A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond

 

 

Of course, I've heard of Paddington Bear – but until this project on kids' books I had never read the original book.  I didn't know what I was missing!

 

Paddington Bear arrives in London from Darkest Peru with a jar of marmalade, a suitcase and his hat.  The Brown family find him and he ends up living with them.

 

Boy, does that start a chain of adventures – Paddington (named after the station where he was found) doesn't mean to get into trouble but somehow it just follows him around.

 

The first book came out in 1958. It was written in 10 days! Sadly we lost the author in 2017 at the age of 91.  How brilliant he was.  Like most really successful authors for children, he never talked down to them.  He left school at 14 years old.  It's great to see how well he did despite that.

 

Of course the first book was just the start.  Multiple books, tv and toys ensued.