Badger's Bad Mood

This new Badger picture book is a prequel to Badger's Parting Gifts which deals so excellently with death and how Badger's friends come to terms with it. I was curious about how children who had already shared Badger's Parting Gifts would cope with a new book about Badger but found that they took it quite in their stride. Oram and Varley now take on the issue of how one person can deal with another's inexplicable bad mood as the friends try to help Badger cheer up. This book however moves into dangerous territory for, in reality, such interpersonal problems are not so easily resolved. A child trying to translate Mole's plan (to help Badger by celebrating his achievements) into his or her own circumstances could come unstuck --- adult mediation is important here. This however is a brave attempt to tackle a topic that is rarely explored with young children. Not an easy book then, but an important one though it does demand careful handling on the part of the adult.