Paddington

Paddington tells the story of the film, built on Michael Bond's famous bear, and it's a warm, funny adventure for 7 year olds about a young bear who travels all the way from Darkest Peru to find a home.

What happens

It starts deep in the rainforest on Marmalade Day. The little bear (who doesn't have his English name yet) lives in a tree house with Aunt Lucy and Uncle Pastuzo. They make their marmalade in a machine worked by pedalling a bicycle. Years ago an explorer taught them all about marmalade, and all about London too.

Worth knowing before you hand it over

An earthquake flattens the forest in the very first chapter, and Uncle Pastuzo doesn't survive it. All the bears find of him is his hat. The cub's parents died when he was small, and Aunt Lucy is too old to travel, so she sends him off alone as a stowaway with a label round his neck. It's gently done, but it's sad, and a younger listener might need a cuddle and a chat.

The villain is Millicent, a museum taxidermist who stuffs animals in a secret room. When she hears about a bear from Peru who lives on marmalade, she gets very excited indeed. She's a pantomime sort of baddie, but she's a real threat (there's a syringe and a tranquilliser gun), so a child who hates baddies might find her a bit much.

Then London, and the fun really starts. Nobody at the station stops to say hello, until Mrs Brown does. Mr Brown works out that having a bear in the house raises the risk of fire, flood and pestilence by four hundred per cent. And he's not wrong! Paddington's first go in a bathroom involves toothbrushes in his ears, a glug of mouthwash and the plumbing coming right off the wall.

The Browns are a squabbling lot. Judy is embarrassed by everything, Jonathan wants to be an astronaut and Mr Brown worries about everything else. Watching this polite little bear, with his hat-raising and his hard stares, slowly win them round is really lovely.

It's quite a long book for this shelf, so it works best read aloud over a few bedtimes. You'll probably find yourself doing the voices.

What to read next

Finding Dory would make a lovely next read. It's another film story about a little one far from home, a forgetful blue tang who's lost her family and keeps swimming in search of them.