The Tale of Applebeck Orchard

Starred review from September 15, 2009
This is the sixth installment in Alberts whimsical mystery series about the life and times of Beatrix Potter. As Miss Potter visits her farm in Near Sawrey in the Land between the Lakes in 1910, some of her small creature friends begin investigating why mean old farmer Harmsworth has barricaded the common pathway through his Applebeck Orchard. Three cats and one dog visit Fritz the Ferret to see if he has some insight into why the farmer would do such a thing. To their surprise, Fritz is not scary at all (he happens to be an artist as good as Miss Potter), and he witnessed the haystack fire that supposedly prompted the farmer to go to such extremes. The ferret and old friend Professor Owl insist the fire was set by a lantern-wielding ghost. Beatrix and her human friends also try to uncover the origins of the haystack fire and convince farmer Harmsworth to remove his barricades. Readers will love getting to know more about ferrets and badgers and the very real Beatrix Potter and her friend Will Heelis. Mixed in with this imaginative story are gentle history lessons about the place of women in the society of that time. The best yet in a consistently charming series.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)