Paddington Takes the Test

Michael Bond's Paddington Takes the Test is a funny read for 7 year olds in which a very polite bear ends up taking Mr Brown's driving test by mistake.

What happens

Mr Brown has to sit his test again after a policeman took his number (a magistrate wasn't keen on drivers who rely on bears for their signals). Paddington wants to help. So he enters a competition with a Rolls-Royce as first prize, which means eating fifteen boxes of currants. He doesn't even like currants!

That plan comes to nothing much. Then he dozes off in Mr Brown's parked car outside the test centre. Two men tap on the window and ask if his name is Brown. Well, it is.

What follows is pure Paddington. Asked what to look out for on the roads at this time of year, he suggests strawberries. One road sign looks to him like someone trying to open an umbrella. And when the examiner tells him to bear left, he's convinced a bear has been left in the road and sets off to the rescue. Who could blame him?

A lot of the laughs come from Paddington taking every word exactly as it's said. Your reader will probably spot each mix-up a moment before the grown-ups in the car do, which is half the fun. A few jokes are wordplay (a current licence turns into a currant one), so a quick explanation from you might help the odd one land.

The opening chapters each tell a complete little story, so it works nicely a chapter at a time. Next door, Mr Curry wants someone to test his rather old hammock for him "as a treat". Then Mr Gruber takes Paddington, Jonathan and Judy to a Stately Home, with a very long concert, a bed Queen Elizabeth the First once slept in and a promised beef Wellington.

Through all of it Paddington stays utterly sure of himself. He raises his hat to everyone and saves his hardest stares for anyone who deserves one. It's a later Paddington book, but the Browns, Mrs Bird and Mr Gruber are all explained as they come along, so a first-time reader won't feel lost.

If you've got a reader who loves a character with the best intentions and the worst luck, this is a lovely one to share.

What to read next

If this one goes down well, Paddington Abroad is another book where Paddington gets put in charge, this time of the maps for the family's holiday in France (Mrs Bird has her doubts).