5. A Bear Called Paddington

A Bear Called Paddington. Michael Bond. 1958. 159 pages. [Source: Bought] [Children's classic; animal fantasy]







First sentence: Mr and Mrs Brown first met Paddington on a railway platform. Premise/plot:
Paddington Bear has travelled all the way from darkest Peru (with the
blessing of his Aunt Lucy) as a stowaway. This adorable, homeless bear
is adopted by the Brown family. Judy and Jonathan are the Brown
children; Mrs Bird is the housekeeper. Adventures and misadventures are
had: all the time, everywhere he goes. I would say he’s less mischievous
than Curious George. My thoughts: This one was first published
in 1958. It easily could have been a part of my mom’s childhood—and its
sequels. Mom recently rediscovered this first book at the library. She
said I HAD to read it because it’s awesome. She regretted never reading
it aloud to us when we were kids. It is a great book. Perhaps not quite
as quotable as Pooh, but still quotable. I will definitely be
recommending this one.

“It wasn’t so much that he didn’t like
baths; he really didn’t mind being covered with jam and cream. It seemed
a pity to wash it all off quite so soon.” (27) “After a few
seconds he decided quite definitely that he preferred riding on an
escalator. They were nice and smooth. But lifts! To start with, it was
full of people carrying parcels and all so busy they had not time to
notice a small bear—one woman even rested her shopping bag on his head
and seemed quite surprised when Paddington pushed it off. Then suddenly
half of him seemed to fall away while the other half stayed where it
was. Just as he had got used to that feeling the second half of him
caught up again and even overtook the first half before the doors
opened. It did that four times on the way down and Paddington was glad
when the man in charge said it was the ground floor and Mrs Brown led
him out.” (67-8)
    © 2024 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews If you're reading this on a site (other than Becky's Book Reviews or Becky's feed , be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.