Susannah Lloyd on Badgers Are Go! and her favourite funny books for kids

This month's Parakeet book of the month is a quirky, fun-filled adventure packed with heart and humour. With a cast of brilliantly funny animal characters, crazy inventions, slapstick humour and gorgeous black and white illustrations throughout, Badgers Are Go! by Susannah Lloyd is perfect for reading out loud to the whole family. Here Susannah tells us about being inspired by Hollywood film stars and her favourite funny book recommendations for newly independent readers.

What inspired you to write Badgers Are Go?

There is an artist I love called Saul Steinberg  who drew all sorts of crazy and strange pictures. I loved one in particular, of a rabbit inside a person's head, and it was peering out through their eyes. My immediate thought was that if this was ME, it would be a badger.  Very soon I  began to hear the voice of  Major Musty Rumpington in my head. He was  talking urgently in very military fashion, and I decided to start writing down what he said, almost like someone taking dictation.

I am inspired by old black and white movies, dusty stuffed animals in museums and all things small in the world. So many old movie characters influenced the characters in this book and I can imagine their voices very clearly.  Ginger, for instance, has a lot of the buttery biscuit voice of Lauren Bacall in her and Wilfred has a touch of a young David Niven.

Which character did you most enjoy writing and why?

I love writing scoundrels! Villainous behaviour seem to be a bit of a theme in my books, so I adored writing Albert. I think that children are also naturally fascinated with characters that refuse to behave. If Albert was voiced by an old black and white movie star, he would be pure Orson Welles. 

What would you say is the most important lesson Lulu learns?

Lulu is a badger very like myself.  She finds it very hard to tell her left paw from her right, she is NOT proficient in the spelling of Tuesday and biscuits, or on the 7 times table, and she is utterly at sea when it comes to coping with the demands of the human person world. Lulu struggle to fit in with the military like precision that the Major expects of a ‘capable badger,’  but all the other badgers seem to find it so easy.  And I can really relate to that.

Examples might include my report card from school at aged 12 that says ‘Susannah continues to fail to learn the basics in all sports,’ or my drivers test when the instructor had to grab the wheel to save me sheering off a number of wing mirrors. 

But what I was and still am good at, is imagination and day dreaming, and Lulu discovers that those traits are the key to her success. Which it has been true for me, because my writing would not be possible without my daydreaming. I really hope that some of my readers might also see a bit of themselves in Lulu, and discover that just sometimes the wrongest badger in all the world might just be the very badger for the job.

Can you tell us anything about what the future holds for Lulu?

Lulu’s new term at the Rumpington Academy of Badgering is rather eventful! The Major announces a huge leap forward in BOP technology, Lulu falls from grace with a custard related calamity, and there is a new member of staff, Professor Briskwhiskers, who just seems to have it in for her from the very start…

What was your favourite book as a child?

Trubloff, the Mouse Who Wanted to Play the Balalaika, by John Burningham.  It is about a dreamy little mouse who longs to learn the balalaika, it is set in snowy Eastern Europe, and it is beautiful.

Why did you choose to write books for this age group?

I think I really write for my inner child, who is around 7-9, certainly not a day older!

Do you have a favourite place to write?

I have a study which is a lovely place to be, with quite a jungle of greenery, and all my favourite books, but I actually think I do my best writing in my head when I am walking along somewhere. You cannot access your imagination by concentrating  hard and paying attention– it is just the opposite really – you have to let your mind really start free floating to dream up a story.  I once heard it said that the mind works best at precisely 3 miles per hour, walking speed, and I really feel like that really works for me. 

Which other funny books for younger readers would you recommend our subscribers read next?

For smaller readers, check out my picture books, which have similar themes of blunderers and scoundrels! For funny chapter books, I love all the Andy Stanton books, as his writing makes me cry with laugher, but especially Natboff. I’d also recommend James Campbell and Rob Jones’s 'Funny Life of' books, Mac Barnett and Shawn Harris’s The First Cat In Space books, and a great new series by Adam Rex called Gumlock The Wizard. Right now I am in the middle of reading Patrick Ness’s Chronicles of a Lizard Nobody and it is brilliant. There is lizard in it called Zeke who has the whole of France living on his knee, which I just love.

Copies of our Badgers Are Go! pack, including a copy of the book and loads of fun activities to go with it, are now available for individual purchase. Grab a copy while stocks last!

This post includes affiliate links to our bookshop.org page, meaning we receive a small percentage of the sale should you purchase through them. Additionally, a percentage from all sales on the platform goes directly to local UK bookshops which is an initiative we're delighted to support!