Mr Badger and the Difficult Duchess

Leigh Hobbs (author/illustrator)

Allen&Unwin, March 2011; 70pp

ISBN: 9781742374192

Genres: adventure

extension vocabulary

Mr Badger runs the Boubles Hotel and is used to dealing with all sorts of guests, from royalty to ratbags but even his management skills are challenged by the arrival of an extremely difficult, extremely tall, extremely demanding woman who demands the use of the Royal Suite for at least a week.

How is Mr Badger going to keep the hotel running smoothly when the continuous demands of the obnoxious duchess are interfering with the hotel staff's preparation for the annual Philatelic Society Annual Dinner? And why does the unusual guest look vaguely familiar?

A charming, straightforward narrative expressed in language that will stretch beginning readers' vocabulary, Mr Badger and the Difficult Duchess is the third in the series. Hobbs excels at writing simple stories with quirky characters that appeal to younger readers. His cartoon-style illustrations are full of energy and convey mood and personality that feed back into his stories, enriching the reading experience.

Great for reading aloud or alone, these are good first novels for children making the leap from picture book to stories with chapters.

Same author: Old Tom series