PROPER BADGER WOULD NEVER TRASH THE CLASSROOM!

Mr. Innocent’s at it again.

The mischief maker who wrought havoc at a birthday party in Proper Badger Would Never! (2024) inadvertently attends school after boarding the wrong bus. All’s well, because he’s always wanted to be a student. Besides, he’s dressed in his “most studious bow tie and his little jacket with the buttons down the front.” And Proper Badger definitely knows how to behave in the classroom. Or does he? The illustrations depict his classmates looking on in shock as Proper Badger burrows beneath the desks in arts and crafts, steals everyone else’s snacks, destroys the netting protecting the classroom butterflies while trying to catch them, accidentally glues a whistle to his snout during music class, and grosses everyone out when he presents his slug collection during show and tell. Proper Badger claims to know nothing about any of this misbehavior, even when his classmates suggest he doesn’t deserve any gold stars—and that he shouldn’t even be in school. Told in a dry, tongue-in-cheek voice, this tale wrings maximum humor from the contrast between Glattly’s text and Sayegh’s images. The cartoon-style illustrations burst with energy; Badger’s feigned innocence is adorably comical. The students are diverse; one child uses a wheelchair.

Uproarious shenanigans that will keep readers properly giggling.