Paddington at Work

Paddington at Work by Michael Bond is a funny read for 7 year olds that starts on an ocean liner and wanders all the way to the Stock Exchange.

What happens

Paddington is sailing home to London after a trip to Darkest Peru for Aunt Lucy's birthday. He's had a big dinner and he's dozing on deck with his marmalade. Then he looks up and sees the whole Brown family coming towards him, Mrs Bird included.

They can't possibly be there, because the ship is still two days from England. So he decides they must be ghosts and runs straight to the Ship's Doctor!

It's a surprise, of course. Mr Brown thought it would be a lovely idea to meet the ship before it got home (he hadn't thought about how it would look in the half-dark).

The voyage gets sillier from there. Paddington goes to the fancy dress party as Beau Brummell, with a marmalade sandwich in his pocket for emergencies. A comedian off the television picks the wrong bear for his pickpocket act. Then there's some special glue, a hypnotism trick and a Captain who has to stop the whole ship.

Back in London, a very smart gentleman in a bowler hat stops Paddington outside the bank. He knows all about an oil company that nobody else has heard of yet. When Mr Gruber mentions a fraud in the market over elevenses, the poor bear nearly chokes on his bun.

What's lovely is how seriously Paddington takes everything. He gives people hard stares. He hears "heave to" as "heave two". He's polite to absolutely everyone, including the man walking off with his money.

There's plenty for grown-ups reading aloud too. Who could keep a straight face when the doctor asks if he's sure it wasn't a Garibaldi?

Some muddles last a chapter and some run over two, with the same warm family around them every time. It's an easy book to dip into, and the long, wordy sentences are half the fun read out loud.

What to read next

If your reader enjoyed the holiday side of things, Paddington Abroad is in the library too. That's the one where Mr Brown announces a summer trip to France and puts Paddington in charge of the maps and the itinerary (which he spells his own way).