Thursday, November 15, 2012

Book Review - Peace and Quiet (Mr. Badger and Mrs. Fox #4)


Peace and Quiet (Mr. Badger and Mrs. Fox #4)

By: Brigitte Luciani & Eve Tharlet
Publisher: Graphic Universe
Publication Date: August 2012
ISBN: 978-0761385202
Reviewed by: Deb Fowler
Review Date: November 2012

It was time for the season to change and the whole family was preparing for winter. Mr. Badger and Mrs. Fox were rounding up their children so they could all gather up some dry branches to bring back to their burrow. “Bristle! Ginger! Berry! Grub?” Just where was that little badger? They finally found him sitting on a tree stump playing and when they asked him to help he simply wasn’t interested. “You’re always making us work ... I never get any peace in this family!” Their parents had fallen in love a long time ago and now, as a blended family, they were living together.

Ginger Fox was an only child, but when she got two brothers and a little sister, things didn’t always go her way. They weren’t going to be cold during the winter with all of them living in one house, but things could be a little problematic. Bristle glanced slyly over at Ginger and exclaimed, “With a hothead like Ginger, we’ll be overheated.” Other things were changing as winter approached. The Badgers were getting bigger and the Foxes were getting bushier. One thing Mrs. Fox was worried about was that because they were “all cooped up in here together, things might get less peaceful soon ...”

Mrs. Fox and Mr. Badger soon had to listen as all the children began to bicker and pick at one another. Little Berry began to pound on a pan as Ginger sang and Bristle and Grub began to argue. It looked like it was going to be a long winter. Even when they began to have fun and play a game the peace was interrupted. Mr. Badger, who was cuddling Berry, finally had enough and spoke up. “Whoa! Do you want to play or argue?” Grub, who was a bit moody and sensitive, had had enough and decided to leave. He ran outside in the rain to get away. Was the family too different to stay together? Would Grub ever come back home?

This is the ongoing story of the Badger and Fox family, a blended family who had trouble keeping the peace. Of course it was going to be a long winter for the family when they were all cooped up underground. Their parents had decided to live together, but their children sometimes didn’t get along. The storyline is a continuation in the series, Mr. Badger and Mrs. Fox, and although the children argue, they are finally beginning to feel like a family. One thing that Mrs. Fox said to Ginger imparts a special lesson to children finding themselves in a similar situation: “You can’t make them be just like you. Everyone marches to his own beat.” The tale, told in a graphic novel form, can be quite real to life at times as the children alternately have difficulty with one another, but at the same time are forming loving bonds.

Quill says: If you have a blended family (or even if you don't), you'll love the adventures of the Badgers and the Foxes, a family who are learning to love one another, just for who they are!





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