The Tale of Timmy Tiptoes
Timmy Tiptoes is a grey squirrel storing nuts for the winter with his wife Goody. A misunderstanding among the other squirrels sends him fleeing — and tumbling head-first into a hollow tree, where he discovers he is not alone. A small striped chipmunk lives there. Timmy stays for a while. Goody, on the outside, is worried.
Beatrix wrote it specifically for American children. *Peter Rabbit* and the others had become famous in the United States, and her American friends — children's librarians among them — wanted a story with creatures only American children would recognise. So Timmy Tiptoes is a grey squirrel and his cellmate is a chipmunk. There is also, briefly, an American black bear.
By 1911 Beatrix was finding it harder to find time. Her parents needed care, the farm was full of work. "I did not succeed in finishing more than one book last year," she wrote on the 1st of January. The book is a quiet act of generosity to readers across an ocean. The dedication reads: "For many unknown little friends, including Monica."
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Particulars
- Trade edition
- 1911, Frederick Warne & Co.
- Setting
- An English wood, with American animals as visitors
- Dedication
- "For many unknown little friends, including Monica"
- Audience
- Written for American children, who would recognise chipmunks and black bears
- Position
- The first book where Beatrix explicitly courted the American market
Curiosities
- ❦Beatrix had never met Monica. "I do not know the child," she wrote. "She is the school friend of a little cousin, who asked for it as a favour, and the name took my fancy."
- ❦A naturalist's note in the manuscript on chipmunks: "According to 'American animals' the chipmunks dig out the sand from a back entrance, and then open a clean small hole from their burrow on to smooth grass scarcely noticeable."
- ❦Another note, on the bear: "Intended to represent the American black bear, it has a smooth coat, like a sealskin coat."
- ❦The tale's haunting line — "a fat squirrel voice and a thin squirrel voice were singing together" — is naturalist-precise. Grey squirrels really are noticeably bigger than chipmunks.
- ❦The book's existence is the quiet first sign of Beatrix's strain. From this year onward she could no longer keep up two books a year.
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