2008-06-12 Here & Now. And then

As a child the Paddington books were a great pleasure to me, managing to be both cosily conventional and yet utterly iconoclastic at the same time. To a child, the experience of watching an ingenue in the adult world is one with which it is very easy to identify. This was the great strength of the series. And now, after all this time, Paddington returns. So has time been kind to our friend form Darkest Peru? Happily, the answer is a very resounding "yes".

The book itself is a solid and heavy hardback and the illustrations are charming and of good quality, as is the jacket. Such presentation gives a good feeling about what lies inside.

As for the book itself, in all honesty the style has changed not one bit. The odd thing is that it is really quite difficult to identify when these stories happen. There is no sense of any great time having passed at all since the earlier books. There is a passing oblique reference to a nefarious journalist having a mobile phone and a visit to the London Eye, but otherwise these stories are resolutely old-fashioned in tone and the Brown family hardly seem to have aged at all. It's all the better for it and actually quite comforting that Michael Bond hasn't been too gimmicky with this update. It gives the book its considerable charm.

The opening chapter deals with our ursine friend's experiences at the police station after his shopping trolley goes missing. The events are gently satirical and manage to poke some good-natured fun at the puzzlement that older readers may feel about policemen looking ever younger. As can be expected, Paddington enjoys some run-ins with the familiar Mr Curry, has a Hallowe'en party, plays the piano suspiciously well and towards the end gets a huge surprise. As ever the prose is clear and contains several laugh-out-loud moments of fun. It's probably not giving too much away to say that Paddington comes out on top in the end, but it's the journey that's the most fun. Indeed, the last chapter or so is really rather touching and cuts to the heart of what it feels to be feel wanted and part of a family.

A must read for children of any age (including those of us in our thirties and above!). Very highly recommended.