The Tale of Tom Kitten

{{Short description|Children's book by Beatrix Potter}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox book |  | name = The Tale of Tom Kitten | image = The Tale of Tom Kitten cover.jpg | caption = First edition cover | author = Beatrix Potter | illustrator = Beatrix Potter | country = England | language = English | genre = Children's literature | publisher = Frederick Warne & Co. | release_date = September 1907 | media_type = Print (hardcover) | preceded_by = The Story of Miss Moppet | followed_by = The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck | wikisource = The Tale of Tom Kitten }}

'''''The Tale of Tom Kitten''''' is a children's book, written and illustrated by Beatrix Potter. It was released by Frederick Warne & Co. in September 1907. The tale is about manners and how children react to them. Tabitha Twitchit, a cat, invites friends for tea. She washes and dresses her three kittens for the party, but within moments the kittens have soiled and lost their clothes while scampering about the garden. Tabitha is "affronted". She sends the kittens to bed, and tells her friends the kittens have the measles. Once the tea party is underway however, its "dignity and repose" are disturbed by the kittens romping overhead and leaving a bedroom in disorder.

==Plot summary== thumb|left|200px|Tom Kitten and his sisters let the puddle-ducks have their clothes. This book tells the story of three little kittens, Mittens, Tom Kitten and Moppet, who get into mischief. Their mother, Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit, grooms and dresses them up for company she is expecting, then sends them out with the admonishment that they not get dirty. They not only do get dirty but lose their clothes to some passing puddle-ducks. When they return, she hides them upstairs and tells her company that they have the measles.

==Book connections== Tabitha Twitchit had appeared in a previously published story, ''The Tale of the Pie and the Patty-Pan'', in which she was a shop keeper. The illustrations included her kittens playing.

The cat family re-appeared in ''The Tale of Samuel Whiskers or The Roly-Poly Pudding''. One of the kittens featured in ''The Story of Miss Moppet'' and Tabitha Twitchit and her shop are mentioned again in ''The Tale of Ginger and Pickles''.

One of the puddle-ducks from the story is featured in ''The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck''.

==Inspirations== The cat family home was based on Beatrix Potter's own house, Hill Top in Cumbria.<ref>''The Ultimate Peter Rabbit'', published in 2002 by Dorling Kindersley</ref>

==Adaptations== An animated adaptation of the story, shown alongside ''The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck'', was featured on ''The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends'' in 1993.

==References== ;Footnotes {{reflist|30em}} ;Works cited {{refbegin}} * {{cite book |author=Dubay, Debby |author2=Sewall, Kara |year=2006 |title=Beatrix Potter Collectibles: The Peter Rabbit Story Characters |publisher=Schiffer Publishing Ltd. |isbn=0-7643-2358-X}} * {{cite book |author=Kutzer, M. Daphne |year=2003 |title=Beatrix Potter: Writing in Code |publisher=Routledge |isbn=0-415-94352-3}} * {{cite book |author=Lear, Linda |year=2007 |title=Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature |location=New York |publisher=St. Martins Griffin |isbn=978-0-312-37796-0}} * {{cite book |author=Linder, Leslie |year=1971 |title=A History of the Writings of Beatrix Potter |publisher=Frederick Warne & Co. |isbn=0-7232-1334-8}} * {{cite book |author=MacDonald, Ruth K. |year=1986 |title=Beatrix Potter |location=Boston |publisher=Twayne Publishers |series=Twayne's English Author Series |isbn=0-8057-6917-X |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/beatrixpotter0000macd }} * {{cite book |author=Taylor, Susan |author2=Whalley, Joyce Irene |author3=Hobbs, Anne Stevenson |author4=Battrick, Elizabeth M. |year=1987 |title=Beatrix Potter 1866–1943: The Artist and Her World |publisher=F. Warne & Co. and The National Trust |isbn=0-7232-3561-9 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/beatrixpotter18600tayl }} * {{cite book |author=Taylor, Judy |year=1996 |orig-year=1986 |title=Beatrix Potter: Artist, Storyteller and Countrywoman |publisher=Frederick Warne |isbn=0-7232-4175-9}} {{refend}}

==External links== *{{Wikisource-inline|single=true}} *{{Commons category-inline}} {{Portal|Children's literature}} * {{StandardEbooks|Standard Ebooks URL=https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/beatrix-potter/short-fiction|Display Name=An omnibus of Potter's children's tales|noitalics=true}} * {{Gutenberg|no=14837|name=The Tale of Tom Kitten}} * [https://archive.org/details/taleoftomkitten00pottuoft ''The Tale of Tom Kitten''] at Internet Archive * {{librivox book | title=The Tale of Tom Kitten | author=Beatrix Potter}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tale of Tom Kitten, The}} Category:1907 children's books Category:Books by Beatrix Potter Category:Children's books about cats Category:Picture books by Beatrix Potter Category:Anthropomorphic cats Category:Frederick Warne & Co books Category:British picture books