The adventures of Paddy Beaver Book

It's been a rough week - family member out of commission from a bacterial infection and the Senate out of commission from a Putin infection. All I had time and energy for reading the past few days was this little treasure from childhood, that sits on the tiny child-sized bookshelf from my childhood along with many other well-loved and well-read books of my early years.

This particular book I believe I only read once or twice as a child. I didn't remember much about it until I got to the part where Farmer Brown's son's dog Bowser is chasing Peter Rabbit, who takes off across Paddy's dam, lands in the water, has to swim for shore, and then "didn't waste any time, but started for home as fast as he could go, lipperty-lipperty-lip." I had a memory of encountering that "lipperty-lipperty-lip" for the first time, knowing they weren't "real" words, but also knowing exactly what they meant, and delighting in their sound (internal, as I read) and their perfect description of a rabbit on the move.

I believe I found this book somewhat dull and preachy as a child, otherwise I'd have read it over more times. I also remember being puzzled and somewhat bothered that there were illustrations in various places that did not seem to match the action of the story (for example, at the end of the chapter "Old Man Coyote Tries Another Plan" there is an illustration of the coyote in a dress and apron, carrying a purse and umbrella, and wearing spectacles, a la the big bad wolf dressed as grandmother. Nothing at all in the action of the story supports this illustration.) I remain bothered by these inscrutable illustrations. Children deserve more respect than to just slap any old whimsical drawing of a animal in human clothing into a book about anthropomorphized critters. I'm talking to you, Harrison Cady (illustrator).

However I thoroughly enjoyed the book this week as an adult - the story of an industrious beaver who is careful to do everything well and right, makes a friend by being a friend, and who doesn't take more than he needs because "Enough is enough". Not a bad example for all of us to take to heart in these times.