The Tales of Beatrix Potter

The Tales of Beatrix Potter are listed on Ambleside Online's Year 0 (kindergarten) booklist.


Here are the Lexile measures of just a few of Potter's books:
The Tale of Peter Rabbit - 660L
The Tale of Jemima Puddleduck - 610L
The Tale of Benjamin Bunny - 890L
The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher - 840L

Potter's books have reading levels ranging from 2nd to 5th grade, based on vocabulary and sentence structure.  But the subject matter of these books is appropriate for children as young as two years old.

Today, my almost-three-year-old daughter and I finished The Tale of Pigling Bland.  I read it to her over two days because it is one of Potter's longer tales at 81 pages.  When I read these books aloud, I want to pronounce the words correctly, and understand their meanings.  Here are some of the pronunciations and definitions I looked up.

Wainscot is pronounced wayne's-cot, not wayne's-coat.

A coppy stool is a short wooden stool used for milking a cow.

A flitch is a side of bacon.

And my favorite: antimacassar.  Antimacassars are the small cloths placed on the backs and arms of sofas and upholstered chairs to prevent the furniture from getting dirty.