Customer Reviews

The Tale of Tom Kitten (Potter)

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The Tale of Tom Kitten is Beatrix Potter at her best. It is certainly one of our family favorites. This is the story of three kittens all dressed in their best clothes and set out to play. They struggle to keep their clothes on only to lose them. They meet three ducks along the way who waddle off with the poorly fitted clothes. When the kittens return home their mother sends them upstairs while she hosts a tea party. Of course they cause a ruckus disturbing the "dignity and repose" of the party. The book ends with the ducks still searching for the clothes at the bottom of a pond. What makes Beatrix Potter so wonderful is her delightful vocablary that stretches a childs intellect. There is a mutual respect between Potter and the reader. Having drawn and painted animals and plant life since a child she is a master of anthropomorphisim, the giving of human qualities to animals or objects. Her delicate watercolors are perfectly suited to the playfullness of the story. This is a classic that should be a part of every child's library.

'The Tale Of Tom Kitten' sees Beatrix Potter at her most fey. Three young kittens muck about in the garden, tormenting their neighbouring creatures, and generally being boisterous-but-nice kids. Their class-conscious mother (very few fathers in Potter's world) is having relatives around for tea, and gives her children unwelcome baths and brushings down, before making them wear the most appallingly naff Sundaywear. Unfortunately, Tom's been eating one too many pork pies, and bursts out of his pale blue two-piece, looking rather seedy.

The charm of this story lies in the infectious playfulness of the children, their universally-understandable indifference to their elders' desire for 'respectability', and the quaint evocation of an Edwardian farmstead.

For some reason, I missed out on Beatrix Potter as a child so I rectified that omission by searching for the original and authorized editions of her books, illustrated by her own hand. My two favorites concern the adventures of Tom Kitten and his two sisters, Mittens and Moppet: "They had dear little fur coats of their own; and they tumbled about the doorstep and played in the dust."

Unfortunately, their mother, Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit (we never meet their father), interrupts the kittens' dusty idyll to wash and dress them because she is expecting company for tea. Tom Kitten has put on quite a bit of weight since the last time he wore his suit, and he bursts all of his buttons. After his mum sews them back on, she turns her three progeny out into the garden and admonishes them to stay clean.

Well, you can imagine how that turned out. Not only did they lose their mittens, they lost Everything. Mum had to lock them into their bedroom and inform her guests that her children had the measles (not precisely the truth.)

If you would like to pursue the further adventures of Tom Kitten, Mittens, and Moppet, read The Tale of Samuel Whiskers or The Roly-Poly Pudding (Potter 23 Tales).

An all too familiar tale that any child can relate to: mother makes kids dress up nice for company, kids get dirty and are then made to stay in their room. However, the tale isn't told in such a dry sense. Quite the opposite actually, and done in such a short amount of words that the reader gets the feeling that no words are wasted (well, too the adult reader anyway). In other words, the writing is outstanding, to say the least.

This story introduces many animal characters that I'm sure your son or daughter will love. Although not a lot is said about these characters in great detail, the innocent sense of childhood serenity is priceless in this classic tale that has endured for many years.

Darien Summers, author of The Mischievous Hare, a children's book. The Mischievous Hare