Paddington Bear

This whole idea began because I decided to read Paddington Bear to my grade 1 class, and could not find an age appropriate novel study, so I made one. Books are what started One Word at a Time, and I want to keep books at the centre of it, particularly children’s books. So I’m adding book reviews into the mix.

A Bear Called Paddington is a wonderful story written primarily for children by British author Michael Bond. The basic idea behind it is that a bear (Paddington) was sent to England from “Darkest Peru” by his aunt Lucy, with nothing but a note saying “please look after this bear”. It is at Paddington Station (his namesake) that Paddington meets the Brown Family, (Mr. and Mrs. Brown, their two children, Jonathan, and Judy, and their housekeeper Mrs. Bird). After much deliberation they decide to take Paddington home, where, to sum it up, hi-jinks ensue.

The book is divided up into 8 individual stories. Each of which wraps up the issues by the end of it. You could read them out of order, however you may miss some things as the later stories, reference events in the earlier ones.

In this collection Paddington settles into life with the Browns, meets his new friend Mr. Gruber, and generally does Paddington stuff.

Overall, the Paddington books are very well written. They are geared for children, but can easily be loved by adults. The writing is not watered down for younger audiences and instead would serve to broaden a child’s vocabulary and interest greatly. Paddington gets into scenarios that may resonate with children, and some that may puzzle children in the 21st century. Paddington was originally written in 1958, so the lack of DVDs, Blu-rays, cell phones, etc. and the presence of other devices and colloquialisms, may leave some children confused. However, they also offer a great opportunity to discuss these things with children and begin to broaden their ideas of life and how things used to be.

Given the English setting, there may also be a few colloquialisms that will puzzle foreign readers, myself being one of them. I was lucky enough to have a live-in interpreter in my husband who was raised in the British Isles. For those of you without an interpreter, a quick google search will likely do the trick. It could also be a great way to expand the learning for some older children. Let them do the googling, and see what definitions they can find.

I didn’t come to read Paddington until I was well into my 20’s, I loved it now, and I imagine I would have loved it as a child. It is definitely a well loved classic that I’m sure many children will enjoy.