SuitabookThe Tale of Toad and Badger
Mary Jane Begin
- Reading
- Read together in short pauses around Badger’s arrival and the first difficult encounters. Afterwards, compare the value placed on toys with the value the characters place on friendship.
- Themes
- Sharing and possessions: Toad is used to having everything to himself, including the toys at Toad Hall, before Badger arrives. The book takes a critical view of this.
- Friendship across a difficult beginning: Toad and Badger begin with friction after Badger enters Toad’s household setting, then become true friends. Friendship is presented as a significant positive value, but the early conflict is acknowledged rather than erased.
- Welcoming someone new: A new nanny arrives with her son, altering Toad’s experience of who belongs at Toad Hall. The change in household circumstances is clear, but the book’s wider attitude towards status, care and belonging is not established.
- Worth knowing
- Notice how Toad’s established experience of having Toad Hall to himself and Badger’s arrival with the nanny affect their first encounters. Ask whether the story gives each character room to be understood, rather than treating sharing as effortless.