Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Mr Badger and the Difficult Duchess
Fiction Series
For ages 6 to 8
Allen and Unwin, 2013 ISBN: 978-1742374192
When you are the Manager of Special Events working in a very elegant hotel, which is what Mr Badger is, you often find yourself in the position of having to be the Manager of Special Guests as well. Thankfully, Mr Badger had a great deal of patience and he knows how to deal with the sometimes temperamental celebrity types who come to stay at the hotel where he works. Such people expect to be at the center of attention, even when they are incommunicado, which means that they need “a lot of looking after.”
Mr Badger and his assistant, Miss Pims, are very careful to make sure that Mr Badger’s diary is always up to date so he knows what to expect every day, and so he can make the necessary arrangements for special guests. Mr. Badger is therefore rather surprised when he is told that the Duchess de la Dodo has arrived and she “insists” on being given the Royal Suite. The Duchess has no reservation and she is not mentioned in Mr. Badger’s diary, but Mr Badger and Miss Pims are used to dealing with emergencies and they go to meet the lady, fully anticipating that they will be able to accommodate her needs. They soon learn that this particular duchess is going to be the kind of guest who is very demanding indeed. She is also the kind of guest whose manners are not of the best and who is, therefore, rather annoying.
In this delightfully funny story, Mr Badger is once again called on to deal, with great delicacy, with a person who is making a dreadful nuisance of herself. His ability to keep cool in a crises situation is awe inspiring, and readers will be delighted to see how, in the end, the disasters turn out not to be so bad after all.
Readers who enjoy this book might want to read the other Mr Badger adventures.
