The Tale of Johnny Town-Mouse is a children's book written and illustrated by Beatrix Potter and first published by Frederick Warne & Co. In December 1918. The tale is based on the Aesop fable, "The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse", with details taken from Horace's Satires 2.6.79-117. It tells of a country mouse and a city mouse who visit each other in their respective homes. After sampling the other's way of life, both express a decided preference for their own. The book was critically well received. The Johnny Town-Mouse character appeared in a 1971 ballet film, and the tale has been adapted to a BBC television animated series.
 First edition cover | |
| Author | Beatrix Potter |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Beatrix Potter |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Children's literature |
| Publisher | Frederick Warne & Co. |
Publication date | December 1918 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | Print (originally hardcover, but since printed in softcover as well) |
| Preceded by | Appley Dapply's Nursery Rhymes |
| Followed by | Cecily Parsley's Nursery Rhymes |
| Text | The Tale of Johnny Town-Mouse at Wikisource |
Plot summary
editThe country mouse, Timmy Willie, falls asleep in a hamper, and is carried with the vegetables to the city, where the mice, including Johnny Town-Mouse, make him welcome, but finding the cat frightening and the food strange, he returns by the hamper. Sometime later, Johnny Town-Mouse pays him a visit, but finding such things as cows and lawnmowers frightening, returns to the city himself.
Adaptions
editAn animated adaptation of the story, shown alongside The Tale of Two Bad Mice, was featured on The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends in 1995 with Johnny Town-Mouse voiced by British actor Hugh Laurie.
References
edit- Footnotes
- Works cited
- Lear, Linda (2007), Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature, New York: St. Martin's Griffin, ISBN 0-312-37796-7
- MacDonald, Ruth K. (1986), Beatrix Potter, Boston: Twayne Publishers, ISBN 0-8057-6917-X
- Taylor, Judy; Whalley, Joyce Irene; Hobbs, Anne Stevenson; Battrick, Elizabeth M. (1987), Beatrix Potter 1866–1943: The Artist and Her World, F. Warne & Co. and The National Trust, ISBN 0-7232-3561-9
- Bibliography
- Mackey, Margaret (2002). Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit: A Children's Classic at 100. Lanham, Maryland, and London: The Children's Literature Association and The Scarecrow Press, Inc. ISBN 0-8108-4197-5.
External links
editThe full text of The Tale of Johnny Town-Mouse at Wikisource
Media related to The Tale of Johnny Town-Mouse at Wikimedia Commons
- An omnibus of Potter's children's tales at Standard Ebooks
- The Tale of Johnny Town-Mouse at Project Gutenberg
The Tale of Johnny Town-Mouse public domain audiobook at LibriVox