful for kids and parents! If you haven't seen it go and get it!!! The role of Beatrix Potter is played by the wonderful and always charming Renee Zellweger
Hope I didn't mess up any of the biography if I did really sorry for that you learned something new and if you find yourself anywhere near the bookshop or a library go get one of her books and you'll se what am I talking about!
And if you have your favourite tale of her's you can share it down in the comments! Mine is
The Tale of Pigling Bland
