Book Review: Paddington At Large by Michael Bond (Paddington Bear #5)

“Even Paddington can’t come to much harm in half an hour,” said Mrs Brown optimistically.

But who else other than Paddington could hang Mr Curry’s lawnmower from a treetop or set Father Christmas’ beard on fire?

For nearly sixty years, Paddington Bear has touched the hearts of adults and children worldwide with his earnest good intentions and humorous misadventures.

My Review: 
Paddington has developed an interest in gardening which means a careful eye has to be kept on him in case he damages Mr Brown's pride and joy. Mr Curry sees the chance to get Paddington to do a few jobs for him but of course, no job is simple when you have paws instead of hands! I have no sympathy for Mr Curry because he is just taking advantage of a good natured bear so the chaos that follows is his own fault! The following day Mr Gruber takes Paddington to the park where a band are playing. Paddington is hacked off, not understanding what an unfinished symphony is and goes to have it out with the band leader. Oh dear, that poor bear needs to have everything explained to him in great detail to stop him going off the deep end!

Paddington's next escapade is the arrival of a new TV at the Browns. He doesn't quite get the way a TV works and sets about making improvements leading to all kinds of chaos as usual. He also has a surprise for his family when he appears on his favourite quiz show, and hard stares are there when he is told he has an answer wrong. Leaving him alone is never a great idea, especially when he has a toffee recipe in his paws that he really wants to try out. The mess in the kitchen is bad enough but when his family find Paddington in pain, it requires a trip to the hospital. Oh the poor wee bear! I was quite emotional with this story!

Christmas shopping is stressful at any time but spare a thought for the staff at Barkridges when Paddington decides to stick his nose into the in store product demonstrations! You don't get things going that wrong on the shopping channels but there again, the shopping channels haven't had the pleasure of dealing with a bear from Darkest Peru. Paddington's final outing is being drafted into the local pantomime to do the sound effects offside. The actors nerves are frayed enough without having Paddington on the loose, especially when he steps in to try and save the day without being invited.

This was a particularly mad set of adventures were funny as always and the cute black and white illustrations just added more humour to each situation. The toffee incident had me feeling as worried for poor Paddington as his family were but of course it was all ok in the end. Reading these books have helped lift my mood through lockdown and it makes me want to revisit childrens classics that I enjoyed as a kid.

Read July 2020
4 stars.