Full Name: Miss Helen Beatrix Potter Date of Birth: July 28, 1866 Place of Birth: South Kensington, England Died: December 22, 1943 Place of Death: Sawrey, England Classification: Artists & Entertainers

Known as one of the greatest children’s authors and storytellers of her time, Beatrix Potter became famous for well over 24 children’s books that were published during her lifetime. She is most famous for her story, The Tale of Peter Rabbit. The other characters she created include Jemima Puddleduck, and Mrs. Tiggy Winkle.

As a young and curious student of nature, Beatrix spent her summers outdoors exploring all that nature had to offer. At this time, she became very fond of animals and would loathe leaving her friends of the forest with each new school year. Her father and mother were wealthy cotton-field owners and provided excellent, but lonely educations for their children. Considered an autobiography of Beatrix Potter is her journal, which she kept as a teenager and adult. In it, she discusses the loneliness and depression she felt growing up, removed from peers and not receiving much attention from her parents.

Beatrix Potter spent a lot of time with her brother when they were young. The two explored the English Lake District together and Beatrix became fascinated with fungi and fungi hunting. In fact, she discovered a new species and drew detailed, scientific drawings of the fungi she would come across. When her father presented them to scientific communities, especially the British Museum of Natural History, they were dismissed because Beatrix was a woman.

Even so, Beatrix kept drawing pictures of animals and other natural phenomenon. Encouraged mostly by her governess and by her mother, she kept drawing throughout her early life.

Her first encounter in the book-publishing world came with a publication where her drawings appeared in a small book called A Happy Pair. When she sent another small book that she had illustrated and drawn to the son of her governess, whose illness was critical, it was so well done that the book was privately printed in its first version. Following, Frederick Warne & Co. took notice of the children’s book and offered Beatrix a publishing deal. With the commercial launch of The Tale of Peter Rabbit, Potter had found her niche in the artistic world and continued publishing all her books with Warne & Co.

After her extensive and popular writing career, Beatrix Potter got married and she and her husband moved up to a farm called Hill Top. They purchased thousands more acres of land where they raised award-winning sheep for show. Her books, however, are still in print and still captivate young audiences around the world.

• Dr. Seuss
• Rudyard Kipling
• C.S. Lewis
• J.R.R. Tolkien
• J.K. Rowling
• Lewis Carroll
• Sir Arthur Conan Doyle