July 28

Before J. K. Rowling tossed Harry Potter into a waiting world, there was another Potter of note. Beatrix Potter was born on the 28th in 1866. Rowling’s success as a writer has been phenomenal and it is unlikely that any other writer will match, let alone exceed, Rowling’s accomplishments. Nonetheless, Beatrix Potter’s literary career wasn’t exactly shabby; she spun simple tales about a rabbit named Peter who was bent on larceny into a very successful series of books. Upon Beatrix Potter’s death, England’s National Trust was bequeathed virtually all of her estate, which included over 4000 acres in that country’s Lake District. In 1896, Potter had noted in her diary "I remember I used to half believe and wholly play with fairies when I was a child. What heaven can be more real than to retain the spirit-world of childhood, tempered and balanced by knowledge and common-sense..."