- an unlikely friendship forms between an insecure, self-focused badger and a seagull who only ever speaks one word
- themes include caring about others more than yourself, knowing who you really are inside*
- language: mild name calling
Type: chapter book
Ages: 8+
Author: Maryrose Wood
Illustrator: Giulia Ghigini
*This veered too over the line for me–you know the line our generation always talks about? Self-love, self-care, be true to yourself, follow your heart, etc. But it does partially improve by the end.
The badger is a perfectionist who is always worrying about things. He loves his routines (which are quite feminine at times), and doing activities his bird friend wants to do forces him out of this perfectly-crafted comfort zone. Though he does start to be more thoughtful as he puts himself in the seagull’s shoes, the constant chiding of himself for not doing things flawlessly was a little much.
The text and drawings both exude a feeling of cozy calm. It’s a gentle story, which is generally great for those entering chapter books for their first time. However, the vocabulary was too large and unusual for average beginner readers. Who was Wood writing for?
There were some nuggets of wisdom dropped here and there, which added depth to the story, but it all felt a little forced. And the author seemed to be connecting the badger’s love of romantic opera songs to his love for the bird, but I’m not sure…??
Slight spoiler here:
In the end, the bird hatches eggs, and the babies have a marking just like the badger’s–an unusual set of spots. The subtitle of the book is “A Love Story”–what? Turns out, in book two, they all live together and he is the father, but it’s not released yet. I just read that from its description.
It’s not the worst book I’ve ever read, but I wouldn’t choose it if there was another option. 😉