Seems I left one of the most influential picture-book creators off last week's blog: Beatrix Potter. That's okay, because I think she deserves her own place in Recommended Reads. And not just because, growing up, I'd pull down the worn copies of Peter Rabbit and other tales so often demanding them to be read to me that my grandmother moved them up a shelf or two.

Despite what some may think, Beatrix Potter was no sentimental, shrinking violet. She was an independent, self-taught and accomplished artist and naturalist -- and a wildly imaginative storyteller.

Helen Beatrix Potter was born on July 28, 1866 in London. So she came of age in Victorian England, which is where people probably get the idea of her fustiness.

It's true she spent most of her formative years alone in the third-floor nursery of the family home in Bolton Gardens. Her only sibling, Bertram, was born six years after she was. But he wasn't much for a playmate, since he was quickly dispatched to boarding school.

But Potter never minded the solitude. To be sure, she was shy around adults. But she used that alone time to cultivate her interests in the natural world, and she always felt she related best to children and animals. She kept a small menagerie, including tame rabbits, mice and a family of snails.

When the family vacationed in Scotland, little Beatrix and Betram would go on collecting expeditions, gathering toadstools, snake skins, and the carcasses of dead animals. If the carcasses could be skinned, these budding scientists would do it unflinchingly. If not, they would boil the carcasses and carefully preserve and restructure the bones.

They also sketched everything they collected and observed. Potter's drawings were remarkably true to life, though occasional flights of fancy would appear in her notebooks. She'd add a muffler around the neck of a newt, or give a rabbit a little velvet jacket and patent leather shoes.

Potter frequently illustrated her letters, too. And this brings us to the interesting story behind The Tale of Peter Rabbit. Potter remained close to her governess, even after she'd long outstripped the governess intellectually. The governess had a son named Noel, and he was ill with scarlet fever when Potter wrote to him a curious letter:

"My dear Noel," she begins on September 4, 1893.
"I don't know what to write to you, so I shall tell you a story about four little rabbits whose names were Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail and Peter. They lived with their mother in a sand bank under the root of a big fir tree."

And so begins the classic story of a naughty bunny who sneaks into Mr. McGregor's garden and eats himself sick on carrots, cabbages, and French string beans. He narrowly escapes being made into a pie. But all is well in the end, though Peter must go to bed without the blackberries and milk his sisters get to enjoy.

While children almost always love her stories, in my mind, you're never too old to read Beatrix Potter. In fact, looking back at them as an adult can prove an interesting experience. There's lots of narrative tension and mad-cap humor, such as in The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin. And the absurdity of the three mischievous kittens being dressed up for tea in The Tale of Tom Kitten will certainly make you laugh.

You can purchase Potter's tales -- which have never been out of print since Potter self-published Peter Rabbit in 1901 -- from Olsson's for $6.99 each.

A deluxe volume of her work is due in bookstores on October 19: Beatrix Potter Complete Tales (Frederick Warne & Co., $40) holds all 23 of the famous tales, beginning with Peter Rabbit and arranged in the order in which they were originally published -- unabridged and with Potter's signature watercolor and pen and ink illustrations. The Complete Tales also contains four works that were unpublished in Potter's lifetime. Why not pre-order a copy? The edition would make a smart gift for children and grownups.

Also be on the lookout for Beatrix Potter: A Journal (Frederick Warne & Co., $21.99), a handsomely illustrated notebook that describes Potter's life in Victorian England and is aimed at younger readers. The journal will hit the shelves on October 19.

Happy reading,
Elizabeth Frengel

Parents: If you like reading -- and doubtless you do if you're looking at my column -- why not share the love with your kids? Research shows that children who are read to from birth develop those key literacy skills (page turning, reading left to right, narrative understanding, growing attention span) faster -- and their vocabularies tend to be much more sophisticated -- than children whose parents skip the story hour. The good news is that it's never too late (or too early) to start reading to your child.

I've put together a list of a few picture books that I think are excellent for sharing with kids. Most of these picks feature animals as main characters. I prefer that narrative strategy for books for small kids because it takes ethnicity and race out of the equation, making it easier for all children to relate to the story at hand.

Yes, these are all picture books aimed at children aged infant to seven. But the illustrations and stories all have tremendous depth and elegance, making them as likely to appeal to adults as to the little ones. So why not stock up during our 34th Anniversary Sale? All books are 20% off through Sunday the 24th. You and your kids will be glad you did.

Flotsam, David Wiesner (Clarion Books, $17). A picture book in the truest sense, this is a book without words. And what a fantastical feast for the eyes. Wiesner is a two-time Caldecott winner and two-time honoree, and Flotsam, published in 2006, shows just how much story his watercolor illustrations can convey. Follow a boy as he spends the day at the shore, snapping photos of all the flotsam and jetsam that swirl around him. The best part is when the boy flings his camera into the water. We follow the camera as it snaps a sea turtle swimming with a magical city of shells on her back, and an octopus sitting in an armchair and reading stories to a family of fish. You won't miss the words one bit.

Goodnight Moon (board book), Margaret Wise Brown (HarperFestival, $7.99). A classic story for bedtime. The contrast and primary colors of Clement Hurd's illustrations complement perfectly Brown's subtle tale about a bunny who learns how to cope with bedtime by saying goodnight to the things in his room, one object at a time. The way the bunny, dressed in charming striped pajamas, curls up in bed, frame by frame, will cast a drowsy spell on even the most sleep-resistant of children.

Horton Hears a Who, Dr. Seuss (RandomHouse, $14.95) I think it's the cadence and distinctive voice that have given all of Dr. Seuss's works such staying power. Consider the opening:

On the fifteenth of May, in the Jungle of Nool,
In the heat of the day, in the cool of the pool,
He was splashing ... enjoying the jungle's great joys ...
When Horton the elephant heard a small noise.

There's no mistaking we're in Seuss-land -- always a fun to place to be. In this richly imagined story, Horton finds a world of Whos living on a clover and takes it upon himself to protect them because "a person's a person, no matter how small." A fine sentiment.

Is There Really a Human Race?, Jamie Lee Curtis, (HarperCollins, $16). While many celebrity children's books fall flat, Curtis has given us a vibrant and intelligent tale about what it means to be a winner. A successful member of the human race believes in him or herself and brings kindness, understanding and art into the word. Sweet but never saccharine. Excellently illustrated by Laura Cornell. Olsson's has many copies signed by Curtis in stock.

Kitten's First Full Moon, Kevin Henkes (Greenwillow, $15.99). Henkes won the Caldecott Medal for this captivating story about a little kitten who mistakes the full moon for a bowl of milk. Little wonder, as the black and white illustrations of are of such high quality that the book seems bathed in moonlight. And there are mirrors of moon throughout the text -- from the glow of the fireflies to the roundness of kitten's belly. Plus, Henkes' prose is infectiously exuberant. How could your child resist reading along with phrases like "What a night!" and "Lucky Kitten!"

Madeline; Madeline in London; Madeline and the Bad Hat (Puffin, $7.99 each).

In an old house in Paris
That was covered with vines
Lived twelve little girls
In two straight lines.
They left the house at half-past-nine
In two straight lines, in rain or shine.
The smallest one was Madeline.

If those words don't sound familiar to you, drop whatever you are doing and get yourself to a bookstore (preferably Olsson's) as fast as you can. The Madeline adventures are among my favorites from childhood. Bemelmans, who wrote and illustrated these classic stories in the 1950s, never talks down to children. He introduces words like "guillotine" and "menagerie" while giving them clear context with his colorful illustrations.

Olivia, Ian Falconer (Simon & Schuster, $16.95). You may recognize Falconer's style from cartoons and covers he has contributed to The New Yorker. I regret not having the Olivia books around when I was a child. This is a comic tale about a precocious pig named Olivia who wears people out. After an exhausting day of singing loud songs, moving the cat, bossing her brother, painting on the wall and demanding five books at bedtime, her mother says: "You know, you really wear me out. But I love you anyway." Don't all parents feel this way?

Where the Wild Things Are, Maurice Sendak (HarperCollins, $16.95) I spoke with a recent Caldecott panelist who calls this "the perfect children's book." It's the story of a boy who gets sent to bed without supper and then takes refuge in his imagination -- a theme every child can relate to. The illustrations are classic Sendak.


Happy reading,
Elizabeth Frengel