YMMV / The Tale of Peter Rabbit

• And You Thought It Would Fail: Beatrix Potter at first had absolutely no luck finding an editor who liked The Tale of Peter Rabbit. Eventually, she used her family's wealth to publish it privately, and after some moderate success on this limited distribution, an editor was convinced that it would sell and, well, it certainly did.
• Angst? What Angst?: Nobody seems very bothered by the fact that Peter's dad was cooked and presumably eaten before the story even started. His mother mentions it offhandedly as if it was just a minor mishap. However in the 1991 animated musical that aired on HBO Family's "Storybook Musicals" Peter's mother does mention about what happened to Peter's dad in a more somber tone and the event is a source of Nightmare Fuel.
• First Installment Wins: While this is the first book created by Beatrix Potter to star Peter Rabbit (as well as her first book, period), there is actually a sequel to it called The Tale of Benjamin Bunny where Peter's cousin Benjamin Bunny visits Peter and convinces him to head back to Mr. McGregor's garden since Benjamin tells him that the McGregors are out for the day. Peter is still paranoid after the events that happened in the first book. Beatrix Potter later created newer stories starring Peter and his cousin titled The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies and The Tale of Mr Tod which show Peter, Benjamin, and some of his sisters as fully grown bunnies. Despite their existence, the public will always remember the first Peter Rabbit story the most. Really, this trope applies to Beatrix Potter's books as a whole: even though her own favorites of her many books were The Tailor of Gloucester and The Tale Of The Pie And The Patty Pan, but in pop culture, Peter Rabbit outshines them all.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: Peter Rabbit is a lot more popular in the United States than in the United Kingdom which is the native country for the character. Heck, most of the animated adaptations of the book were actually from American animation companies over the past couple of decades, while only two were made in Britain.
  • Peter Rabbit is also intensely popular in Japan, with around 15,000 Japanese tourists traveling each year to Potter's home in Lake District, England. Its popularity with Japanese tourists is such that The National Trust, who own the house, have made sure that all the information boards are written in both English and Japanese. In Japan, he's plastered all over baby goods and other products, but is still seen as acceptable for adults - illustrated in the fact that the Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking company has used him as a mascot for over 25 years, and has a 10-foot mural of the story in one of their buildings! However, he's very much perceived as a cute mascot character, with not many having actually read the story; some are "shocked" at reading how Peter's father was baked into a pie. Along those lines, not many of her other stories and characters are as well-known in Japan (or the U.S., for that matter).
• I Am Not Shazam: Somepeople (especially American readers) refer to the Peter Rabbit story and the character himself as "Peter Cottontail". This can get more confusing around the spring season and when it's close to Easter. When some people hear the song "Here Comes Peter Cottontail", they think it is about Peter Rabbit when it's actually about the titular character from a Rankin Bass Easter Special of the same name.
  • This is especially confusing when you consider that one of Peter's sisters is actually named Cottontail. Cottontail Cottontail?
• Nightmare Fuel: The depiction of Mr. McGregor and how he makes Rabbits into pies in the HBO "Storybook Musicals" version.
  • In the HBO Storybook Musicals version of the story, there is a scene where Mr. McGregor's cat was singing a song called "Decisions, Decisions" and towards the end of the song, the cat pulls out a Last Note Nightmare in the song when she screams out RABBIT! as she glares at Peter at the same time. This then causes Peter to run away in fear.
• Tear Jerker: The HBO Family series "Storybook Musicals" has an episode that adapted the story. The episode has a lament song sung by Peter called "So Near And Yet So Far" when he's all alone and realizes that he can't find his way back home while trapped in Mr. McGregor's garden. We get flashbacks to Peter's life at home such as showing his sisters and mother.
  • The corresponding scene in the book is just as bad, with Peter perfectly embodying the fright and tears of a lost child.
• The Woobie: Peter. He loses his good clothes and spends most of the story in tears, running for his life or sick to his stomach. By the time The Tale of Benjamin Bunny comes around, he's gone from a cheeky adventurer to a nervous wreck.

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