by Moe Zilla

Created on: April 19, 2010

The book opens with a beautiful drawing of orange clouds at the end of a leafy forest road. "It was the time between sunset and dark," writes Eve Bunting, as a chubby old badger walks beside a young little badger. The little badger asks the older badger if he can jump up into the air. "I can but not very well," the older badger replies. "I used to be a good jumper. But now my legs are stiff."

Eve Bunting was 71 when she wrote, "Can You Do This, Old Badger?" and it seems to be a book about aging. The older badger also explains that rolling into a ball "would be hard for me," and the young badger eventually says "It's sad that you are old now and can't do many things." Eve Bunting describes all the colorful details of their conversation at sunset - including the fact that the older badger tenderly plucks leaves out of Little Badger's fur. And Old Badger points out that he's wise enough to know where the earthworms hide in the mud after a rain - and soon the two badgers are feasting on "wriggles and wriggles of fat earthworms."

I wondered if this book was a sequel to "Badger's Parting Gifts," an even-sadder story in which an old badger dies. Susan Varley wrote that book two years earlier, and it describes all the other animals remembering things they'd learned from the wise old badger while he was still alive. Maybe Eve Bunting read that book, and was inspired to try to same theme herself. In her book, the old badger is very much alive - but he's still able to pass on everything that he knows.

"I can show you where to dig for bulbs of wildflowers in spring... In summer I can take you where the juiciest blackberries grow." And Old Badger even knows a way to steal honey from a bee's hive. By the end of the book, he's even sharing his special technique for fishing!

The illustrations are by LeUyen Pham, and she catches a tender expression in the faces of both badgers. Using dark gouache watercolors, she creates detailed cartoon-like characters, and includes lots of details for the forest around them. Older Badger wears an orange shirt, offering warmth in what appears to be the dark mystery of the world around them. But in her last drawing there's a bright full moon, shining down on the two happy badgers sleeping together.

Learn more about this author, Moe Zilla.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.