The Only Way Is Badger

The Only Way is Badger by Stella J. Jones is a lesson in insular thinking. The protagonist badger wants things done his way and is determined to exclude anyone (any animal) who refuses to comply with the badger way.

He initially holds trials for those animals who wish to be a member of this exclusive club for all things badger. The other animals try their best, and while some pass the early tests of behavior and appearance, ultimately none are able to qualify as badger-like.

Two questions:

1. Why are the animals participating in this trial in the first place? Why do they care one way or another if they qualify as badger?

2. What is badger’s motivation for others behaving exactly as he does (and thus negating his ipseity – what makes him badger in the first place)?

Clearly, the lesson is that each has his or her own way and all should be accepted for who they are, but there’s so little rhyme or reason for arriving at that moral that I cannot in good conscience recommend this book.

The book itself is a quality production, and the illustrations of Carmen Saldana are wryly wrought, but the moral of the story is cheaply won and uninterestingly presented by this monomaniacal badger.