Skunk and Badger

By Author / Illustrator

Amy Timberlake, Jon Klassen

Genre

Friendship

Age range(s)

Publisher

Scholastic

ISBN

9781407199399

Format

Hardback

Published

03-09-2020

Synopsis

A classic tale about an extraordinary and unlikely animal friendship. For fans of Paddington Bear and Wallace and Gromit. From Newbery Honor Author, Amy Timberlake and multi-award winning illustrator, Jon Klassen comes a beautiful tale of friendship for readers aged 7+. Meet Skunk and Badger. The first time Badger saw Skunk, he thought, 'puny' and shut the front door. There was simply too much slick in this Skunk's stripe. Too much puff in his tail. Also, there'd been that grin, and the way he'd stuck out his paw as if he had been looking forward to meeting Badger. Badger knew what to make of that. He shut the door before the fellow got any ideas . . . But Skunk is Badger's new roommate, and there is nothing Badger can do about it. When Skunk bursts into Badger's life, everything Badger knows is upended. Tails are flipped. The wrong animal is sprayed. And why-oh-why are there so many chickens? Skunk and Badger is a beautiful reminder that sometimes opposites are destined to be the best of friends. A book you'll want to read again and again, beautifully illustrated throughout by Jon Klassen.

Reviews

Skunk and Badger is the charming new tale from Amy Timberlake and award-winning illustrator Jon Klassen. The woodland comedy tells a story of two very unlikely friends who form an extraordinary friendship against all odds.

Badger, who is a rock scientist, lives alone in the Brownstone house that is owned by his Aunt Lula. His world is structured and simple until one day a Skunk turns up on his doorstep. On their first encounter, Badger mistake's Skunk for a salesman with a red suitcase tied up with twine and refuses to let him cross the threshold of his house. Undeterred, Skunk persists; he is Badger's new roommate and there is nothing that he can do about it.

The mundane world that Badger lives in, is turned upside down when Skunk moves into the Brownstone and declares his new room, the Moon Room. He introduces Badger to a world of chickens and entices his appetite to more than just cereal with cold milk. However, when the delivery stoat turns up with a package for Badger, chaos descends, and the foundation of their friendship is tested.

Throughout the book, Skunk and Badger have several comedy moments where humour is used to portray how they treat each other like opposites but are truly destined to be best friends.

This book would make a wonderful classroom story, teaching the importance of friendship and how difference in appearance and opinion can be overlooked by acts of kindness and understanding.

122 pages / Ages 7+ / Reviewed by Hayley Summerfield, teacher