“RAP-RAP. RAP-RAP-RAP. The knocking sounded on the attic door … It was his roommate, Skunk. Badger would ignore it.”
Skunk and Badger got off to a rocky start (ha!) but they’ve come to a truce of sorts.
Skunk cooks, Badger cleans.
Skunk reads to the chickens, Badger does Important Rock Work in the attic.
Skunk interrupts, pesters, and cajoles … and Badger gives up and gives in.
“Badger?” Rap-rap. Rap. Badger set his head upon the rock table.
Skunk’s latest worry is about a Mr. G. Hedgehog who steals the New Yak Times Book Review on Sundays. Badger really wants to complete his own personal project.
Badger nodded happily. “Rocks displayed alphabetically are so satisfactory. I call it . . .” Badger paused for effect. “My Wall of Rocks.”
However, Badger is missing A is for agate – a rather prominent letter to miss – and so the two of them decide to go on an expedition – to find an agate sample worthy of the rock wall and to avoid Mr. G. Hedgehog’s thievery.
Surely, nothing could go wrong, after all Skunk packed his cast iron skillet, his big pot, his bellows…did I mention that this is a camping trip? Ohhhh boy…what won’t go wrong??
This book was JUST as zany as the first and I absolutely had a blast.
I really like how the characters work together – normally in one of these buddy-books, I will see one character acting as the serious straight-man and the other as the foolish funny-man, but that’s not the case here.
Both Badger and Skunk have their weird quirks and behaviors, but they are never competing against each other for page space. I like how they fit around each other in the story.
The plot for this one is a wild one – we are going lots of places rather quickly but I didn’t mind. I paid for this rollercoaster and I was ready to ride.
One thing that I love is the art in this story – the way the artist captures these characters and conveys the humorous moments in the text is absolutely perfect. I really, really wish that there were twice as many pictures in this story.
Miranda Reads 