Peter Rabbit wakes up on his birthday and nothing happens. The birds sing, the bees buzz, and nobody says a word to him. He goes home to the burrow and finds his mother banging pots in the kitchen, too busy even to look up. This is the worst birthday ever, thought Peter.

Then he hears voices outside the window, and because he is a curious rabbit he goes out into the sunshine to see. That is the turn the whole book is built for, and it is worth watching a small face while you read it.

The reason this one gets asked for again is that it takes a feeling a two year old already knows, being left out on the day that was supposed to be hers, and gives it sixteen pages and a happy ending. Beatrix Potter's characters do the acting: Peter in his blue jacket, Mrs. Rabbit hustling and bustling, Benjamin and the little rabbits carrying wrapped parcels across a gold cover strung with balloons.

Board pages throughout, so it survives being carried around, chewed on and read in the bath queue. Board book, 16 pages, 7.69 by 6.56 in with a 0.62 in spine. Frederick Warne, an imprint of Penguin Random House, 2018. ISBN-13 9780241327883. Publisher age guidance: 1 to 3 years.

Two more of the same Frederick Warne board books are in stock: A Pumpkin for Peter for autumn and Peter Rabbit: Trick or Treat for Halloween. Same size, same thick board pages, same rabbits.