Reviews

An old-fashioned, nostalgic classic - the first Paddington book

I wasn't sure my son would take to this - we've seen the TV series, watched the film, read the picture book versions, but Bond's original chapter book is very much 'of its time', sparse on illustrations, with a lot of words needing explanation.

He surprised me and we managed the entire book, with a few complaints when I stopped reading for the night!

This shows us how the Brown family meet and adopt Paddington, and then several subsequent misadventures of the marmalade-loving little bear from Peru. He manages to get stuck in the Underground, get lost at sea on the beach, enter an art competition unwittingly, and even perform magic at a party and make himself disappear.

There are some old-fashioned characters - Mrs Bird who works for the Browns for one, Mr Gruber in the market, but the book feels all the more quaint for it. I quite enjoyed explaining things to my boy - why there are servants, or certain terms that aren't in common usage.

We both loved Paddington - he's like an accident-prone child, always getting into scrapes but things coming good for him in the end. There's no other in the book as well characterised as him, they are all minor, though I enjoyed finding their voices.

I'd say my son at 6 is about as young as you'd want to go when reading this aloud to a child, the language will be more accessible to slightly older children.

If you have a child who's enjoyed the film, this is a wonderful way to introduce a classic children's book to them with familiar characters.