Bad Badger
by Maryrose Wood; illus. by Giulia Ghigini
Intermediate    Union Square    181 pp.
2/25    9781454953456    $18.99
Paper ed.  9781454953463    $9.99
e-book ed.  9781454953470    $8.99

Septimus is a badger undergoing an identity crisis. Unlike forest badgers, he doesn’t live in a den but instead in a cozy, tidy seaside cottage where he enjoys opera and collects shells. Solitary, thoughtful, kind, and courtly, he certainly shares some literary DNA with Badger from The Wind in the Willows, but this badger lacks community. Shy and tentative, but aware that he needs connection, Septimus takes an unusual approach to making a friend by inviting a seagull to share tea, conversation, and some interesting outings. Their differences make for challenges, especially as Gully has only one word—“caw”—but their friendship seems to be working until Gully suddenly disappears. When a couple of tough-talking snail detectives decline to take the case, Septimus falls into despair. A flock of gulls provides the answer: Gully is nesting. Will impending parenthood threaten the warm but delicate relationship between badger and gull? It’s all witty, absurdist, mannered, and gently tongue-in-cheek—The Ugly Duckling with a dash of La Traviata. Self-actualization is the theme, but it never weighs down this confection. Deadpan full-page pencil illustrations, beautifully composed, support and expand the text’s particular flavor of elegance, gracious living, and wry humor.

From the ">May/June 2025 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.