The Blurb On The Back:

Berries are red.  Berries are blue.

What if another badger wants them all too?

Who knows what you might find in the berry bushes?

Follow Badger as he searches for answers, happiness … and the meaning of life.

BLUE BADGER AND THE BEAUTIFUL BERRY was released in the United Kingdom on 9th February 2023.  Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.

You can order BLUE BADGER AND THE BEAUTIFUL BERRY by Huw Lewis Jones and Ben Sanders from Amazon UK, Waterstone’s or Bookshop.org UK.  I earn commission on any purchases made through these links.

The Review (Cut For Spoilers):

Blue Badger is very happy with his life and, in particular, his berries.  But one night he meets a Red Badger who shares his love of the berries but also seems to like him!  What does it all mean?

The third in Huw Lewis Jones and Ben Sanders’ picture book series is a strange affair where the illustrations (all moody palette and muted shading) are a lot better than the text.  The story itself is oddly pitched as Blue Badger finding a potential mate, but it’s vague, doesn’t flow well and I think younger readers will be confused by it.  Ultimately it’s just a bit too weird and disjointed for me and I wouldn’t read the preceding books.

I really liked the illustrations in this book.  Sanders has used a muted palette that works well with the night setting and I liked the blues and reds he uses to add colour and differentiate between the two badgers.  There’s also a good sense of character in Dog and Owl too – Owl in particular has a bit of a put-upon air, which I enjoyed.

However the text just didn’t work for me.  Lewis Jones brings some humour with Blue Badger being surprised at the forwardness of Red Badger and very concerned that Red Badger does not eat all his berries.  However, I think the love story angle will go over the heads of young readers and the little speech that Owl gives to him is just really weird.  Also weird is the way that Dog just shows up to say hello and then leave.

It may be that if you’ve read the previous two books this would all make more sense and I should confess that I have not done so. 

All in all, this just didn’t gel enough for me and there isn’t enough for me to be interested enough in checking out the two earlier books.