Forging connections

Bad Badger Maryrose Wood

Sometimes the best friendships form between the most unlikely characters. That’s what Septimus the badger and Gully the seagull discover in Bad Badger: A Love Story (Union Square Kids, 185 pp.) by Maryrose Wood. Septimus and Gully’s relationship is not romantic, as the subtitle might lead one to believe, but instead illustrates for young readers the important elements needed to build lasting friendships.

Septimus is not like most badgers: He has spots not stripes, lives by the sea, and listens to Italian opera while drinking tea with biscuits. Gully visits Septimus’ cottage most Wednesdays, but she can only communicate with him by saying “Caw.” Even though their friendship is marked by limitations, Septimus attempts to bridge their differences. When Gully abruptly stops visiting, however, Septimus fears he has offended her and sets off to make amends.

Throughout the story Septimus questions whether he is really a badger since he thinks he is bad at being a badger. He also struggles with a lot of negative self-talk (“Careless badger!”; “Bad badger!”; “Worse badger!”). The book ends on a positive note, though, with Septimus and Gully’s misunderstanding rectified and a deeper friendship forged.

In Old School (HarperCollins, 276 pp.), author Gordon Korman crafts a humorous story that explores what it means to “fit in.” Dexter Foreman has had an unusual upbringing: While his parents’ jobs send them traveling around the world, Dex has lived with his grandmother at the Pines Retirement Village. His days are spent mingling with the other senior residents who help oversee his homeschooling lessons while instructing him in the finer points of tea time, shuffleboard, and handyman skills.

Old School Gordon Korman

That all changes, however, when a truancy officer crashes bingo and informs Dex he must begin attending school. (Grandma apparently failed to file the proper paperwork.) Dex’s subsequent adjustment to middle school is marked with all the comical eccentricities one would expect from a 12-year-old who uses pocket protectors, wears a cardigan, and carries a briefcase.

As Dex begrudgingly settles into his new school routine, he has to contend with a bully, a jealous soccer star, and an overly eager school newspaper reporter. But even as he plots a way to convince the school he doesn’t need to stay, Dex creates ripples of change by addressing the needs he observes at the school and among his peers.

By book’s end, Dex is no longer the odd man out at school, but it’s not because he has conformed to fit in among his peers. Rather, his peers have learned to accept him for who he is and even discovered for themselves the benefit of Dex’s unconventional life at the Pines. Readers may even begin to wonder what might happen in their own communities if local schools took a page from Korman’s book and connected their student bodies with senior communities.