The Only Way is Badger

This is a sassy story about a brazen badger who has decided that he is quite obviously the better species and all of his woodland friends should do their upmost to be more like him; they need to 'make an effort to be more badger!' The woodland creatures get their first dose of badger's tyrant behaviour when a wall suddenly appears overnight adorned with posters that read 'The only way is badger' and 'Badgers are best'. The forest animals are confused and puzzled at his confidence and so badger manages to convince them that his way of thinking is best. Badger then puts all his furry friends to the test to see just how badger they are, excluding and rejecting anyone who is just not up to scratch in his quest for an entirely black and white wood, just like badger himself. Unfortunately, it seems what badger doesn't realise (until it's too late!) is that the diversity of life, in all its colour, shapes, voices and habits, are what make our world a wonderful place to live in. We need to appreciate and accept everyone for their individuality. This is a brilliant story to share with children to talk about acceptance, difference and learning to say sorry. Before reaching the beautiful double page spread when badger begins to realise the error of his ways, my little ones had already started to say how unhappy they were with badger's behaviour and make predictions as to how he is going to end up. I would use this story to create a similar story with the children changing the main character to another animal with specific features that the children could incorporate into the challenges for the animals. For example, be more lion; grow a mane like me, can you roar like a lion? Climb the highest rock? The children would need to research their chosen animal to find out about its adaptations for a particular environment. And I feel the abrupt barks of the badger will excite the children to write their own demands for the animals to conquer. I love that there are lots of opportunities for writing in the classroom using this book as a stimulus. Picture book / Ages 3+ / Reviewed by Nikki Stiles, teacher.

Suggested Reading Age 3+