Leigh Hobbs has won thousands of hearts with his most famous creations, Horrible Harriet and Old Tom. Time will tell if Mr Badger, the special events manager in a grand London hotel, will have the same enduring success. As he is thoroughly decent, generous, responsible, and hard-working, it is up to minor characters to provide the necessary nastiness. In Mr Badger and the Big Surprise (Allen & Unwin, $13.99 pb, 70 pp, 9781742374178), Sylvia Smothers-Carruthers, the spoilt niece of the hotel manager, is celebrating her seventh birthday in the grand ballroom. Mr Badger copes admirably with all that goes wrong, including the tantrums of the birthday girl and the spectacular destruction of her multi-layered cake. Everybody at the hotel seems to have forgotten that it is also Mr Badger’s birthday. Or have they?
Continue reading for only $10 per month.
Subscribe and gain full access to Australian Book Review.
Already a subscriber? Sign in.
If you need assistance, feel free to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
If you are an ABR subscriber, you will need to sign in to post a comment.
If you have forgotten your sign in details, or if you receive an error message when trying to submit your comment, please email your comment (and the name of the article to which it relates) to ABR Comments. We will review your comment and, subject to approval, we will post it under your name.
Please note that all comments must be approved by ABR and comply with our Terms & Conditions.