In these posts I hope to share a little about what I am reading with my two children. Not exactly a review but a look at a book we’ve read together and how it worked for us. For context, my daughters are currently 9- and 11-years old. They are both excellent independent readers but we choose to continue our family habit of reading a chapter together before bedtime.
Some might say that my children have unusual taste in creatures. Quirky, even. While Rose’s favourite animal is a beaver, Pearl’s is the weasel. She had a weasel-themed birthday party when she turned five. A couple of years ago we threw a wedding to celebrate the marriage of her two stuffed weasels. (They’ve since gone on to add a weasel kit to their family.)
Weasels are smart and fierce. They are also, very often, the villains in children’s books. Whether it’s A Wind in the Willows or the Redwall series, weasels seem to be the antagonist versus the cute little mice or hedgehogs or what have you. In a way it makes sense as weasels are natural carnivores and predators but Pearl occasionally found it disheartening.
So when I learned about The Wainscott Weasel, I eagerly ordered her a copy and gave it to her for her birthday a couple of years ago. She read and enjoyed it at the time and recently suggested we read it as a family.
While Pearl was probably just the right age for this book when we gave it to her, my girls are perhaps a little old for it now. That said, it was still a fun read and different portrayal of weasels than I’ve seen elsewhere in children’s literature.
Bagley Brown Jr is a loner weasel living in the Wainscott Woods. His father was the weasel famous for creating the “double b”, a secret underground tunnel that allows the weasel to enter directly into a nearby chicken coop. With this tunnel, the local weasels have access to as many eggs as they can eat and don’t need to hunt to survive. This leaves them a lot of free time and with that free time, many of the weasels enjoy dancing. (Yes, there are pictures!)
As a foil to Bagley, there is Zeke Whitebelly, a large and handsome weasel who enjoys dancing and who is enamoured with a new weasel in the woods – Wendy Blackish. Wendy feels drawn to both Zeke and Bagley but Bagley’s interests lie elsewhere. Bagley, you see, has become very fond of a fish named Bridget who lives in the nearby pond. But a drought and an osprey put Bridget in danger and Bagley isn’t sure he can save her on her own.
This is a funny little story where the animals both behave very much like animals but also entirely not like animals. Overall Seidler does a good job of balancing these two halves and if you’re willing to suspend a bit of disbelief (which you probably are since you picked up a book with talking animals) then this is a sweet and fun story.
