Grumpy Badgers Christmas

(Review written for Punnybop) All Badger wants to do is go to sleep; he doesn't care about Christmas. It's his time to go underground and sleep all winter through. When his animal friends come knocking on his door trying to bring presents and asking to borrow his ladder to decorate a Christmas tree, he angrily sends them away. "Piffle!" he shouts. "I don't like presents and I don't like Christmas!" But then one of them shows up to ask for his help because Mole is stuck on top of the tree he was trying to decorate. Again, Grumpy Badger wants to be left alone, so he closes the door and goes back to sleep... but he has a terrible dream that Mole is about to fall out of the tree. When he startles himself awake, he realizes what a bad friend he's been, rushes out to save Mole, and apologizes to everyone for being so grumpy. To make it up to them, he throws a wonderful Christmas party, which he intends to make an annual tradition. The story's only possible flaw is that badgers don't actually hibernate. They're less active in cold weather, and sometimes stay underground for long stretches, but they don't sleep through the winter as it suggests in this book. If you forgive this bit of artistic license... and the fact that the text can be a little hard to read against the background on some pages... it's a winner all the way. A solid message, an entertaining story, and nicely expressive acrylic paintings.