Publishers Weekly Review
| Warm and sensitive illustrations reflect the hopeful mood of this tale about woodland animals learning to accept their friend Badger's death. Ages 4-up. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved |
School Library Journal Review
| Badger's friends are overwhelmed with their loss when he dies. By sharing their memories of his gifts, they find the strength to face the future with hope. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. |
Kirkus Review
| Hollow echoes of The Wind in the Willows. In watercolored drawings with a rough resemblance to Ernest Shepard's, Badger first ponders his death, then peacefully goes to his death (seated in his rocker, by the fire). . . in a dream of running and tumbling down a Long Tunnel, ""as if he had fallen out of his body."" Reading his good-bye note, his animal friends remember his goodness, and weep. ""The snow covered the countryside, but it didn't conceal the sadness that Badger's friends felt."" Then, one by one, each remembers something Badger had taught him: Mole, how to cut a chain of moles from a piece of folded paper; Frog, how to skate; Fox, how to knot a tie properly; Mrs. Rabbit, how to bake a gingerbread rabbit. These, they decide, are Badger's ""parting gifts."" And, come spring, Mole says ""Thank you, Badger""--""believing that Badger would hear him. And. . . somehow. . . Badger did."" Facile, trite emotionalism that capitalizes on the emotional richness of the look-alike original. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. |
