The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin is a children's book written and illustrated by Beatrix Potter and first published by Frederick Warne & Co. in August 1903.

The story is about an impertinent red squirrel named Nutkin and his narrow escape from an owl called Old Brown.

The book followed Potter's hugely successful The Tale of Peter Rabbit, and was an instant hit.

In Autumn, preparing for winter, Nutkin, his brother Twinkleberry, and their many cousins plan on gathering nuts at Owl Island.

In exchange for letting them gather nuts at his island, the squirrels present Old Brown with a gift of three dead mice.

The next day, the squirrels give Old Brown a large mole for permission to gather nuts.

On the fifth day, the squirrels give Old Brown lots of sweet honey (which they have stolen from the hive of bumblebees).

Potter photographed Old Brown's gnarled tree and the forest detritus in black and white.

[5] In November 1902, a month before the private printing of The Tailor, she gave her publisher Norman Warne a version of her squirrel book.