Having declared Bad Badger: A love story my book of the year so far, I was very keen to read the sequel. It is almost as good as the first installment. I really did enjoy catching up with Septimus and Gully and finding out how everything was going with the three baby gulls.
This is another book that can be read on different levels. If you think deeply this story is about parenting and identity. The baby seagulls have moved in with Septimus and he is a badger. Then eight other badgers arrive. The baby gulls grow and their flight feathers emerge and of course their mother Gully expects they will soon fly. She knows all gulls are programmed to want to fly but these three youngsters want to stay on the ground. They have missed all the role models of the bird flock. This is a huge problem that Septimus needs to solve, and it is also of course very distressing for Gully.
Listen to a three minute audio sample here. I love that the narrator has an English accent not American. Read more about Maryrose Wood.
Publisher blurb: To help raise a trio of gull chicks is a rare task for a badger, even a badger as unusual as Septimus. With three spotted fluff balls underfoot, hiding in his phonograph, and pecking at his seashell collection, Septimus has his hands full. To be perfectly frank about it: living with chicks is a lot to get used to. Especially when Gully is off fishing all day while Septimus-Papa Septimus-is left in charge. Just when it seems Septimus might get a bit of the bird-free, badger-only alone time he needs, a knock at the door brings a big surprise: eight visiting forest badgers! As the chicks take to burrowing underground and gobbling up worms with their new badger family, Gully worries they will never learn to take flight. Can Septimus find a way to give the chicks a proper liftoff? Or will their family fall apart instead?
Here are some text extracts:
Opening page: Septimus was a badger. Not a typical badger, mind you, but well within parameters. True, his muzzle was spotted, not striped. His tastes were not what most would call badgerish. He loved his westward-facing porch with the glorious sunset view. He loved his tandem bicycle, his kayak, his seashell collection, and all things italiano. And when it came to the opera? La-la-la! This badger knew his way around an aria. These were the facts about Septimus, and yet—to be frank—they only paint part of the picture. For the most rare and indisputable fact about Septimus was this: He had a good friend—no, a great friend—named Gully. Gully was a seagull. A seagull with three chicks.
But now that he and Gully had spoken, the facts were not so hard to face. Life with chicks was a challenge and a joy, for him and for Gully. A temporary challenge. That part was important. The days seemed endless, but the weeks would fly. Soon, the chicks would too. Today’s struggles would be replaced by new ones, wave following wave in the ever-changing sea. This is what is called taking a bird’s-eye view. Gully had a talent for it, for obvious reasons. It was one of her qualities that Septimus treasured most.
What a brilliant scheme! Even Gully thought so. Thanks to the Ferris wheel, the chicks would get their first true taste of the sky! Surely it would make them long to take flight, at last.
There are some truly delightful turns of phrase in this book such as:
And I learnt a new word - food - zeppole. It is an Italian doughnut-like pastries made from deep-fried dough. They have a light, puffy texture. After frying, they are usually topped with powdered sugar and may be filled with custard, jelly, cannoli-style pastry cream, or a butter-and-honey mixture.
It could be fun, if you read this book in a family, to talk about your child's first steps. Gully misses the chicks first float and she is devastated. Did you, as parents, see your child's first steps? Take a look at the Bluey episode Baby Race - it is another great way to talk about this important moment in the life of a child and their parent.
