The Tale of Benjamin Bunny

Benjamin Bunny is a curious and bold young rabbit. When his cousin, Peter Rabbit, loses his clothes in Mr. McGregor's garden, Benjamin and Peter have quite the adventure retrieving them.

When Beatrix Potter (1866--1943) was growing up in England, she did not go to a regular school. Instead, she stayed at home and was educated by a governess. Beatrix didn't have many playmates, other than her brother, but she had numerous pets, including birds, mice, lizards, and snakes. She enjoyed drawing her pets, and they later served as inspiration for her books. As a young girl, Beatrix enjoyed going for walks in the country. She began drawing the animals and plants she saw. For several years, she also kept a secret journal, written in her own special code. The journal's code was not understood until after Beatrix died. In 1893, when Potter was twenty-seven years old, she wrote a story for a little boy who was sick. That story became The Tale of Peter Rabbit. In 1902, the book was published and featured illustrations drawn by Potter herself. Her next book was The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin, which was published in 1903. Potter went on to write twenty-three books, all of which were easy for children to read. When Potter was in her forties, she bought a place called Hill Top Farm in England. She began breeding sheep and became a respected farmer. She was concerned about the farmland and preserving natural places. When she died, Potter left all of her property, about 4,000 acres (1,600 hectares), to England's National Trust. This land is now part of the Lake District National Park. Today, the National Trust manages the Beatrix Potter Gallery, which displays her original book illustrations.

Drawing from the time she could hold her first crayon, Wendy Rasmussen grew up on a farm in southern New Jersey surrounded by the animals and things that often appear in her work. Rasmussen studied both biology and art in college. Today, she illustrates children's books as well as medical and natural-science books. Rasmussen lives in Buck's County, Pennsylvania, with her black Labrador Caley and her cat Josephine. When not in her studio, Rasmussen can usually be found somewhere in the garden or kayaking on the Delaware River.